Numinbah Trail Race

Numimbah trail race  http://www.goldcoasttrailruns.com/N2P_Results.html
This was 11.5 miles with two climbs of 1200 feet on rough track (glad I didn't do the 22 or 30 mile alternatives!) Based on a trail race I'd done in July near Melbourne I was not expecting too much in the way of serious participants, but we arrived at a remote wooden cabin in the early morning and I rapidly changed my view. The smell of liniment was probably the first clue and when I went in to collect my number I spotted a table with all the latest Inov8 shoes on it, lots of gnarly looking runners with backpacks and a definite air of quiet concentration before the big effort - not quite as many wisecracks as you might expect in the UK but these were serious sinewy men and women. 

As with most Australian races this was an early start at 7 am - all three groups of runners started the race together and completed the first course together - this was an out and back route over a mountain ridge through eucalyptus forest. The trail consisted of rough track that had been torn from the mountain side, not suitable for anything but the most rugged 4X4 and very rocky - consequently the steep downhills were very hard on the quads! Because we were all running together it wasn't easy to see where I was in my race - we were supposed to have different coloured race numbers, but there were some late entrants with hand written white numbers to complicate matters. Nevertheless I was happy with finishing in just under two hours (in 16th place as I found out later). Only downside was the expense - not sure why this totally off road event should attract a fee of $60 but then I have been doing free to enter parkruns most weekends so I suppose it must even out in the end.

 
Vicky did the Yarrabilba parkrun to get a parkrun pb (32.27) while I did the barcoding. There are also parkruns at Tuggerranong, Mudgeeraba, Toowoomba and Parramatta (which has half a dozen skyscrapers over 20 storeys high!) Perhaps the Aborigines just  told the white settlers the first nonsense word that came into their heads as a bit of a joke. We've been shopping in Jimboomba and we drove through Wonglepong yesterday, and of course Wolloongabba is a suburb of Brisbane where the Gabba footy stadium is situated!