THIRD MALE PLACING IN NICHOLLS’ FIRST 24HR TRACK EVENT

Contributed by Ben Nicholls, AURA member

Coburg 24hr Running Festival, 17-18 April 2021, Coburg North Vic

The Coburg 24hour Running Festival is a track running event held in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg that has a rich history, which I have to admit I was completely ignorant of until recently. The event has been happening annually in some form or another for almost 40 years and has been the scene of some amazing performances, most notably Yiannis Kouris’ mind boggling world 24 hour record of 294.504kms in 1996.

After being cancelled in 2020 for obvious reasons, the event that I had entered over 16 months earlier finally took place on 17 April 2021 (a huge thank you to the organisers for their generosity in rolling 2020 entries into 2021).

While there are a multitude of events held over the two-day festival (including the Australian 100km Track Championships), I was entered in the 24 hour run so that\’s where this recap will be focused.

I’d been planning to run the entire event unsupported but my amazing also-ultrarunner-wife Camille insisted on coming along with our kids for the 3-hour drive from South Western Victoria to help as much as she could before heading to the zoo and returning briefly at around the 9-hour mark.

After that I’d be flying solo until around 10am the next day. I’m more of a trail runner and this was to be my first 24 hour track run so I was glad to have an experienced crew person checking in on me.

We arrived with plenty of time, checked-in and found a spot for my table. We set up next to a fellow 24 hour runner and her crew, we helped set up their tent and she introduced herself as Nikki Thompson. This was also her first 24 hour track run so it seemed fitting that we’d be aide neighbours for the duration.

I was really looking forward to lining up alongside one of the deepest 24 hour fields I’d seen in Victoria. I knew there were at least 4 or 5 guys that were a class above me, plus a couple of others that were good enough to be in the mix at the end. In addition, there was a very strong women’s field. I had decided to just try and reach my goal of 200km and watch what I was certain was going to be a great race for the podium spots.

The race started at 12pm, the weather was cool but not cold, overcast and there was a gentle breeze. There couldn’t have been a better forecast for Melbourne in mid-April. After the race settled I found myself moving along comfortably in 9th place, I didn’t pay too much attention to the rest of the field at that stage but by 4 hours in it was obvious that 5 guys had gone out hard.

Daragh O’Loughlin, Darren Linney, Zach Beasley, Philip Balnave and Dan Camac were each lapping myself and the rest of the field regularly. The pace was impressive and a little intimidating. But then as the hours ticked on things started to change, by about 8 and a half hours in I was 6th, then 5th, then 4th. I reached the 100km mark in a little over 10hrs and even though I wasn’t feeling as fresh as I’d hoped to be at that stage of the race, I could tell I probably wasn’t alone.

A couple of guys in front of me had either slowed noticeably or were on the sidelines resting. I soon realised I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Darren Linney. Darren was one of the guys I considered a likely candidate to take home a trophy so that was a surprise. Later I’d discover he dropped at 100km. David Eadie was a dozen or so laps behind me in 5th place but I had no delusions of my own ability when compared to his, with just under 14 hours to go I knew it was only a matter of time before he caught me. I started to concentrate on trying to finish the race in 4th or 5th. I had a 10-minute break with Camille and the kids, ate some pizza and drank some coke, said something along the lines of ‘holy crap this is actually really hard, I don’t think this is going very well’ and got jogging again. And then Zachary dropped, and I was 3rd. 

I’m a genuine fan of ultra running, I enjoy spectating just as much as racing and I discovered that one of cool things about track racing is that you can race and spectate at the same time. In the women’s race Karen Mickle, Fleur Duoy and Cheryl Symons made up the top 3 for the first 12-15 hours and at that point I was pretty confident that the women’s podium had probably been decided.

For myself, over the next few hours, things started to get harder. I was eating and drinking as well as I ever have but I could feel fatigue creeping in. It felt great to be 3rd at this point in the race and for a moment I admit I did entertain the idea of trying to stay ahead of David. From 12 hours on I decided to walk 2 laps at the beginning of every new hour, eating and drinking as I went, and then run a consistent pace for the remaining 50 odd minutes. It worked out to be an average of 8km/h, maybe just enough, although it wouldn’t be long before he was just 3 laps behind me.

I pushed myself to the 16 hour mark hoping the change in direction might give me some energy but unfortunately it did not. Soon afterwards David finally overtook me. Despite expecting it all night I think it just took the last of the wind out of my sails. Dan was nearly 10kms in front of me and Daragh may as well have been in another solar system. At 17 hours I walked the first of my 2 laps pretty much exhausted, at one point I lost concentration and wandered across 3 lanes. I was done, I’d run enough races to know that I didn’t have another 7 hours left in me. I was 149kms in, a massive 51kms short of my target. It was deflating. I made it back to my chair, sat down and instantly felt the urge to sleep. I’d never felt like that out running before so I knew better than to fight it. I gave up on my 200km goal, pulled on a jacket, some pants and a rug and closed my eyes.

I dozed fitfully for about 35 minutes, I’d like to say I had a good sleep but it was more like 6 bad sleeps. At about 5:45am or just shy of 18 hours I climbed out of the chair and walked my second lap, and then I started running again. To my surprise I was still in 4th place. There was no sleep-induced miraculous recovery, everything hurt like hell but somehow, I felt like I could probably run/walk for the remaining 6 hours and finish in 4th place.

David had extended his lead over me to about 17 laps and Dan was a whopping 36 laps ahead. It mattered not where Daragh was by that stage. With 6 hours to go 200kms was still a mathematical possibility. I was only 49ks short but it didn’t seem at all likely that I’d be able to punch out over 8kms an hour for 6 hours at the end of a 24 hour race. The classic Jim Carey line from Dumb and Dumber popped into my head…“So you,re saying there’s a chance?.”

If you haven’t seen the movie, he says that in a situation where there’s absolutely zero chance. I cheered up a bit and decided to make sure I gave it everything I had. I covered 9 kilometres in that hour, I noticed that Dan was now walking as often as he was jogging. He was still miles ahead, but his lead had dropped by a few laps. My 200kms was now exactly 8km/h away. It wasn’t much but combined they were a nice confidence booster. The next hour I was again a little faster than my required pace, another few laps closer to Dan (who was still sitting comfortably in 2nd).

David also had a comfortable lead over me, but it wasn’t getting any bigger as time went on and I was now determined to finish the race off as well as I could. The final 10 minutes of every hour just before I was ‘allowed’ to walk was extremely uncomfortable, but the system was working, and it felt maintainable. With 4 hours to go I was confident I had enough left in the tank, there was 32kms to go in 4 hours. It was going to bloody hurt but it was doable. I ditched the headphones, I pumped my arms and I got a bit excited. I started keeping track of the other guys’ laps as a way of keeping myself occupied and motivated. Dan was 29 laps ahead, the previous hour I had gained 4 laps. I needed to lap him over 7 times every hour for the next 4 hours to overtake him. I wasn’t really thinking about trying to pull it off, rather just thinking about it in general. I felt competitive again and that was all I needed to keep running. I was going to finish in 4th place, and I was going to finish running.

Three hours to go and Dan Camac was now 22 laps ahead. I realised I had lapped him 7 times in an hour. 

Two hours to go and I only had to run 15 kilometres. Now just 14 laps behind Dan. He was really struggling to run at this point and would soon be overtaken by David. I’m not sure if he was just trying to stay ahead of me or if he just wanted to reach the magical 200 in time, either way he’s clearly a tough nut to crack and was pushing himself extremely hard.

With 1 hour to go my 200km goal was now inevitable and Dan was just 7 laps ahead of me. I literally ran as fast as I could, I was grunting with every step and in a hell of a lot of pain but my splits were getting faster, I was almost running as fast as I had been 4 hours into the race. I was sure I was the fastest person on the track at that point but to my utter amazement David Eadie lapped me! That blew me away at the time but to be honest I think it spurred me on a bit too.

With 10 minutes to go in the race, I completed my 500th lap. Half a lap later I finally overtook Dan Camac and moved into 3rd place. I crossed the timing mat and the big screen confirmed I was 3rd and had now exceeded my goal of 200km. There was a small crowd in the area that included my wife and kids and they cheered loudly as I passed through the starting chute. There was a fair bit of emotion threatening to come to the surface with the realisation that the painful effort of the last 6 hours had actually paid off, so I tried to focus on running out the rest of the race.

I’m pretty sure I wasn’t fooling anyone though. I ran on for 2 more laps before the adrenaline wore off and I was officially cooked. The gun went off and I dropped my beanbag. I finished directly alongside my aide-neighbour Nikki who had been running in lane 3. She had run a phenomenal debut 24 hour race and finished 3rd in the women’s race with a huge 184.4km behind Cheryl Symons and Karen Mickle (188.4km and 190.3km respectively). All three women ran extremely consistent races. Fleur had unfortunately developed some issues in the early hours of the morning and had been forced to walk for the remainder of the race. 

My kids came running over waving their arms in the air and hooting, I sat down on the ground and it was finally over.

The men’s podium – 1st was Daragh O’Loughlin who led from the start and was never threatened, finishing with an impressive total and a new PB of 232.470km; 2nd was David Eadie who ran intelligently all day and also finished with a new PB of 209.016km and 3rd was myself with (obviously also a PB) 201.512km. 

Dan Camac finished 4th and completed 500 laps (200km) in the dying stages of the race. 

Congratulations must go to the organisers of the event. With a record total field of 129 runners and walkers the it was extremely well run. From check-in to presentations everything went smoothly, communication to the runners couldn’t be faulted and at no point did I notice anything that needed to be improved. If track ultras are your thing then I would definitely recommend giving the Coburg 24 hour festival a go next year.

For myself, I instantly swore I’d never do another 24 hour track race but already one week later, I was wondering if I could go a little bit further next time.

Pictured: Ben Nicolls (bib no. 2438, centre track) at the 2021 Coburg 24hr. Photograph – Coburg 24hr website.