RB Defiance Skyline Traverse - From the Back of the Pack!

A few months ago my name was lucky enough to be drawn for a discounted entry into the RedBull Defiance Skyline Traverse thanks to the Wild Things Trail Running Club. January was miles away at the time I sent away my entry form, plenty of time to think about forming a training plan so I could breeze through the run come January. 

As the year quietly slipped away, I was busy plugging away at deadlines for work and my (sometimes neglected) thesis took centre stage in place of the odd training run, then before you know it someone sends me an email telling me all the things I would need to know for my run next week.

Ohh yeah that… is it really January already?... How far am I running again?...

Race day/or weekend for those doing the multisport event was incredibly toasty, it was already nearing 30 degrees around 11am and we weren’t due to head off until 12pm. While waiting for the transport to the start line the other runners were talking about making the cut off time (we had 3 hrs to get to the top of the ridge line). Some of the runners were worried they may not make it as they were more of a sprinter/ faster runner over shorter distances. I was worried I wouldn’t make it as I’m more of a steady snail/ slower runner over longer distances (I started dabbling in ultra-distances when I heard they recommend you run slow to get to the finish).

Midday rolled around and we all started the steady climb out of Cardrona up to Mt Alpha. Goal number one was to make the cut off and complete the whole course in one piece, the back up goal was to complete the short course in one piece. My lack of training runs started to show, and I was soon back of the pack and the tail end Charlie caught up to me, which was a highlight of the day. Racheal was awesome to talk to and swap running stories with for the rest of the race – thank you for plodding along next to me!

Looking back at where I'm climbed up from!

As the climb continued in elevation and temperature the goal shifted to still having water to spare at the top of Mt Alpha. I decided that regardless of whether I made the cut off I would do the short course as there was no way I had enough water to get through the full course despite having 3L with me. I had about 3 switchbacks to go to the checkpoint before I ran out of water and I was at least half an hour past the cut off time, so it was on to the short course. It was coming down this section that I took a few photos of the view from the top – the scenery was amazing, there was also a cold stream just at the bottom of the mountain which is the best stream I have ever cooled down in.

From there it was ~2km to the finish where a dip in the lake was certainly called for. Even though this wasn’t my best race, I still had an epic run. It was awesome to meet great people prior to the start of the race, during the race and then catching up with them all at the finish line and swapping stories of type 2 fun. Awesome effort put in by everyone who raced that weekend – some impressive times given the heat! I would fully recommend this event and will be back to run the ridge line.

**Side note: I checked my watch the next morning and I’m not sure how accurate it is but the hottest temperature it recorded was 37.5 degrees and the lowest was 29.5 degrees which was in the shade along the lake at the end