NO DAMPENERS ON COWLING’S YURREBILLA EFFORTS
Contributed by Gayle Cowling
WHO SAID RUNNING 56KMS WITH AN INJURED HAMSTRING WAS A SMART THING TO DO? THE YURREBILLA TRAIL 56KM ULTRA IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA HAD BEEN RECOMMENDED BY MANY OF MY VICTORIAN RUNNING COLLEAGUES AS A WONDERFUL EVENT WITH GREAT SCENERY, DIVERSE TERRAIN AND MASSIVE SUPPORT FROM ALL THE LOCALS.
Participating in Yurrebilla on September 24, 2017 was also the first time I’d ever participated in an ultra in SA.
A few weeks prior to the event, I had injured my left hamstring and Yurrebilla was in serious jeopardy of me even turning up to the start line, but through advice from work mates, close friends and no less my husband, intelligence and common sense was thrown out the window as we boarded the plane early Saturday morning on September 23.
I still had in the back of my mind that even at the start line I could choose not to run if the hamstring was feeling a bit ginger, and further still, there were enough aid stations along the course that if things were looking dicey, I had the option to pull out.
For those who know me well enough, there was never a chance in Haiti that I was not going to front up and do Yurrebilla – my attitude really wants makes me want to delve into the psychology of an athlete’s mind to understand why in any normal situation, we are quite rational human beings, but when it comes to ultra running, all logic gets thrown out the window.
Yurrebilla’s start line was at the historic Belair Railway Station, which is also the official start of the Yurrebilla hiking trail.
I was in the 7am wave, but arrived early enough to see the 6am starters take off on a very windy and grey day with a forecast of 16 degrees, lots more wind and rain.
About 495 runners registered to take part in this year’s event.
My start time came around very quickly and we all gathered around, counting down the last 10 seconds before we took to the stairs and descended quickly onto single trail in the Belair National Park.
Very quickly runners began to spread out and find their own rhythm, and I was very conscious of going out slow and warming up the hammy.
Initially, every step was uncomfortable, but sometimes pain can be just a state of mind and I eased into a slow run.
The first surprise of the course was Echo Tunnel, which I was not expecting, and suffice to say it was pitch black.
Lucky for a few of us a front runner pulled out a head torch to light the way, and I was thankful as the space was not quite head high so you were crouched over keeping your hand against the wall to guide your way through.
The first aid station was 5kms in, and it was comforting to remember I would see a familiar face there in Jenny, a colleague’s wife, who was volunteering.
It was also the first time I would make the decision to either continue moving forward or pulling out altogether, but it was great to see Jenny’s smiling face and for someone I had known less than 12 hours, I did not hesitate in giving her a hug.
The next 4.5kms was a sweeping descent along Brown Hill Creek and a caravan park, the first time I would be seeing Nick at the second checkpoint.
Soon after, it was then a challenging climb up to Eagle on the Hill, but we were rewarded with great views back towards the city of Adelaide. My phone was going nuts chiming away with messages coming through so I finally decided to look – my running mates Nicki and Mat had wished me luck and reminded me to enjoy the scenery.
Nick was replying to everyone’s messages with how I was going, and it was an awesome way to keep me motivated as well as keep my mind off the injury.
Running started to get just a little bit harder as the winds swirled and clouds threatened heavy rain; I really had no idea of what lay ahead of me on this trail, but I knew it was undulating with decent climbs.
All I focused on was protecting the hamstring, so I changed my gait to relieve the pain and take the pressure off.
Powering on, I knew there was another climb through Cleland before we hit the highest peak of the Adelaide Hills – the summit of Mt Lofty.
Again, Nick was at the checkpoint cheering me on as he watched me zig zag up the climb, concerned about how I was traveling and if the hammy would hold out.
Psychologically, I was tackling the distance in increments of 5kms; it was easier for me to break it down and tick off each 5kms every time my Garmin buzzed on my wrist.
Out of Cleland, the course took us onto the old M3 highway before making its way through Waterfall Gully and onto the summit of Mt Lofty.
As I exited the forest into the Mt Lofty carpark there was a welcoming party with Aboriginal music playing and Nick waiting. I had now completed 25kms and if I could get to halfway, I knew I could finish the rest, even at a walking pace.
No sooner had I seen Nick and was descending Mt Lofty, the first the rain fall hit, but it didn’t last long, with the sun soon coming out; this was a pattern that repeated itself every 30 minutes until I crossed the finish line.
A steep descent into Horsnell Gully saw me reach the 30kms milestone with 26kms to the end.
The next 10kms would be traversing through technical single trail to finally emerge at Norton Summit, and then more single trail and bitumen past the Morialta Cottage to reach another one of the checkpoints, I had now completed 37kms.
From here we headed into the first of the three drops of Morialta Falls, and I was looking forward to this part of Yurrebilla. I took it slowly as the hammy was sore by this stage, and I didn’t want to risk a fall.
It wasn’t long before the terrain turned and I was climbing along the ridge of Morialta Falls and, out of nowhere, I saw three green leprechauns and a cow.
Trust me, I was not hallucinating.
It was the best checkpoint of the day. The volunteers had hiked in with water and coke for participants in a very remote section of the course, and I was greeted with a friendly smile, a cup of coke and then quickly sent on my way.
I had just completed a marathon – 42kms down, 14kms to go.
At 49kms, I had reached the last checkpoint at Montacute Road, and it was the last time I would see Nick before the finish line. The volunteer girls there joked about the weather and how it had not even looked like it had rained in the valley, and they cheekily told me it was ‘only’ 7kms to the finish.
Now, as an experienced ultra runner, we are all known to exaggerate the truth when it comes to distance, because as it turned out, it was just shy of 8kms.
The organisers had one more surprise installed for us – the King/Queen of the Mountain.
After 50-odd kms in the legs, the last thing I needed was a climb of 3kms with a gradient of 45 per cent, and it had just dawned on me why the volunteers were cheeky.
I caught three other runners making their way up the climb, and after reaching the first ridge, laughed out loud as my eyes looked to see what lay ahead.
I exclaimed loudly to my fellow runners that they had to be kidding, and this was an act of cruelty. There was a false top of the mountain as we turned a corner only to find we were still climbing.
None of us spoke or had words to each other; we were all in our own world of pain pushing forward with each step just to get to the damn timing mat at the top of the mountain to tell us we weren’t KOM or QOM.
I wasn’t disappointed by any means because now I had an equally tough 3kms descent to the finish line.
I had ruled out all chances of breaking seven hours, but to be honest it wasn’t a terrible result considering I wasn’t running on all cylinders.
I ran into Ambers Gully Oval and crossed the finish line in 7:13:06.
Pictured: Gayle Cowling pushing on in this year’s Yurrebilla Trail Race with a smile. Photograph – Tracie Hanson.
Gayle Cowling’s finish time at Yurrebilla saw her take out first place in AURA’s 2017 Short Court National Championships. Gayle is from Elsternwick, Vic and has been an active ultra runner for the last nine years. An AURA member since 2013, Gayle’s favourite ultra race is the Great Ocean Walk 100 for its amazing scenery and extraordinary participants. Her next goal is to run back-to-back Comrades in South Africa (down run) in June 2018.
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