We started at 5am on Saturday morning ready for the big day ahead. We waited patiently with nerves for our clocks to tick over to 5:00am and we were off. My (Monika's) watch froze as soon as I pressed start but I had also started my Strava on my phone a few minutes before as a back-up, so we could send the beacon out to our loved ones and they could follow our progress during the day, so I was happy I would still have a record of the run.
At 1km, even though my watch was still frozen it beeped at the same time as Jo's so I was relieved it was still recording the run. It did the same for km 2 and 3. At 4km the screen came on but it had missed a km from 3-4 so my distance was 1km behind Jo.
We carried on in the dark until we reach Ettalong Beach where we both had our first toilet break. We were back on track pretty quickly as the sun was rising with a stunning sunrise and made our way to Pearl Beach public toilets where we used the facilities and filled up all our water as we had 42km until our next reliable water source.
The next 40km or so was along the Great North Walk. We paced ourselves well and was keeping down food constantly. We passed many runner who were training for the GNW Ultra in a few weeks time. When we had 3km to go to Somersby both Jo and I were running very low of water, we were very happy to see the public toilet where we both drank 500ml+ water, had a big snack and filled up for the next 33km stint until Frost Reserve.
On our way after our break we were flying, had already completed 57km and past the half way and on pace for the record. We completed the next few ks in under 5min pace and thought we better put the hand break on for a bit. Strickland Forest was such a great sight, beautiful single track in the shade of the dense forest. Once we popped out of Strickland we hit the roads of Narara and Wyoming at around the 65km mark I was hitting the wall a bit and stuggling to get solid food down, Joasia was strong as ever. I just stuck behind Jo and followed her footsteps until we came out of Rumbalar and Katandra Reserve.
Once we came to Erina Heights with 20km to go and ahead of the record pace. I knew we could do it, I continued following Joasia's footsteps as she set the pace. Once we hit Kincumba Mt we knew the trails very well, this is on our doorstep so could grasp exactly where to go without needing the map. We made our way to Frost Reserve where we filled our waters for the last time and had a quick refuel break before finishing the last 14km.
Heading towards Macmasters and Little beach was very enjoyable, we knew how close we were and just counted down the Ks. At little beach with 5km to go we messaged our loved ones to let them know we were 5km from the end. The last 2km was along a soft sandy Maitland Bay beach and then 1km of stairs back to the carpark. At the top of the carpark my watch said I had done 99.95km so a quick victory lap of the carpark on route to the Bell where we stopped our watches and were greeted by our friends and family with a lot of cheering.
We were so excited that we had finished in record time for unsupported and supported. Taking over an hour off the Supported record and nearly 3 off the unsupported. Many thanks to Joasia for agreeing to come on this adventure with me and to Melissa Roberts and Julie Brock for giving us great times to chase. Such a great and rewarding day on a fantastic route around our local area.