The last Sunday before Christmas is traditionally the date for the running of the 6 inch ultra marathon in Dwellingup.  ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) Coming when it does, so close to Christmas, it is just a great time to catch up with good friends before the silly season kicks off and a last chance for a long run before the New Year. Dwellingup itself is a beautiful country town with a local pub that serves great food and just has a wonderful feel and vibe. The town must triple in volume for the weekend of the event and it’s the sort of event where everybody knows everybody and it just works, location, timing and people, a trifecta of good. The boys,  and Amy, look forward to it and have done for the last 10 years plus.  We always stay at the same location, watch the same video before the race on Saturday night (Run Fatboy Run) and then enjoy the post race entertainment which normally involves a good barbi and/or lunch at the Blue Wren café or the pub, both great options.

Over the years there have been some great stories , most of which are captured or documented  on this blog. I’ve had some great runs, some not so great runs normally involving me getting lost but most of all it’s just a great way to end the running year.  Dave Kennedy, the Race Director, has just come up with the perfect course, and it is just about perfect, at the perfect time, you get the idea.

The race itself is also sponsored by, among others,  the Running Centre ( https://therunningcentre.com.au/ ) so Friday night myself and Barts ambled down to pick up our bibs. As you can see below I was lucky to score the number 1 this year as it was my 12th start and this gave me entry into a small club of two others runners who have completed twelve 6 inch trail ultra marathons, Jon ‘Trail Blazer’ Phillips and Nathan Fawkes. Dave gives out low numbers for the runners who have the most finishes and Barts , like myself, is a long term supporter. He was stoked to get a single digit bib number , made even more special as Jon Pendse has a two digit version.

We normally drive down to Dwellingup early Saturday morning so we can spend the day exploring the local area. Barts will always find a new place to explore and this time was no different. As it tradition with Barts we got lost after visiting the ex-Prisoner of War camp, one of his favourite go-to landmarks. We than travelled off road to another trail loop and yet again nearly found ourselves aimlessly wandering about the Australian outback. As with all things this weekend it’s tradition.

The highlight of this magical mystery tour was a green tree, literally a green tree. We found this worthy of a photo and some classic blue steel stares. Adam is trying hard enough but I don’t think Rob has seen Zoolander ?

As I mentioned earlier we always get the same accommodation and it is , shall we say, functional.  You certainly get to feel what a POW would have felt like , which is quite fitting after the POW camp tour earlier in the day.  There are 7 of these and a little tip , don’t get the one nearest the toilet , for various reasons.  I was the furthest away from the offending area and had Barts in the room next to me, albeit the walls are paper thin and I received a text asking what time I was intending on going to bed, cheeky bugger ! Around 10pm I finally prepared my race uniform for the 10th time and settled down, much to Barts annoyance of course.

The race starts at 4:30am and we stay at the finish so there is a 20-25 minute drive to the start. This year Rob was designated driver and we all piled into Bart’s Prada and off we went. Bar Barts killing a bandicoot the journey to the start was uneventful, pretty eventful for the bandicoot family of course, shame.  We arrived with plenty of time, checked in and then drove the short distance to the start, after first emptying most of mine and Adam’s drink bottles onto the carpet of the car, again much to Barts annoyance.

The race this year went to plan. I wanted to try and finish as close to four hours as possible but more importantly enjoy the event rather than flog myself to within an inch of my life, which I have done on multiple occasions at this event. I found myself running with Shane Johnstone , he of Delirious West 200 miler 2021 winner and record holder, who had  also decided this was about finishing, not finishing time. Unfortunately I started to really enjoy this new found freedom of just finishing and found myself hemorrhaging  positions as I moved back down the pack.   When Adam and Matt went past me I knew I would have to make more of an effort as both these guys were targeting times much slower than mine. Thus about halfway I put my foot down and cruised to the finish in a top 20 position and just over four hours, mission accomplished.

Of course I can’t write a post on the 6 inch ultra trail marathon without a shot of me struggling up the escalator. You hit this bad boy of a hill at around 35km and it has ended the race of many 6 inch runners, Mike Kowal is a notable ‘I’ll never go back‘ runner who lost his trail mojo on this hill. We should actually erect a plaque to that affect and maybe put down flowers each time we run it, funnily enough that would be a good tradition as Michael loves his flowers ! As you can see by the size of the ruts it is unrunable and also smaller runners have been known to fall into the larger ruts and lay there waiting for help to get out, Jon Pendse is one of those albeit his cries for help were ignored by Barts who seized the chance to leave him there and step on ! It is a race…

So here is the shot of the day, thanks Rob. Me finishing my twelfth 6 inch ultra thirteen years after my first (it was cancelled one year due to a fire risk/warning)  In that time it has grown from a free fat-ass event with less than twenty runners to a quote of 350 runners,  which sells out annually,  complete with all the bling and memorabilia. It has been a privilege to be a part of this event and watch it grow and if you have never ran it you need to put that right , sooner rather than later.

Another tradition, not to everyone’s liking, is the BK in the Esky shot. This was started on a particularly hot day many years ago and although it upsets a few people you can’t argue with a tradition, can you ? I remember a few years ago I left my head in there too long and got ice burns, I never knew this was a thing !

So to finish off a perfect weekend Dave presented me with my trophy for finishing twelve 6 inch ultras and I look forward to my gold spike for twenty four, or eighteen ? All in all another great adventure with the boys and Amy, and I’m already looking forward to getting lost with Barts next year and of course Run FatBoy Run Saturday night, why wouldn’y you ?

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