There are two ways to run Delirious, crewed or uncrewed (or ‘screwed‘ as Shaun calls it?)  I tried uncrewed in 2020 and failed abysmally, DNF’ing at Mandalay , around 114km into the event. That night sitting in Felix’s car at 2AM I had no real reason to continue, my quads had seized solid due to little or no training and even less hydration and nutrition, a recipe for disaster.  The last four years my good friend Mark Loomers has crewed for me and it’s like business class for trail runners. As you can see from the image below I don’t travel light and all this is available to me at just about every aid station, sheer luxury. There was nineteen aid stations in Delirious and Mark can get to about seventeen of them. I reckon I changed my top and socks at just about every one with several complete change of clothes throughout the event. Add in one shower and two three hour sleeps in my swag,  as well as a couple of hour or so power naps in my reclining chair, yep, business class please , all day long.

There are many traditions when it comes to Delirious and the first is the photo of Mark and I leaving my house, which over the four years together has been at three different locations. This year we left Scarborough Monday lunchtime for the five hour drive to sunny Northcliffe and dinner at the hotel.  I like Monday evening in Northcliffe as it’s a lot quieter , just the hardcore runners with a few finishes under their belt, the usual suscepts of good friends gathering for the calm before the storm that is a Tuesday evening race briefing.  Most of the competitors turn up for the compulsory Tuesday race check in and briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Monday is a lot more chilled. Monday evening is also a good time to spend quality time with Duncan and Helen, the owners of the hotel, before they are literally ‘run off their feet’ organising the bogan run and evening meals on Tuesday.  It’s a chalk and cheese situation Monday and Tuesday.

Next photo is the driving down image which needs to be published in the facebook page so everybody else can do the same, another tradition of course, and how many times have I said ‘runners love tradition’.  Looking back at these posts over the last six years all I see is my beard turning grey more and more each year, the joys of aging gracefully ? Mark on the other hand seems to look the same every year, probably because he’s crewing and I’m running 200 miles, logical really. ? Ultra running is not the best activity for keeping your ‘boyish,. boy band ‘ good looks it seems, another sacrifice you make for the sport you love. I always make an effort to get out the RUN TRC top over the event, a tip of the hat to the Running Centre in Perth. ( https://therunningcentre.com.au/ ) . These guys, along with the Tribe and Tribe shop ( https://www.tribeandtrail.com.au/ ) have been good to me over the years and I highly recommend both establishments.

Another tradition is the Coles stop on the way down at Manjimup where I normally spend three figures on food I never eat although there always seems to be a large proportion missing at the end of the event. This year I was determined to spend less at Coles and take advantage of the aid stations, and Mark’s impressive cooking skills. To this end I managed to scrape under $100 albeit by less than $10 and I didn’t seem to have much in the trolley, this cost of living crisis is real it seems. I mentioned to the cashier I had the feeling I had been financially raped, she laughed and agreed.  Thankyou Coles.

During the event I did take advantage of the aid station food more than the last few years and it really helped eating good, honest food compared to the sugar intensive gu’s and sweets. No upset stomach and no feeling of running on empty, a big bonus and the food was so good this year as aid station crews learnt from previous years and experience allowed them to perfect their offerings.  Every aid station was special but some more special, well the ones I tried anyway. Highlights included the home made pumpkin soup as well as the pasta and mince at Denmark, the bacon, egg and hash brown wrap at Giant tingle, the burrito and the chicken and pasta soup at Lowlands, the bean curry at Boat Harbour and of course Shelly’s,  the mango chicken as well as some maple syrup and waffles for good measure.  Most cooking at the aid stations was home made and it was just so, so good, albeit I’m sure the hunger a runner experiences running for three days straight makes all food taste so much better than normal.  Actually no, it’s just good home made cooking. Funnily enough I sold the event to Michelle Frost ( https://fitmindfitbody.co/podcast/ ) as an eating and drinking competition with running between aid stations but she lost her appetitive and never really took advantage of the great food.

So where the heck is Northcliffe ? it’s a small town right on the bibbulmun track  ( https://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/ ) and the prefect starting point for a 200 miler, point to point,  to Albany.  Shaun Kaesler, the founder of the Ultra Series company found this pub and its incredible landlords, Duncan and Helen, when he was looking for the first 200 miler to be staged in Australia in 2019. He found the perfect small town, he perfect starting location and the perfect hosts for the race briefing and bib pickup and of course the infamous bogan run, the race that stops a small town.  All the stars aligned.

The Northcliffe hotel is like so many hotels in small towns around Australia, grass roots Australian, from the great pub grub to the warmth and humour of the landlords and patrons, if you’re looking for what is Australia, the Northcliffe Hotel is right up there.  It is perfect for the starting point to this epic adventure that is Delirious , as much as the Earl of Spencer, in Albany is perfect for the after party on Sunday evening.  Good stories need good locations to tell them and the Northcliffe Hotel and Earl of Spencer are purpose build for this purpose, sprinkle in some alcohol and good grub and the stories flow.

After dinner on Monday evening , a bloody good steak sandwich with all the trimmings, Mark and I retired to Pemberton, another small country town about twenty minutes from Northcliffe. Tuesday morning is always spend in Pemberton having a good brekkie at the ‘Wild at heart’ cafe and we book out most the venue for pre-Delirious chatter over good coffee. Ultra running does seem to rev9olve around pubs and good cafe’s serving good coffee it seems, food plays an important role in this sport, that and drinking from shoes it seems.

Normally post brekkie we climb the Gloucester Tree but it has been closed since 2023 so we needed another activity to keep us busy pre-bib pickup later on Tuesday afternoon. Last year we finally discovered the Pemberton pool so this was penciled in for the late mornings activity.  This pool is nearly 100 years old, man made and I reckon the coldest water I have swam in. Jamie dived in first and didn’t give the game away so imagine my surprise when I dived in and nearly had a heart attack as the cold water took my breath , and other parts of my anatomy, away ! It must have been above freezing but only just !

We survived , and yes survived is the right word, the Pemberton pool before scuttling off to the Pemberton Hotel for some more good Aussi’ grub , albeit in this case a Nasa Goreng swimming in satay sauce, it was very good.  Post lunch we got all our mandatory gear together and drove to Northcliffe for check in , bogan run and race briefing.

After bib pick up its the traditional photo with my crew and then the bogan run kicks off and Northcliffe comes to a standstill, truth be told its pretty close to a standstill at any moment in the day or night. I’m not sure any locals even realise the bogan run brings Northcliffe to a standstill, they just think its business as usual, got to love small country towns. In previous years the bogan run distance , and course, has remained a mystery even it seems to the race director, it’s very ‘fluid‘ shall we say, with drinking quotas and the course itself changing on the fly. This has resulted in many contentious decisions so this year Shaun made the bogan run a beer mile , plus or minus a few hundred metres and with the running around the keg ten times thrown in for good measure.  Mark, my crerw, had won the bogan run a few years ago but for the first time abstained as he has the Gold Coast marathon in twelve week and takes his training very seriously, unlike just about everybody for Delirious !

This left the door open to Shannon Dale to rise to the top of the bogan’s but although he looked the part he melted into a pool Emu Bitter and hot chilies and disgraced his runner, the infamous Hooter Hunter, Darlene Dale, (four time finished) by finishing near the back of the pack. Actually looking back I’m not even sure if he complete the four laps, a very poor performance; similar to Carlton in the AFL 2025.

Post bogan run and pre-dinner is the photo Infront of the hotel of all present , an image you need to get into, it’s tradition. Another Astrid photo @ourphotostories.

Post bogan run it’s race briefing armed with another steak sandwich of course. You’ll notice I was using my knife and fork while Mark went all ‘Aussi’ and used his hands.  The Northcliffe does bloody good grub.

Race briefing is the final activity for Tuesday before everybody scuttles off to their accommodation and tries to get a good night sleep, their last for at least three nights minimum. I don’t usually have a problem sleeping but for some reason I struggled and probably only got three to four hours. Not ideal knowing what was coming, no worries, it would make the hallucinations stronger, earlier ?  I planned three hours sleep Wednesday and Thursday night and a couple of hours Friday before powering to a Saturday morning finish. This proved to be the case with my Thursday sleep, after a shower at Peaceful Bay, totally recharging my batteries ahead of a fast finish, but thats a few posts away.

Wednesday morning came soon enough and we set off from our digs in Pemberton to get to the Northcliffe for 6am for the traditional pre-race waffles and coffee. This year the race was actually starting at  Giant Tingle at 10am due to fire damage on the first sixty kilometres of the original course  but I wasn’t going to miss my waffles. We then drove back to Pemberton as Mark forgot his pillow, had another coffee before driving to the start, a two hour drive. We arrived with thirty minutes or so to spare.

This was biggest field in Delirious West history with nearly seventy runners in the 200 miler and similar numbers in the 100 miler.  It would make parking space premium at the first few aid stations but somehow Mark always seem to get the best space , experience I suppose.  We started this year at Giant Tingle and had to run North to Broke Road , via Warpole, Mount Clare and Mandalay aid stations, then a five kilometre loop taking in the Broke Road aid station, moved to accommodate this new out and back section.   Post Broke Road we would continue south back to Giant Tingle aid station and then continue to Albany on the original course.

This new course change, forced upon the event by the first 60km of the course being badly burnt by a fire, was not ideal as it meant we ran , in my opinion, the hardest part of the course , Mandelay to Mount Clare, twice. My plan was to try and get through this in one day but in the end I pulled up to Mandelay later than I had hoped and decided to have a three hour sleep before tackling the Mandaley to Mount Clare section again, twice in one day would be showing off.  My running companion for the day Charles Bosweld aged with me and we both scuttled off to our respective sleeping areas, me to my swag , Charles to the back of his ute.

Start line to Walpole .

The start line at  Giant Tingle to Walpole is around 10k and all either downhill, at the start, or flat. It’s very run-able heading North and I ran at the front of the pack with Charles Bosweld , Craig Jeffrey, Matty Salinovich , Simon Bennet and Tim Pullen. There would be no aid station at Walpole being so early in the event and we would have to make our way to Mount Clare for our first taste of aid station hospitality .  It’s great to finally get going and the downhill start was a bonus, as were the perfect conditions.

Walpole to Mount Clare.  Another quick section of less than ten kilomteres albeit this time with some elevation as we worked our way from sea level up to Mount Clare. Not as steep as the Mandelay to Mount Clare section but there was a few sections where we adopted the ultra attitude of walking the hills. We had a long way to go and no point burning out in the first morning.  The conversation was flowing as we were all like five year old’s on Christmas day, so excited to finally be running the DW 200 miler.

Highlight of this section was my GoPro switching itself on in my backpack pocket and filming the inside of said pocket for ninety minutes before filling up my SD card and turning itself off, then running out of battery. Once I got into Mount Clare Mark was handed said GoPro and ordered to recharge after I deleted the offending item from the camera. As it was I hardly used the GoPro and all my good intentions of filming this event , yet again, failed. I did get enough photos for the post but video is so much better , maybe next year ?

We hit Mount Clare and decided ten minutes would be enough to fill our water bottles and take on any food the aid station had to offer. It turned out to be quality home made biscuits and I grabbed a few for the next section while stuffing my face waiting for my water bottles to be filled. We departed within the ten minutes and Charles and I found ourselves alone as the other guys had either left even quicker than us or were left behind, as it was they were all ahead of us but we caught them quickly enough.

Mount Clare to Mandelay.  What I consider to be the hardest single section of the event, in both directions although south would be a tad more difficult as you’re climbing up Mount Clare at the end. We caught Craig and Matty early and then Simon came back to us just before the beach. On the way we passed Dougie Bartlett but he dropped off to grab some water from a hut so was left to his own devices. The company made the journey a lot easier as we all suffered together, I’m a big believer in joint suffering , it makes the time disappear a lot quicker than being alone with your own thoughts. We were in high spirits and for the first time ever this section passed quickly enough and before we knew it we hit the beach at Mandelay for a short beach section before climbing up some more stairs to the aid station.

As a group we were setting a good pace and were placed just off the poduim, probably around fifth place. We ran when we could, walked the hills and just breathed in our surroundings, it was special and that’s the point of Delirious , you really are surrounded by the most majestic conditions for a trail runner. Of course this section is hard, in both directions, but it was nice to run it on good legs for a change instead of the zombie like hike which is the norm for this bad boy, after over 115 kilometres in the legs and twenty hours plus of running.

As you can see from the image and the video we were stoked to make the beach albeit we still had to make the return journey on tired legs later in the evening or early morning.  The plan was to make this trip in the evening or early hours of Thursday to sleep at Walpole. As it was we arrive back at Mandelay around one in the morning and decided the best option was sleep for three hours and then tackle the section to Mount Clare as the sun rose.

Right that’s enough for the first post. We are currently sitting at Mandelay about 85k into the event, with just under 250km to go, I better make an effort to cut down my posts or I’ll be writing up this adventure all year.

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Big shout out to fisiocrem , this product is just incredible for tired and aching legs. I use it daily and have noticed a vast improvement in recovery.

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

Fractel ( https://fractel.com.au/ ) have your performance headgear covered. I love the colours and the functionality of these hats, I guarantee there is one model you’ll fall in love with.

Shokz headphones, let you keep in touch with the world around while losing yourself in quality tunes or podcasts. ( https://shokz.com.au/ )

T8 running apparel is the best you can get, second to none. Designed for the ultra humid Hong Kong conditions the owners live in.  It is light and does away with any chaffing worries. T8 is the name given to the highest typhoon warning in Honk Kong,  storms and typhoons with gusts exceeding 180kph, which explains the branding. ( https://t8.run/)

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