MILLUM FINALLY GETS HER BTU DONE AND DUSTED

Contributed by Jen Millum, AURA member & 2nd Female at BTU110km

Brisbane Trail Ultra 110km, 9-11 July 2021, Brisbane Qld

A long while ago I’d heard about BTU and that it was AURA’s National Long Course Trail Championships. I never thought I’d actually do it though, until UTA had been postponed for the third time and I decided to grab the refund. The very same day I got a Facebook advert for BTU and realised it was in the school holidays and in the same state as my family. Perfect. I entered using my refund and booked flights using my credit from the NSW cancelation. All was set for July and I decided to hit the hills big time in my training as I’d heard it was a pretty tough course.

Then a week before our holiday COVID struck and lockdowns were hitting every state, including WA. Border restrictions were ridiculous and by Friday I’d have to quarantine going into and returning from Qld, so I cancelled everything. I was devastated because I was actually going over to visit my family of whom I hadn’t seen in over 4 years and my mental health was at a low point.

Then, on the Monday everything changed! I no longer needed to quarantine going into Queensland, only coming home. Wednesday I was booked onto a flight! As soon as I saw my family my bucket began to fill and I thought I’d ask race director Shona Stephenson to reactivate my entry.

Thursday evening I had confirmation and on Friday early I headed to the finish line, with my sister, to check in.

I was so nervous and excited, I couldn’t actually believe I was there. I decided to check out the last 500m and nearly died when I saw the cliff staircase.

We then decided to drive to the start before we went to our accommodation.

I cannot tell you how excited I was, my poor sister had never crewed or even watched a race before. 3am saw me fill my belly with as much as it would take before we headed out to the start line. I had no race plan. I rarely do. I had no idea of what to expect and for the first time in like forever I was racing with strangers. Elites. Locals who’d trained on the course. I knew no one.

Before I knew it, we were off running into the dark rainforest. I was so scared of losing my way, the markers were hard to see and I made every effort to keep an eye on the light in front of me. It wasn’t long before those lights disappeared and I was alone. My poles were at Checkpoint 2, and I remember thinking, maybe I should’ve carried them from the start. The hills were tough. Morning came and so did Checkpoint 1. No crew were allowed but it was nice to see humans again. I forced a banana down and filled my pack and headed out!

I think it was during this leg that we had to do two loops within another loop, my golly gosh. At the top of Jolly’s Lookout, I couldn’t believe the view! It absolutely took my breath away! I was having so much fun.

Coming into the school I could hear my sister calling my name, I was so relieved to see a familiar face! Later I heard that Ali had been stuck in a traffic jam and decided to goat track it to the checkpoint to get there in time! Unfortunately at this point, I was informed that my Spot tracker hadn’t been working and they needed to get me another. Ten minutes later, I was on my way only to be told the markers had been removed at the café area. I decided to run with these two dudes who were leaving at the same time, just to be safe. Thankfully I’d picked up my poles because our first hill down was one big landslide and they helped me balance.

It wasn’t long before I was alone again and around every corner was a massive mountain. I’d never ever seen trails like this before. It took an entire mindset flip! I went into a meditative state at the base of every hill. Some were so steep that coming down the other side required ropes. But, my determination to conquer ever peak meant they went quicker than I’d ever gone before.

And then suddenly as I came through a forest section I crossed a river. Previously, at every river crossing there had been trail markers clearly placed, but on this occasion I couldn’t see any! I looked for footprints and they were crossing the river and going up the bank. I ran over and along, but then my watch, that had the map loaded onto it, started vibrating. My head was telling me that , that was weird because there was no other path. But then, I decided to stop and pull out my phone and check properly on MapsMe. Sure enough I was off course! I cannot tell you how long it took, but there were 6 other paths I could’ve taken. I tried all of them but still I was off course. I was frustrated and alone and started to cry. I ran back to the last marker for the third time, and walked slowly, looking only at my phone until the arrow pointed right, I looked up and saw a pathway I hadn’t tried. My watch stopped vibrating and I picked up my pace! About 3 km later I came across a BTU marshal and before I could say a word he said ‘ you, are 100% on the right path!’ I nearly burst out crying again! He told me someone had taken the markers down and he was heading there now to fix it.

As I pulled into Checkpoint 5 I could hear my gorgeous sister calling me! I started crying again, I was so relieved. She was so wonderful, gave me some tough love, soup and made me laugh.

I headed off into the bush. At this point I knew I’d see her again in 20km so my mind had flipped into gear and started counting down the kms until I saw her again. The hills were relentless but the trails were beautiful. As darkness hit I could hear the music from checkpoint 6. It spurred me on.

I could hear my sister again and remembered asking a marshal if I could sit down. Oddly I wasn’t allowed to so my stop here was short and sweet. I told Ali that I’d see her at the finish line and for the last time headed out into the bush. I ran with a local runner for a little while but it wasn’t long before I was alone again. It seemed to take forever to get through the bush and out onto the streets. There were police stopping traffic at intersections for me to cross, and there were so many people out enjoying a meal on the sidewalks. The smells sent my hungry belly crazy. I crossed the wharf with a fellow 110km competitor. It was nice to chat to somebody, but I left him once we’d crossed and headed towards the cliff stairs solo. I could smell the finish line. It wasn’t until I was at the top of those stairs that I heard my sis again! I couldn’t believe I had done it!

Runner up National Champion was never ever, ever expected! I was so pleased.

Huge thanks to my sister and my running buddies back in Perth who followed me and helped Ali. Massive thanks too, to Shona and Cora for reactivating my entry and for organising such a fabulous event!

Pictured: Jen Millum from WA racing in the BTU110 at the weekend. Photograph – Supplied/Element Photo & Video Productions.