In the June issue of VetRunner is a report by John Harding on local Mountain Running. The following relates to the weekend I travelled to Albury:

Bob Harlow had an interesting new warm up routine for a mountain championship. He rode his bike from Belconnen out to the Cotter and from there to Tidbinbilla before heading into Tuggeranong where he went to the wrong place for the start. He then rode around for quite some time, seeking directions twice, before he eventually turned up with barely minutes to start time. In fact he was putting his running shoes on while the pre-race briefing was conducted.

Nevertheless the extended warm up paid dividends as Bob took out the M55 championship in 38m52s over the 7km out and back course. Charlie Modrak was second in 42.49.

It sounds as though this man needs a wife to look after him!

Problems with Triathlon Australia
In today's SMH were two damning articles relating to the misadministration of Triathlon Australia. Here are the on-line versions, from the
sport section and page 3.

Going the extra mile
On another note, the Chicago Lakeshore Marathon course was changed, resulting in a distance of 27.2 miles (43.9km). The 529 finishers are not very happy vegemites, which can identify with! Even in short races, that last kilometre seems to last forever . . . .

ACT Cross Country Club
On a personal note, the warmth of the house belied the chill in the air outside, so last minute additions to my clothing (and wandering around on the wrong side of the road) resulted in me doing a Maxwell Smart and "missed it by that much", or at least the earlier 3.5k event. After a warm up with Peter, I felt surprisingly flat at the start of the 6k at 1:00pm, and was well back in the field. This seemed to be exacerbated on the rise on the back of the lap, yet I was able to catch up with lots of runners on the downhill. Swings and roundabouts, drop back on the ascent, speed on the descent second time around again. I really have to work out how to improve my hill climbing!

A slight negative split, not too bad, as the starting 500m was downhill to the 2 lap course, meaning an uphill finish. Lots of chatting afterwards, Bob cycling off to the Runners Shop, and me heading off through the pimply landscape formally known as the Stromlo Forest.

The trees are starting to grow back, and bike was good on the firm sandy surface, despite running slicks (smooth tyres), and with a pack on the back of the bike with running shoes + stuff, and my handlebar bag with spare fortijuice, gels, gloves etc. It was great to get back on the dirt (and not eat any today).

OK, I looked pretty strange: yellow leg warmers, black thermal socks, yellow and blue cycling shoes, warm, black thingy under my helmet, full fingered gloves, etc. Strange, but comfortable and toasty warm!