Oberon Beast 2020 Race Recap – National Series Race 1
I was so excited when it was announced that the Beast would be the first race of the Spartan Australian National Series in 2020. Not only is the Beast my favourite distance but Oberon is extremely hilly which plays to my strengths as a trail and mountain runner. In January and February, I completed an 8-week training block to build aerobic capacity for a long season and to prepare for a hilly Beast course. I also practiced obstacles including preparing for twister which would make its Australian debut at the race. The race map was released the Wednesday before the race and featured only 400m vertical gain over 21km. This was a bit of a shock, but I guess that means the truly hilly course of National Series will be at Sunshine Coast.
About 40mm of rain fell in Oberon the few days before the race, so I was expecting a mud bath. That was fine with me. I love mud and running in the rain. When Saturday morning arrived, I was surprised to find during the warm up that the paddocks had drained really well, meaning there was a relatively firm surface to push off. This farm also had quite even land, so there were not deep cattle hooves or holes to watch out for. The grass that had sprung up with recent rain was thin and short, so there was no deep energy sucking grass to get through. The men and women elite started separately with women starting five minutes after the men. This was my first race experiencing this in Australia, but apparently gendered start times were also used at the Melbourne Stadion in February. The advantage of separate start times is that there is less congestion at early obstacles and if there is congestion at least you will be bumping up against your own gender who are approximately the same weight/height as you. It does feel safer starting in gender waves, but it then means the women have to overtake the slower elite men as the race progresses. I didn’t really find this a problem as there was always enough space and the field was quite spread out.
The first three kilometres was quick running with some lower walls and a barbed wire crawl. As usual, the barbed wire crawl was low and fairly long, but at least the ground was slightly softer with the rain. There were still plenty of rocks and a prickly plant I put my hand on. I tried to run this first part fast as there were not many obstacles to break up the momentum. I was leading but not by any significant time. I couldn’t see behind me, and given there was no one in front of me, I was concentrating on choosing the best running routes over the terrain. The dunk wall was followed by a steep uphill barbed wire crawl. The dunk wall was a swim for me because the water was so deep. After getting out of the deep mud of the dam I found the barbed wire crawl was crowded with men who were trying to roll sideways up the hill (not a good technique choice unless you happen to be particularly excellent at this technique). There was room to the side so I did a forward crawl up the hill which was relatively quick. There was now a fair few obstacles in the space of two kilometres. The multi rig was a set of rings which were dewy but not as slippery as expected. I used two hands on most rings. Better to be slightly slower on an obstacle in a Beast than do burpees. The Z-wall was next with the wood surprisingly dry. It was simple and quick. This was followed by a swim through a dam then by more running on gently sloping land before an over, under, through. The course then went up a gentle slope to a collection of granite boulders. Rounding the boulders was the sandbag carry which was about 400m long and went up and down a hill.
The female weight is light enough that you can run with it, even on the uphill. I could see as I was finishing that there were quite a few females on the first half of the sandbag course, so I estimated I had about a 60sec lead. This was significantly lost on the first cargo net crawl which I arrived at by myself and couldn’t get a knee under. I had to go head first and slowly make progress. The net crawls can take half the time and energy if you arrive at the net with someone. At this point we had run 7km so I was trying to eat a gel as we dropped down and out of a creek crossing and to atlas carry. At this time when I was hyperventilating, covered in mud and eating half a gel also covered in mud, I heard footsteps right on my shoulder. Luckily it was just the camera guy, so I stashed my gel for the next obstacle.
The atlas stone was dry and the distance seemed very short, so it was a quick obstacle. Some sandy bumps in the terrain led to Hercules hoist which was very light despite the rain. Three pulls and the bag was at the top. I completed the rope climb and for efficiency dropped onto the mat almost from the top. I banged my ankle hard. Note for future, climb down a little bit before flinging self to the ground.
This was the point in my race plan I would hammer the running, as from here the distance between obstacles widened. This worked well and the quick terrain made it easy to run fast. However, there were a few more obstacles than anticipated, as between each paddock we had to jump over a wall to get over that fencing. So it was hardly uninterrupted running but still wide expanses to get up to speed. There were some really enjoyable sections of single track, particularly around the granite formations that are typical of this altitude (1,100m above sea level) and can also be found on farms on the drive up to Thredbo. The use of creek crossings and the marshy areas was also great. It was fortunate it was overcast and cool because on a hot day this course would have been super hot with almost no shade. The course continued to undulate up and down but on very runnable gradients and no large climbs.
By the time I got to the plate drag at 12km I was really starting to look for a sip of water. This materialised at 13km just before the bender, which was nice, but just shows if it is sunny or a hot Beast, you really need to be carrying your own water, as one sip ever 13km will not be enough. There were a couple of water stations to refill your water, but only one water station with cups (that I saw). Given the course was going back and forward, I could see I had a bigger lead now, but occasionally I could see both Bec and Tania who seemed to be changing position, but it was so hard to tell because they were both wearing the exact same hydration pack and 2xu tights! When you are running competitively with someone it helps with keeping up the pace. I didn’t have this, so I worked harder to ‘compete’ with and overtake the men running in front of me. Given the men had a 5min head start, you should be overtaking men the whole way to the finish. I was pushing really hard. Tom Bleasdale yelled out to me while passing on a nearby hill and I just could not even say thanks. I also overtook Yosti but was breathing too hard to say hello. I give 100% while racing and I still enjoy myself, but when running at threshold heart rate for 2 hours, it doesn’t leave much for anything except running and focusing on the next obstacle.
Started on knees as wall felt a little slippery. The climbing holds were very dry so I started off using those.
Then moved to feet on wall and alternating the cut outs with climbing holds once I was confident the wall was dry enough.
The obstacles and distance passed by and at 17km after the jerry can carry (and another net crawl) I started to push hard on the last climb and descent. Given the course had been kind to the body I was able to run relatively fast up the hill and then run fast downhill. The descent was relatively uninterrupted which helped with getting more lead. Arriving at Olympus I knew I had a lead but with twister and monkey bars coming up, I couldn’t afford to fail anything. I was conservative on Olympus, starting on my knees and using the cut outs and climbing holds, then half way switching to crouch position. I was relatively slow on twister choosing to go sideways right arm leading, but again better safe than sorry at this point. That is the first time I have completed twister with three sections (woohoo no burpees!). Heading to the last obstacle gauntlet there was a techy piece of single trail through button grass and swampy areas as well as three ‘hurdles’. The hurdles are elevated horizontal pieces of wood that you jump over. They are at neck height for me which is quite awkward, but they were on a downhill that made them easier this time.
Finishing the techy part we came to spear throw. The main in front of me sunk his spear easily so I opted to use that one. My spear throw unfortunately went about 5cm too high (I think the target was closer than usual??). About 400m from the finish I was doing burpees. Not an ideal situation, but trying to stay positive, I flowed through 31 burpees as quickly as I could. Surprisingly, no one passed, so I got up and ran as fast as I could (without my calves cramping) to get to the finish line. Hitting the bucket carry with a super high heart rate, I found I was able to run the while course with the bucket on my shoulder. I don’t know if I got lucky with the bucket weight, but it felt crazy light. Then it was just monkey bars and the A-frame to go. The monkey bars were again surprisingly dry (probably from the fortunate breeze that was blowing), so although I was ready to use sideways alternate grip, I just went forward, hit the bell then ran up and down the A-frame to the finish. It was such a relief to cross the line on a really fast course that had me far outside my comfort zone. I like mountainous, grindy, techy courses with heavy carries. This was the opposite of that! A bit over a minute later and Bec and Tania crossed for second and third, having had what seemed like an epic battle the whole race.
Thanks Spartan Australia for putting together a fantastic course. Looking forward to sharpening things up for the shorter 5km distance at Tooradin and practising more spear throws.
Mel Parlato who was finishing age group 5km trying to pip me at the finish line! We used to play soccer together. On the A frame I was like “I know that girl”. The people you bump into at Spartan races 🙂