Salomon Trail Running Race 3 - Silvan (Dandenongs)

Elaine and I won't be attending to the last event in Anglesea, so this was our last Trail Running Race of the season. Situated next to the Silvan Dam in the Dandenongs, this was supposedly the toughest course of the series and at 7.3km it was also longer than the previous two Short Course races we had completed.

I had won my age group in the first 2 races, but my overall finishing positions have been 7th and 1st. A first place in this race would see we wrap up the overall series win (based upon your best 3 results out of the 4 races). So the pressure was on. The toughness of the Plenty course had helped me win, so a difficult course in the Dandenongs would be in my favour.

Similar to the Saturday before the Plenty race, I did a reasonably hard ride the day before the race. Getting close to the London Triathlon, I cannot afford to have a weekend of light training, even it includes a race. I also did a course recon on the morning before the race. At Kew I jogged the entire 5km course. At Plenty I jogged the course either side of the river crossings. However the longer distance of the Silvan race meant my race warmup was even longer. But I now knew the course well, very important if I ended up in the lead and also handy knowledge for race tactics.

Unlike the previous two races other competitors were very hesitant to move up to the front before the start line. In fact the race organisers had to encourage people to move more forwards. This gave me a bit of confidence thinking that there may not be many fast runners in the field.

When the gun went off, an older competitor raced to the front. His running style was anything but flowing and he looked quite comical with his arms and legs moving a million miles an hour. Predictably he ran out of steam after about 200 metres. I was about to assume the lead when another younger competitor (in the orange top) moved out in front, so I simply sat behind him instead. This new leader's running style looked very good. I found the pace quite comfortable (certainly slower than the hectic start of the last 2 races) and the chorus of puffing from behind was definitely starting to thin out.

At about the 500 metre mark I could hear one competitor sitting right behind me and 2 or 3 a little further back. With the rising gradient, everyone's breathing was getting heavier and I didn't need to look behind to know where people were. This first hill lasted about a kilometre, climbing about 75 metres. The lead runner was travelling well up this hill and I found I needed to dig a little to keep in touch. As we crested the hill I sensed a hint of weakness, so immediately took the lead and tried to establish a gap.

Having already run the course earlier that morning, I knew we were in for some technical descents before the 'Hill From Hell' around the 4.75km mark. Whoever crested this hill first was most likely to win the race because the last 1.6km of the race was a fast, slightly downhill (but not technical) sprint to the finish. Technical descents are my weakness. I'm not great up hills, but my strength is recovery after the hills. Unfortunately my strength was nullified by the fact the hard hill was too far into the race followed by an easy finish. So I needed to build a lead before we hit the technical descents.

As I raced back down the trail through the ferns, jumping over fallen trees, I would sense the occasional gap to my 2 pursuers, but the gap never lasted for long. By the time we hit the technical descent section they were both right on my heels. It didn't take them long to realise this was my weakness and even though the trail was single track they still managed to pass and then pull away. I'd occasionally steal a glance behind me, but the I had a good gap over the next competitor. I was pretty much all alone in 3rd place.

As we reached the 'Hill from Hell', the 2 leaders were about 40 metres ahead and I had a bigger gap to the 4th place competitor behind. The young runner had lost the lead to the other competitor who had been sitting in 3rd place during the first few kilometres. By the time I reached the bottom of the hill I could see both of them above him walking. The older competitor was putting in occasional run efforts and had already built a gap to 2nd place. I started running up, but it was almost like peer pressure forced me to start walking. Even walking I was making steady progress on the two ahead, especially 2nd place. I tried small sections of the running, but the slope was quite slippery and I found myself often slipping, even with my trail runners. Walking meant I could place the whole foot down and get better grip, because when running up a hill - only your forefoot makes contact with the ground.

The 'Hill from Hell' rose over 70 metres in 300 metres distance. That's an average gradient of around 23%. Halfway up the hill I moved into 2nd place. I was walking at this stage, but still significantly faster than the other guy. I could see first place walking up ahead and this is where I should have made a charge. If I had of passed him up the hill, I think I would have won the psychological battle and taken any easy win (relatively speaking). However with my leg muscles burning and a heart rate of 174bpm the little voice inside my head convinced me to consolidate 2nd position and don't risk blowing up.

Even though I continued to make ground on the leader, he crested the hill first and then built a small gap down the initial very steep descent. Once on the more level ground I could see him ahead running very well. The gap was only about 30 metres, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to catch him. Behind me, third place was not even in sight, so I simply held a good rhythm through to the finish. 2nd place overall and first in my category. Elaine had a good race finishing equal fourth out of 20 competitors in her age group. Even though there were no river crossings in this event, she still loved the race and her slightly more aggressive trail runners (ie. bigger tread) were perfect on this course.

With three wins (out of 3) in my age group, I have an unbeatable lead for the series win. My 2nd place overall means I'm most likely, but not certain to take the overall series win (there is one competitor who can knock me off if he wins the last race). However I've since discovered that the Overall Series Prize (a $600 GPS watch) only applies to the Long Course event. So I'm no longer quite so down upon myself for not winning. And I did win a great Salomon top for winning my age group.

Club members Alan and Francisco came down for their first race. Not really appreciating the difficulty of the course (despite me warning them), they entered to 15km Medium Course. They didn't appreciated the difficulty by the end, but they both had great races with Alan winning the battle (the loser had to refund the other's entry fee).

Courtney was relegated to spectator duty as a result of nasty shin injury during one of his Crossfit sessions. His wife Petra did very well in the Medium course event, as did our friend Moran. Our friend Kevin entered the Long Course series and battled his way through the 21km hill fest in just over 2 hours and 20 minutes - a great achievement in what must have been an extraordinarily tough course.