I ran the Endorfun Freycinet trail race a few weeks ago for the first time. It was one of the few Tassie races I had never done so I was excited to give it a go. I felt quite fit heading into it and decided to push myself hard and see what I was capable of. The conditions on the day were horrendous but I managed to surprise myself by getting second place in an epic sprint finish. This is one of my favourite racing experiences. Read on for the full run down.

Storms Brewing

I headed up the east coast with Renae the night before the race and we stayed in a little Airbnb in Bicheno. Bad weather was imminent but the evening was calm and suspiciously mild. We went for a little shakeout run then ate pasta and watched commercial TV like an old married couple.

With nothing much else to do we were in bed early. I slept soundly but in the early hours of the morning I started having my recurring dream where I am am running late for the race start. Thankfully when I wake up I realise it was all a dream. We get ready in the luxury of our humble abode and I am grateful that I am not camping.

The temperature had dropped and the wind was intensifying. Driving towards Freycinet the conditions deteriorate. The rain droplets grow in size the closer we get. We arrive at the carpark during a lull, but as we grab our race bibs the rain returns. We had hoped that the predicted cold front might come later in the day. For once the weatherman got it right.

Fast Brutal Start

The race begins from the carpark and heads straight up to the Wineglass bay lookout. It is a brutal beginning to a long hard run. I jostle my way towards the front of the pack. I get myself into second place then make a move to first on the climb. Feeling strong I maintain a solid pace on the climb all the way to the lookout. Not long into the climb I notice that there is only one runner holding onto me. I now know that this was Angus Tolson.

We reach the lookout together and begin our descent towards Wineglass bay. Angus is so close behind and I am struggling to go much faster on the loose gravel trails. Touristy trails have steps and turns that aren’t suited to fast trail running. I let Angus go ahead and try to hold onto him but he gradually builds a gap. My eyes are watering from a combination of the cold and wearing contact lenses. My degraded vision forces me to be cautious on the downhill.

Wineglass Bay and Up Mt Graham

Upon reaching the beach at Wineglass Bay I can see that Angus is now 100m ahead. We both gravitate towards the hard sand near the waters edge. I am in the mood to race so I try to hold onto him and gain distance. The beach is ok for running if hard sand can be found. The problem is the hard stuff is close to the waters edge where the breaking waves are surging risking wet sandy shoes. We both make futile attempts at keeping our feet dry.

By the end of the beach I have made minimal gains on the leader. I trudge through the soft sand towards the trail. In the campsite some hikers have setup a tent right in the middle of the trail. Some of the hikers seem surprised to see us. They are about to experience a whole cavalcade of trail runners stampeding through.

As the brutal climb up Mt Graham begins I decide to lean into it and hold onto Angus for as long as possible. I manage to keep him within view for the majority of the climb. Generally less than 50m ahead. I focus on trying to run a little more than him on the climbs and take a few steps before walking than him. This strategy doesn’t seem to work and he maintains the gap.

Freezing on the Mountain

Despite the freezing conditions I am pouring out sweat. My body generates so much heat on a hard climb. As the trail opens up strong wind and rain hit me and the sweat cools me dramatically. Conditions are horrendous. I am no longer enjoying myself and even consider slowing down to put on gloves and a jacket. I opt for the alternative of pushing even harder to maintain body heat.

My attempts at going faster are difficult on the rugged terrain. It’s a combination of slippery granite and deep puddles. I take a fall and land in the freezing water of a muddy puddle. Dragging myself from the puddle I have bloodied knees and my left arm is hurting. I continue on drenched and even colder.

It’s been years since I was last on these trails so my memory is failing me. Approaching a crest I convince myself I must almost be at the top ready for the descent. But I am disappointed to see a great distance further to go before I can get down from the freezing mountain top. Having lost sight of Angus I am on my own racing against hypothermia.

Treacherous Descent

When I reach the turn off for Mt Freycinet I know the descent is imminent. I have high hopes for a super fast downhill to get me out of the cold mountains but this was not to be. The initial downhill is slippery wet granite. My attempts at moving quickly result in a few too many near misses and I decide to slow down and be more considered with my footing. I am frustrated and cold and unable to move fast enough to raise my body temperature. But I soldier on and am eventually granted my wish of runnable downhill trails.

In my excitement for fast trails I run as fast as I possibly can. My body temperature gradually rises and feeling returns to my fingers. It isn’t long till I am having fun again and look forward to the the fast running to come.

Fast Trails and along Hazards Beach

I start to gamify the run by seeing how fast I can run each kilometre split. The downhills are ran recklessly and momentum is maintained for the small undulations. Running along the coast towards Hazards beach I am reminded of a past experience. The last time I was on these trails heading in this direction was over 5 years ago. It was after a foolish solo hiking expedition where I left my tent fly at home trusting the perfect weather forecast. When the torrential rain arrived shortly after I went to bed I packed up all of my wet gear and hiked out in the middle of the night reaching my car at 3am.

This time around I am experiencing the trails on marginally better terms. Is is still raining and I am in a lot of pain but this time the suffering is voluntary. What felt like an eternity to hike during that rainy night flies by at race pace. I am aiming to keep my splits below 5 min/k and have started doing mental arithmetic on whether my sub 2:45 time goal is within reach.

When I reach Hazards beach I unleash a super fast pace. For the first time since climbing Mt Graham I can see Gus ahead, and the gap is only about 500m. Running along the beach I wholeheartedly focus on closing the gap. But try as I might the distance between us seems to remain unchanged.

At the end of the beach I leave the beloved hard sand and traverse the soft stuff to get to the trail. I am hit with a shocking pain in my inner left thigh. I think it’s just cramping and try to push on but the pain is intense. I stop and prod my leg wondering if I have done a proper injury. This slows me down considerably and I fear that I might be broken.

Around the Headland

I walk on hoping I am not injured. I worry about losing my position so I try to keep moving briskly. There’s now a similar pain in my other leg so I convince myself it is just cramping and nothing serious. I commit to pushing through the pain. The cramps are manageable if I minimise muscle contractions. Any small steps I try to waddle up without bending my knees.

Soon enough the pain begins to subside and I am determined to finish. I have stopped caring about catching the leader thinking he must be a long way ahead. With the end in reach I start counting down the k’s and have started overtaking the 11km racers. Even though we aren’t racing, passing them gives me a boost. Some offer words of encouragement which are an incredible performance enhancer at this stage of a race. My determination must have seemed animalistic to the 11km runners, I was gasping and heaving pushing myself so hard to get it done.

The Final Showdown

With less than a kilometre to go, I see a runner ahead walking up a short climb. I’ve been seeing so many 11km runners that I initially think nothing of it. Then I realise that I have caught up to first place and he realises he’s been caught. I am kind of annoyed to catch him because I now feel compelled to have a go at chasing him down. There was so little left in the tank but I said to myself, ‘you will hate yourself if you don’t have a crack’. So begrudgingly I dig deeper than I ever have.

I chase but he doesn’t give up. I gradually gain distance. There is less than 10 metres between us. We start to see more signage and I know we must be close to the carpark. I am pushing myself at 10 out of 10 exertion levels. This is the beauty of racing, I would never be able to push so hard under any other circumstances.

The final push is the most intense racing experience I have ever had. We are so close and both running as hard as we can. We reach the toilet block near the finish then the path zig zags with handrails. We are both flinging ourselves around the corners while holding onto the rails. It is a full blown sprint finish and Angus gets the win by about a metre.

Both of us are buckled by the exertion. We are surrounded by people and there is a commentator on the microphone. Turns out we crashed the 11km race presentations by bursting in with our sprint finish. It was surreal to finish like that with so many baffled spectators. People congratulated us while I tried to recover and come to terms with what just happened. What an epic way to finish a race!

Renae came through and claimed 3rd female position. We both got on the podium which was a great achievement but made the drive home difficult. We were both nauseous and had to take turns driving.

Results

I am so stoked with the run. I don’t even care about coming second, it means I can now display my medal in our household second trophy collection. It is hands down the greatest racing experience I have ever had. It was a proper race and it made me push harder than I knew possible.

I achieved my goal of going under 2:45. Had I not caught Gus at the end I may not have achieved that. I looked at the results over the years and I have the 8th fastest time and I am a second away from the 7th. I am keen to come back and see if I can improve my time. I am certain I could get down Mt Graham faster in better conditions. Maybe I’ll be back next year for another crack.

Finish time	2:44:15
Position	2nd
Time Goal	Sub 2:45 ✅
Strava Activity	Strava Link