I don’t have too much to say this time, because this event was everything I’ve wanted to offer in a trail race finally happening. A scenic course, great start and finish, atmosphere, and runners who clearly enjoyed it. The good weather was a nice bonus too, after the last week two!
click here for sample photos

click here for final results
You can see from the final results that we had a fit and consistent field. It was particularly competitive at the front end, with the first four men tightly bunched and having a solid cushion of seven minutes back to fifth place. Gerard Balnaves crossed first in just eight seconds over two hours, which is pretty good for such a steep course. How good only time will tell, as this is the first year we’ve run this course. Gerard was followed closely by David Riach (2:01:30), James Bamber (2:02:01) and Daniel Nunan (2:02:31).

First woman home Hubertien Wichers (2:14:06) had a bigger lead of three minutes back to Lucy Blaber (2:16:56), with Kirra Balmanno another minute behind in third (2:18:04). Many thanks as always to the many volunteers from TRAQ (Trail Running Association of Queensland) who make the day happen, especially Graham and Heather on the checkpoint who took the water in on Friday and camped overnight to be there for you in the morning.

Moving right on, here are some possibilities for next year; email any thoughts you have to my home email g_waite@optusnet.com.au
- a team instead of a single organiser – volunteers please, to be the runners’ representative
- consider a date change to drier times, perhaps November when the cedars at the start are in flower?
- increase the field to 200
- drop the wave start and just ask faster runners to move up first and fill the first 50 places at the line
- totally self-supported with only emergency water on the course

This last option, going totally self-supported, is a bit tricky – on a really hot day, slower runners would need about three litres, a lot to carry. I do feel it’s the right way to go though; having to get water in on a weekday makes organising very difficult, and if the weather is bad there’s no margin for error; we have to start on Saturday as the finish at Maiala is very busy on summer Sundays. We would of course always have a manned checkpoint in the middle and emergency liquids and help available.

Ordering photos and/or certificates:
Helga the photographer is a regular runner at TRAQ events too. You can order your photo, a certificate, or a package of certificate and all digital photos from her website:
photographers-sunshinecoast.com.au
Look up your bib/race number in the results before you go there, to find those pictures which include you.

Finally, an update on the Brisbane Forest Park map. I’m told its not too far away, but still not ready yet. I will email all entrants as soon as it’s available. Thanks for supporting the race, see you next year perhaps. Get in early because we are working on a promo mix of video, still and music so word will be well out by then.