Sunday Long Run
Decided to give Ben Berriman Lower Bluey’s 50 Mile loop ago
87.5km 2344m+ Elev in 15hr:27min
Aptly named:
“Establishing the lower Blueys Centre of Excellence border patrol 50 Miler”
Amazing trails, some being well formed and others being very indistinct and looking like they haven’t been used for ages in this part of the Blue Mountains, with beautiful Blue Gum Forests, lots of Grottos and isolated ravines,
And can’t forget a few very steep climbs and descents to make it interesting.
So hard to believe that all this can be so close to the towns.
This run has been made into an FKT route that was first completed as a Supported run by Ben and Rob Phillpott in a little over 14hrs, then by Anthony Tuting in just over 13hrs.
Massive respect by all 3 on their great times completing this loop.
As I always like to do, decided to give it ago doing it Solo and fully unsupported
This means no help along the way, carrying everything I need for the whole run and only picking up water at streams or public taps.
Not being on most of the tracks that Ben had chosen to put this loop together, I could only go off previous times with what I may required. One factor that was out of my control was the bloody hot weather throughout the day with it being 35deg 🥵
At one point I did run out of fluids running out to Grose Head South with no water sources around, so it was a cautious management in the heat untill I found a tap to fill up with.
With this being my longest run and first ultra distance since coming home from NY I was happy with the time completed in considering all the factors on the day.
Whilst slower than both previous Supported run, this will be able to be recorded as being an Unsupported attempt
My Nutrition for the day,
10 bottles of Tailwind and about the same again with just water
(Greatfull to have my Katadyn filter soft flask to allow me to filter all the stream water)
1 backup bar and a handful of jelly beans
whilst certainly not enough considering the time this still got me to the finish line