Sean's Blog Downunder…

No time like the present to start the Blog again. Its been a while so let me get to it.

Nicolette and I once again took part in the annual Puffing Billy race against the train in Emerald Victoria (our fourth). Its a 13.2km run up through the hills. Pretty much uphill all the way.

Only 3000 runners and they had a full house this year. Weather was a nice overcast 15 degrees. Perfect for running.

There are two trains. One for the men and one for the women. Very difficult to beat the first train as it comes in around 55 min. Work it out…. Hard!!!!

Nicolette took a little strain this year on the hills so we took it easy and walked a little . But we still beat the second train as we finished in 69 min 32 seconds. Not bad as I said we walked a few times.

Another one down. Check out Puffing Billy for information as its a great day out for the kids.

For some pics of us on the day check out Sean & Buksie
Cheers

Sean

Yes indeed the Hood To Coast is over for another year. This was our first experience at the famous relay in Oregon. To remind you all, 197 miles or 315.2km in my language comprising of 36 legs with each runner doing 3 legs. I must say that we had a truly amazing time. There are two vans per team, each carrying six runners. Legs 1 to 6 in van 1 and legs 7 to 12 in van 2. We were first at 10:15 in the morning on Friday and Nicolette started the race at an awesome pace due to it being a very steep downhill, faster than we anticipated. This I suppose set a precedent and the rest of us ran faster than predicted.

We then took a break while van 2 completed the second part of leg 1. We went for the traditional “Burger” at Red Robin in Portland, a quick shower and then straight back to our transition point to meet our runner from van 2. We then took over to run into the evening starting the 2nd phase of the race. I ran at midnight with a flashlight as required running through the Oregon country side. A tough leg uphill and I must say I was happy to finish. The bones were starting to get a little stiff. Once we had handed back over to van 2 we went to have a few hours shut eye.

We then made one little booboo. Yes we were late by 25 minutes at the very early morning transition station due to a miscalculation on our part in the expected time of our runners in van 2 who did very well during the evening shift. Sorry team… Nicolette rushed to take over and we started our last part of the relay in the rain and mist. Excellent running conditions and everyone in the team did very well once again. We finished our last leg and then cruised on down to the beach for a shower, beers and the arrival of our team mates for the completion of the race.

They did not disappoint and we completed the race in 27h 54m and came 573th out of 1034 teams. This was more than 1 hour better than our predicted time. Go “Youth ‘N’ Asia”.

WELL DONE TEAM !!!!!!!

Well, the day approaches fast now! We will be off the Portland Oregon in the US to participate in the Nike Hood to Coast Relay over 197 miles. Nicolette and I both have done sufficient training to complete our legs comfortably. Nicolette I think has little tougher leg as she starts and has a serious decent as you can see from the graphic of the race.

We each do three legs in the race that totals around 27km over a period of 24 hours. As the largest running relay race in the world, The Hood To Coast Relay stretches 197 miles from the top of Oregon’s majestic Mt. Hood down to the beautiful Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon. Over 12,000 runners and 4,800 walkers in Portland to Coast, share in the experience of this annual event now in its 26th year! August 24th and 25th, 2007!