I said it was one of the best events on the trail running calendar and The Guzzler didn’t disappoint. Across two days of picture-postcard perfect South East Queensland weather, around 2,000 runners slogged - or in some cases flew - around the reservoirs of D’Aguilar National Park.

At the front of the field there were some remarkable performances, especially among the women. And further back, many runners recorded personal bests - either running the same distance faster than ever before, or by setting a new milestone in terms of distance run.

For 161 runners who finished the 100k event in under 24 hours, there was the added bonus of qualification for the lottery for Western States, one of the world’s most iconic trail races. Congratulations to you all, and good luck to those of you who enter the ballot.

The vibe at the finish line precinct and course checkpoints lived up to expectations and there was beer and donuts, among other things, at the finish line - what more could you ask for?

In all, five course records were broken this year: Kobee Munro (women’s 50k and Hell Hole Hustle), Ben Duffus (men’s 21k), Amber Rowlandson (women’s 10k) and Luke Davison (men’s 10k).

Kobee Munro’s effort was pretty amazing. Not only did she take 19 minutes off the former course record, she also came in more than 30 minutes ahead of second placed Ariarn Huston. That’s some day on the trails!

Special shout out too to Christie Lori, who won the women’s 100k with a time of 12:54:33, more than two hours ahead of second placed Tracey McDonald. Yes, you read that right - a winner by more than two hours. And sixth overall to boot.

Aid station feels

This year, for the first time, I was volunteering at an aid station, part of the Trailiens crew looking after the final station for the 100k and 50k runners on Saturday morning. It was great to be part of the team supporting the runners, and pretty awe-inspiring to see the leaders in the 50k event come through.

They certainly looked better than I felt running through the same station as part of the 21k event the following morning!

If you’re a runner and you’ve not volunteered at an event, please give it some consideration. An event like the Guzzler needs around 200 volunteers and without them the rest of us don’t get to run. And as a bonus, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

In particular, it’s worth mentioning those who did the overnight shift on the aid stations. I can only imagine how comforting it must be for the 100k runners to see lights in the distance and then friendly faces encouraging them. “Only 40k to go. You look GREAT!!”

Seriously, without that support there’d be fewer than the 183 people who managed to finish the 100k event.

My race

I ran The Big Sipper this year, the second time I’ve run the 21k and my fifth Guzzler event in all (I’ve also run The Glass Half Full 50k twice and The Dry Run 10k once). All in all I was pretty pleased with how I went, despite being a full 15 minutes slower than my first crack at the 21k two years ago.

I had a couple of lovely surprises at the start line - bumping into my daughter’s friend Lachlan and my old UTA dorm buddy Flo, down from Noosa to run the event with his partner. The start line was the last time I saw them as they disappeared off in front of me!

I was treating this as a long run as part of my Sydney Marathon training plan, so I wasn’t planning a taper as such. But in the end I had a health-imposed taper because I was laid up sick for most of the week leading in.

In that context, I was happy just to get around the course in a bit over 2 hours 45 minutes. Would have been a bit quicker but for cramping in both legs with about 5k to go. But thankfully that freed up and I was able to run the final couple of kilometres - which are mostly downhill - to the finish.

The cramps kicked in, probably unsurprisingly, just as I was approaching Kokoda. In my Guzzler preview I described Kokoda as notorious. I can confirm it hasn’t gotten any less brutally steep since last time I “ran” it.

As I was shuffling zombie-like up Kokoda, with dozens of others, I fancied I could hear a quiet whimpering. Or perhaps it was a mournful sob. Almost like the trail itself had absorbed the misery of all those 50k and 100k runners who’d gone before me and was playing it back to those of us silly enough to follow in their footsteps.

On reflection, it could just have been me involuntarily whimpering and sobbing, because I can tell you, that is one punishing track. Still, it made the three donuts I scoffed at the finish line taste all the sweeter. (It’s wise to refuel at the end of a long run, right?)

End of an era

Finally, I can’t say goodbye to The Guzzler for another year without a quick acknowledgement of race directors Laura and Tim from The Trail Co. The event was their idea and over the past seven editions they really have built something special.

Almost a week on, I’m sure they are only just starting to get over the mammoth effort it takes to mount, run and then dismantle The Guzzler. They are handing the event on to new custodians, but will always be able to look back with pride on what they’ve created.

Results

Upcoming Events

There are way too many events for me to list everything that’s happening around the country, but here is a selection of upcoming races (with a bias towards South East Queensland).

The Running Calendar website is a great source if you want a comprehensive understanding of what’s available around Australia.