ALONG THE TRAILS OF ROYALS

Contributed by Julia Mackay-Koelen, AURA Secretary

Trails of Kings and Queens, 5-7 March 2021 (Southampton, WA)

I was so excited about the Trail of Kings and Queens this year because I did it last year and had a ball, but also because extra events were added on by event director Shaun Kaesler. Friday afternoon saw campers and caravanners arrive to set up home for the weekend. I put up my Taj MaHutchie and hoped it wouldn’t rain.

The Friday night run was great and a wonderful warm up to the hills with a sort of competition to find the Australia Day flag marquee. Some of us went off and headed to the right where Wiccus was convinced he knew where it might be but a lucky fluke (we saw a runner point us in the right direction) and meant that we found the marquee and could sprint down the hill with our own Aussie flag and Medal #1. 

Saturday morning shook with excitement as runners headed to the coffee shop, downed breakfast, collected bibs, adjusted backpacks and prepared to battle it out on the mountain – well, biggish hills. Shaun disappeared and Tittikatta appeared in his place to deliver the Sermon on the Rock i.e. the Safety Briefing and words of wisdom: Go forth and Do Not Get Lost.

Freddy Mercury put in a solo appearance along with some damsels (who were definitely not in distress) but sadly he lost his chest hair early on in the piece and he spent the next few hours tying to find it on the hills.

It was humid, the hills were very high, the lows were quite low and running in white jeans is not recommended for any future trail running events. Sadly, one of our group (Melinda) experienced a flare up of an old injury and she headed back to Base while Kylie and I battled on. Getting lapped by Phil Gore on his second lap while we were still quite a ways off finishing our first had the potential to cause a major depressive episode but, luckily we consoled ourselves with the realization that Phil is a very special, amazing runner and we couldn’t imagine being lapped by anyone else!

Finishing Saturday morning’s run was awesome, Medal #2 was handed out followed by a hot shower and some tucker, and a kindy nap in the Taj MaHutchie was the icing on the cake. The night run was great but the exhilaration of all of us shimmying down the hill like a sparkly spangled snake was kind of spoiled by the fact we had to walk up said hill before we could shimmy anywhere. It was fantastic to see parents and kids doing the night run and Medal #3 was handed out! Dinner was wonderlicious, some great trail camaraderie was had as well as good conversation, and then it was light’s out.

Sunday morning and the final run. Luckily, we got a trip up the hill in a bus and got to shimmy shangle all the way down like lightning – Freddy tried to sing his song Flash but he got puffed out and needed to focus on breathing, so the singing didn’t last long. I did two wonderful semi-sprint runs and picked up Medal #4. Unfortunately I had to head off home so I could work in the afternoon.

Trails of Kings and Queens was an incredible weekend of fun running/walking/stumbling along some great trails, spending time with amazing folk and, thanks to the Linga Longa Resort folk, we got to eat wonderful food. Shaun and all the organisers, event timers, volleys created a magical atmosphere so we could all have a brilliant time. I had the chance to indulge my passion of dressing up while running and Freddy has retreated to my running dress-up box, minus the chest hair because it’s still missing.

Pictured – Event Director Shaun Kaesler with Julia Mackay-Koelen at the 2021 Trails of Kings and Queens. Photograph – Supplied.