Prom 100 - Race Report

All day on Friday I sat in a work seminar at the Marriott in North Ryde. I just kept on gutsing myself on confectionery bananas. I ate pastry for morning tea and rice and pasta for lunch. By the time I had made it to Sydney airport I was so stuffed full of simple and complex carbohydrates that I was feeling like I’d committed the fifth deadly sin (that’s the one about Gluttony).

The 18:30 Jetstar to Avalon was fabulous. (just love it how they exclaim “Enjoy” as if they’re all from up north) jumped into my Corolla and realised I had about 4hrs of driving in front of me. Ugh!

Arrived at the Prom around 12:30 and it was blowing a gale. Didn’t even bother pitching the new tent. (Black Diamond, Firstlight, lightest two man tent on the market today). Just crawled into the fart sack and curled up in the back. (imagine me in the back seat of the Corrolla?). Awoke several times during the night with feelings of suffocation and calf cramps. The alarm sounded at 5am and I dressed inside the car due to the utter deluge occurring outside.

Paul Ashton did manage to curb the pre race briefing to a few minutes and we were off at 6:03am.

Did I mention that it was pissing down and it was really windy? In terms of Gear, I was on the light side of gear and should have worn a Gore-Tex jacket instead of my Montane featherweight.

Just purchased this Gore-Tex jacket as a result:

http://www.arcteryx.com/product.aspx?Alpha-SL-Jacket#

I don’t currently possess any trail shoes so I was wearing my Asics road shoes, which did not cut it, more on this later.

Ascended the 4.4km hill up to Mt Oberon with RB and Whippet, as the others have noted, it was literally a case of two steps forward and one back and as wet as you can imagine. Fun and Games.

The track across to Sealers Cove was perfect trail and very enjoyable to run on. It was good to catch up with Mal and Nick and other new faces on the scene. The chop and surf that was rolling into Sealers and later Refuge Bay was stunning, as choppy as we’ll ever see. I was so glad we weren’t swimming to New Zealand today, 100km of running would be an easier option.

I picked up Kelvin at Sealers Cove. Kelvin was either cold, taking it easy or sick because I was taking things slowly and had not expected to see him. As it turned out he was cold and low on calories.

Despite the cool wet temps I seemed to be drinking a fair bit and found my two bottles empty just after Refuge Cove. Given that I was unfamiliar with the course I decided to refill at the first possible opportunity, which was a large puddle on the track.

Soon after I felt sick. Kelv and I covered the hilly & rocky cliff track around Kersop Peak and I quickly realised that my Asics Kayano 12 were not designed for such rough terrain. In fact I can’t imagine having any worse traction on the large wet granite boulders that we needed to scramble across.

Kelvin pushed on ahead and I walked for a while while my tummy recovered. At the Little Waterloo bay camping area (31km) I took an extended stop to empty both the bowels and the stomach.

I managed to find the beach exit at Little Waterloo and wandered on the boardwalk for a while. I saw Nick coming up behind and managed to slip off the boardwalk and drop off the side into the swamp. Onwards and Upwards.

At the Telegraph Track Junction (39km) Nick went off into the bushes to recover some food and I decided to push on ahead alone.

The trip to Roaring Meg was uneventful (except I think I may have cut the course by 200m) and the trip down to the south point of Australia was rough and unforgiving, what else would you expect. As I descended I passed Paul and Andrew who were racing each other and full of beans. Touching the south point was wonderful and surprisingly calm. (39 degrees South).

I managed to pick up my first leech on the completely overgrown section of track that goes from Roaring Meg to the Lighthouse. I felt the little shit bite me on the back of my leg and as I went down to get him I noticed a couple of the little buggers on my shoes and gaiters. A bit of flicking and dancing managed to deter them and it was off to the Lighthouse.

If you have never been to this Lighthouse you should do yourself a favour. It is the most majestic lighthouse I have ever seen. Not particularly big, rather, more like a place with a commanding aspect and fortress like surroundings. (53km).

The 800m hill up and back from the lighthouse was a pain and I knew that it was time for more food because I was starting to lose concentration.

The section from the Lighthouse to Little Waterloo Bay was some of the toughest terrain I have ever covered. The track was hilly, covering numerous rises over cliffs. It was also wet and slippery and completely over grown in sections. I had decided to use compass and map to navigate through this section.

By the time I got down to little waterloo bay at 68.8km my left ankle was killing me. I was running flat-footed on my left and in real pain. I popped a couple of my wonder pills (paracetamol and caffeine in one tablet courtesy of LHR terminal 4) and started to perk up. But soon after I was walking again.

I was now in a situation that I didn’t want to be in. My ankle was sore and I couldn’t run but I wanted to get to the notorious beach exits (the one’s where lots of people got lost last year) before dark.

I did make it through all the beach crossings. The only one I had trouble with was the Oberon Bay exit but I just copied the advice from Sean Greenhill and Kevin Cassidy (2001) and scrambled up the side of the hill, knowing that the track could be crossing the hill longitudinally at some point.
The most remarkable thing happened at Little Oberon (77km). I managed to find the beach exit without any trouble by using map, compass and printed advice from Coolrunning.com.au

I finally made it back to the campsite at Tidal River and stopped for a cuppa. By this stage I was feeling great but my bloody ankle was hurting me.

I must say I as getting worried that David would catch me (GBH, oooorah) and decided to keep ambling.

It was nice to see Chilli and RMC and Tim C (who had hurt himself in a fall). Thanks for the escort to the bridge.

I quite enjoyed the last 20km even though I had a sore L ankle and really savoured the still cool evening. I saw David about 1km back and had my light off some of the time so that he wouldn’t chase.

As I finished in 18hrs I had a sense of satisfaction. I knew I could go faster, I still had good energy and I wasn’t too tired. David ended up coming in 10 or so minutes after me.

After some post mortems with Chilli, Whippet and UCB. I decided to call it a day. And awoke 3hrs later for the 4hr drive back to Avalon.

Congratulations to Paul Ashton on a great and challenging event.

Well done to every one who had a shot.

RMC, Kelvin and lots of sand running

Monday – Rest
Tuesday – Easy 40min
Wednesday – 25km trail with Spud and Sub 50 in Lane Cove National Park
Thursday – Intervals with SWEAT. 1km repeats (4:02, 3:59, 3:58, 3:59, 3:57)
Friday – 14km Trail – Blairgowrie to Sorrento (Vic) and back
Saturday – Easy 40min
Sunday – 60km Trail

Arranged to meet Kelvin and RMC for a bit of running. Arrived at Dromana just after 7am and called Kelvin to be told that he was caught in traffic. I got going at 10 past seven which was perfect because it allowed me to get started rather than keep up with a quicker Kelvin.

I set off at an easy 7km/min which is probably a bit quick for the first section up Arthurs Seat. Then settled into a lazy 6km/min pace on the flatter sections. I was carrying dual waterbottles so that I can get used them for Western States race in June and I stopped for a 5 min break at the 14km mark in Greens Bush and then again at the 22km mark (Boneo Rd). The weather was perfect and the running was easy.

Kelvin caught me at the 24km mark and we ran the last 4km into Cape Schanck together. Cape Schanck was stunning, as usual.



The next section was from Cape Schanck to Gunnamatta Beach which consisted hilly cliff trail, we seemed to go rather quickly through here. Then the fun stopped. We did lots of beach running and seemed to have difficulty staying on course. Kelvin and I decided that the navigation duties would best be served by RMC and he did a good job of keeping us on track.

We ended up doing heaps of beach running and stopped at my place in Blairgowrie to shelter from the sun and partake in watermelon consumption. The 9km on trail to the Portsea surf club was tough and included another 2km of soft beach.

59.8km in 8hrs, can that be correct?

Monday – easy 40min
Tuesday – rest (I seem to have picked up a sniffle)

2007 Percy Cerutty Frankston to Portsea 55km

Race Report

The 35th Percy Cerutty Frankston to Portsea 55km Road Ultramarathon

Sunday 1st April, 2007

I dedicate my race and this report to Bernard Julé and his family, the runner who died in his sleep after finishing the 70km 4th stage a few days ago at the Marathon des Sables, held in Morroco



I decided to do this race on Monday, for me this run holds a special place it is a true classic of ultras. Not only has it been around since 1971 it was also the testing ground for Australia’s best runners over a long period of time in days gone by. The setting for the Frankston to Portsea is as beautiful as a road run gets. The record is 3:40 something for the 55km. My time from last year was 5hrs 55min, I had three objectives for this year, in order they were:

1. Finish
2. Beat last year’s time
3. Beat last year’s time by more than an hour (requires 5:20/km for all 55km)

I flew into Melbourne and arrived at 8pm on Saturday night and got myself down to my accommodation in Blairgowrie. I faffed with gear till 12 and put the head down for a solid 5hr 30min of sleep. The next morning I managed to get a coffee into me prior to departure and munched on hot crossed buns all the way to the start line, next to the Kittens strip club in Frankston.

The weather was perfect. Not a breath of air and a beautiful 12 degrees (?) I handed a small bag to Whippet which contained some small bags with powder inside and a few gels and a couple of drinking bottles. Whippet exclaimed, “is that it?” and I responded, “yeah, it’s not a 100 miler we’ll be done in six hours.”

The pre race fun was like any other ultra there were plenty of familiar faces. To name a few.. RMC and Whippet Man who were providing race support. A number of runners who had just run trailwalker the week before and were backing up for more pain ie. Milov, awiseman and RB. The peninsula runners were well represented as well as the inimitable Peter Gray who had stated a few hours earlier and Melbourne Marathon Man Peter Dobson (he’s done all 29). I was surprised to see pbig lining up because I thought he was injured.

After a brief history lesson of the event from RD Kevin Cassidy we set off and immediately set into little groups. Mal Grimmet took the lead, some of the peninsula guys raced off and I settled into my 5:20/km pace with Milov and BennyUltra. It was good to be running with guys that were comfortable with the pace and had a portfolio of interesting topics to discuss.

The distance clicked away and I felt strong, I was deliberately slowing on the hills while still maintaining the 5:20/km pace. 20km came and went without any fuss and before we knew it we were at halfway (27.5km). RMC and Whippet were providing excellent support and I saw no need to carry water nor food because the calibre of the support was good and I had total confidence in RMC and Whippet, after all they know how important reliable support is, they’re trail runners.

Around the 32km mark I found running on Point Nepean Road harder than I should have, I did mention to Milov and Ben that the spring was going from my stride and I was starting to feel the pace a bit. I was also starting to get ratty with the dickheads who thought that aiming a car at a runner on the road was a cool way to get attention and impress his spotty mates.

Ben dropped back a bit and Milov and I were still chugging along. Around the 38km mark at MaCrae my Garmin 305 showed a message.. “are you indoors?, Um no, I’m not indoors in fact I’m outside and I’ve never seen more undisturbed sky in my life. And that was the end of the Garmin for the day.

Milov dropped back two paces and we continued to make good time, I was starting to hurt. I was nervous that we were dropping behind schedule so I picked it up a bit and Milov commented that things seemed a bit quicker.

Rosebud went on forever. I was now entering lead leg territory. I seemed to be moving well but only because it was flat. Every time I jumped a gutter I struggled to pick my legs up.

Milov and I caught a young peninsula runner and did the old, sprint past him, trick and made it to the marathon mark in 3:48. Soon after Milov stopped for a dunny break and never caught back even though he wasn’t far back and within sight most of the way to the finish.

By the time I got the hill in Sorrento I was suffering. Andrew turned up in the Mellum Kombi gave me some watermelon and spurred me on. “You’re doing well, just finish it off now”. This vote of confidence picked me up and I started to move quicker. I was trying to maintain the pace but I was hurting and thought I had probably lost objective # 3. I guess the last 10km of every race will hut no matter how far the race is. (obviously it needs to be over 10km).

With 9km to go I told Whippet that I didn’t want any more support, it was do or die time and I focus on getting to the end in one piece.

I got close to Sorrento and I knew that I now only had 5-6km of hills and that was it. At the Sorrento shops I spotted another runner way off into the distance on the top of a rise about 1km away. I figured I was moving faster than him and decided to try and catch him. It turned out to be a suffering Pbig. I thought that I must give catching him a shot, there’s no way I’ll get another chance to catch him on a bush course and he has been injured, so now is the time to strike. The hilly section through Portsea was hard. I managed to catch Peter on the last hill and surged with everyting I had left in the reserves to ensure that I gave myself the best chance to stay away. To my surprise I did stay away.

My finishing time 4:53. 1hr 02min faster than last year. Nice!

3:48 Marathon
1:05 last 12.8km

I waited at the finish to clap most of the remaining runners and was very impressed to see the younger competitor, “Sarah” take out the womans event. There were lots of good runs today, as you would expect in perfect conditions. And the huge difference the support made certainly contributed to the good times. See pics of runners at finish.

The Support Team (Kevin, Andrew and RMC). Sterling job chaps.





awiseman who putin a solid effort in his leadup to Comrades on the 17th June





Milov who made me work hard after doing trailwalker last week and carrying a camelbak the whole way today.




BennyUltra who was with Milov and I until about 35km.






The Womens Winner, Sarah ans her Dad (she had an amazing run)






And last but not least, RB and a young Peninsula Runner who came in around 11th or 12th..






My race was perfect. I achieved all three of my goals and finished 7th (?) only ~45 min behind the winner after 55km. I’m very happy with that.

RMC gave me, awiseman, milov and RB a lift back to the strip club in Frankston and I returned to the peninsula for a cold bath. (apparently it helps recovery).

It is now dusk and I thought I might go down to the Sorrento Cemetery and pay my respects to Percy Cerutty the man that inspired so many and is remembered in this race. I hope to be back next year for this classic event.




The best hamburger joint in Australia is between Dromana and Macrae. It is a huge secret. It is run by an elderly Italian couple, it has a simple sign out the front that says “HAMBURGER” with a grape vine that has overgrown the front. Today I rewarded myself with a hamburger with the lot from Hamburger. I figured I deserved it.

Cheers, Brendan