The last few weeks have been a bit hectic on work and personal fronts so not as much trail training as we had hoped. The stairs in 157 Walker Street have however been taking a pounding and with Fred's exercise in moving house and AJ's spell in the sauna that is Oman at this time of year we were hopeful that we had not lost too much "match fitness". We also needed the opportunity to christen on the trail new shoes for AJ and Fred (yes AJ's "Rupert the Bear" boots finally gave up!)
As we headed up the dreaded concrete track out of Brooklyn we were very happy to discover we had not lost too much fitness and it was a continuous trek for all of us. Within the first 500 metres or so we had caught up with 3 other Teams out for their training walk so didn't feel too guilty about our relative sleep in. I don't know whether it was the the new shoes, the extended rest from the trail, the warmer weather or just a desire to "burn off" the other teams but we found ourselves setting a good pace along the initial fire trail. After passing another 2 teams (and even stopping to help one of them with a group photo) we headed down into the single file section and off towards Jerusalem Bay. It was a spectacular morning with lots of wildflowers out for an early Spring and the water looked magnificent. By the time we got to Checkpoint 1 we had stopped the clock at 2:50 hours which is our best time ever for this leg so we were well pleased.
After a quick break for a drink and snack it was off again towards Berowra, but the weather was starting to look a little dark over the western horizon. Despite our best efforts things started to slow down a little (AJ blamed jet lag, Fred blamed a lot of late night cleaning off his old and new houses, and Tony R just blamed us!!). We were still doing OK but by the time we started the climb out of Berowra Waters the black clouds finally caught up with us and we got a very intense but short thunderstorm which included hail which must have been thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big. With nowhere really to go backwards and the caves/overhangs all ahead we just plowed on up the hill. After no more than 2-3 minutes it all stopped and not long after the sun came out again. In addition to making the trail a little damp, the rain did swell the creeks and there were quite a few torrents flowing within the hour. Despite our slowing we kept up a steady pace and eventually walked into Checkpoint 2 to stop the clock at 2:51hrs. Not our best time but still a good workout and with new shoes and feet holding up well we feel prepared for event.
The next 10 days or so will see us getting ready with some regular stairs and getting our event support arrangements finalised. Thank you to all of our friends and family who have so far supported both in-kind and with donations to our Oxfam fundraising effort. We are very close to achieving our $5000 target and with quite a few Freddo frogs left in the chocolate box we should meet the target before the event.
Stay tuned for one last update just before the event and be sure to follow our progress on the day via our Team Page at http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Sydney/team/191 .
THE WALKERS: AJ, Fred, Tony R
THE STATS
Start – Cp1
Start Time: 7:59am
Duration: 2:50:32
Finish Time: 10:50am
Distance: 14.91km
Average Pace: 11.26 min/km
Average Speed: 5.2 km/h
Cp1 - Cp2
Start Time: 10:57am
Duration: 2:51:53
Finish Time: 1:49pm
Distance: 11.75km
Average Pace: 14.36min/km
Average Speed: 4.1 km/h
Total Time: 5.42:53
Total Distance: 26.69km
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