WHAT'S UP

Let me tell you what is up:

The Mast is up... yes it's up on top of the mountain, so why not have a run to the top!!! Yes this weekend last, was the race to the mast, a simple 10.3km race to the mast, one way, one hill, MAN against MACHINE. Trevor has this idea that the runners and mountain bikers should race...

Well we race against the clock at different times, us runners setting off at 07h00 and the first of the riders setting off at 08h30. The riders are set off in batches till the last batch is set off around 09h30. Now that batch is made up of runners who also want to ride!!! (I've done this a couple of times, and it's not easy...) Some of you might think that a race of 10.3km with 830m climb is hard, well it's not hard, it's just slow and no-one minds if you walk...

For some reason I've always enjoyed hills so a race like this always sees me lining up on the front row... In years gone by I've been first to the top, and in a way I wish I could have raced this back in the '90s to know what I could have done. But those days are gone and as the gun set us off I didn't take the lead I let the kids go. (OK there wasn't a gun, Trevor just said: 3... 2... 1... GO!)

Hands on your watches.

I was about 10th as we reach the 1st km. Yes I was running hard, and my time of 4:01 was fast... let's put it this way we climbed 78m in that 1st km (that's 255 feet in the old language). I felt OK and decided to run my own race letting the others go. I was hoping for another sub 50min run like last year, I didn't think I had a 48 or 47 in me... I caught Ben and we ran together taking out 2 guys and set our sights on the next guy...
Km 5 was the easiest as we only climbed 16m (52 feet), but then we headed out of the forest and hit the tar road to take us to the top...

Now my head started to play games with me and I let Ben go between 6-7, before the real climb... I bet I could have had him if I had put in a little work on that km, but I let him go and I lost most of the 20sec I was to loss to him!!! So what is a really climb? well Mr. Garmin calls the next 3km steep... 3km 329m climb (or does 1 079 feet sound better?)

I turned the last corner and caught a Kid who was walking, knowing it was almost over I kicked leaving him behind and looked for the next guy. I didn't catch him, and I'm sure the kid would have come with me if he could see the finish, or know it was there!!!

One of the biker heading to the finish...

See the mist is was cold, windy and wet (mist wet, not rain) up there and no view, I'll have to run up another day for a view... I waited for my wife's friend Jana and the 2 of us run down together...

On the way down.

Here's a picture of a friends son riding up:

Yes his bike only has one wheel!!!!

OK the fastest Guy, Bernard (46:17) me 7th (1st 40+) 49:38, 1st lady 57:43, fastest Bike: 42:09, fastest Unicycle 68:23.