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After years of anticipation, I’ve finally gotten my first look at Dead Cow Gully. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my prep hasn’t been ideal, but I’m ready to go. And even if I perform a bit below par, I know I have a gun team behind me.

We got off to arguably the best possible start on this trip by with a carbo-loading meal at the Commercial Hotel in Nanango. The meal was fine but the meat tray raffle was outstanding – we walked away with two wins, enough for a very meaty, post-race celebratory BBQ.

Friday morning we got to the race precinct nice and early. Opening time was 6:00am, we got there at 6:02am and there was already a queue. Having said that, we still secured a pretty sweet spot, close to the start-finish line and right behind the team from one of my favourite trail running podcasts, The Trail Snails.

My daughter Charlie and I had set up our two gazebos and tent by 7:30am, so we headed off into Nanango to meet my wife Caron and my other daughter Alex for breakfast.

My Fat Cannon Run Club Trail Division co-competitor Michael Scott met us there and, heartily breakfasted, we headed back to The Gully. Where we found our gazebos collapsed and lying on the ground.

Apparently a freak gust of wind had lifted them up, over the gazebo in front, and into a tree, trashing one of the canopies. Luckily, like the good boy scout I once was, I came prepared with a replacement.

It’s just a shame I didn’t put those boy scout skills to use by pegging down the gazebo. I’d pegged the flooring down, and it was firmly in place. Still, what’s life for if it’s not for learning lessons.

Grassroots

We met race director Tim Walsh shortly after, who welcomed us to “The Gully”. “This is grassroots,” he told us. “No sponsors. No timing. No race bibs.” And that’s one of the reasons it appeals to me so much.

Walsh’s family has been on the land at Dead Cow Gully since 1877. I was expecting the scenery to be pretty spectacular, and it didn’t disappoint. We were able to walk the course late on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, heavy rain in the lead-up to the event meant the gully itself was declared closed for Saturday – too wet to run.

The race precinct itself rose over the course of Friday, a temporary village comprised of tents, gazebos, camper trailers and campervans. Despite the rain, the ground wasn’t too muddy. Weeks of rain means there’s plenty of grass and not much dirt for the wet weather to turn to mud.

The course is similar. Mostly dry. But there are sections where muddy puddles extend across the entire trail. That will be interesting!

In the afternoon we held our team’s pre-race briefing, at which point I discovered I’d left the four printouts of the race plan on my office desk at home. I did, however, have the plan on the laptop. So all was not lost.

We also have the ideal base – Camp Seawright, a five-star camper-trailer set up replete with solar, batteries and all the associated mod cons. So charging the devices is taken care of, courtesy of another pair of Fat Cannon Run Club Trail Division members, Jim and Karra.

We then settled in to soak up the late afternoon atmosphere, and talk race day tactics. And I filed this piece, of course.

So it’s all ahead of us. We’ve prepared as well as we can. All that’s left to do is run.

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 the country.