Participants: Cory, Simon, Eileen, Nick, Sarah, Andrew, Scot, Sonia, John, Margy, Diane, Gary, Neil, Katie, Zoran, Lisa, Brian
Support Crew: Bruce, Ron, Carmel, Nick, and the tyre place that fixed Carmel's car and gave her time for a manicure.
The penultimate day of the MS1000 saw us tackle 36km from Blanket Bay to Johanna's Beach. Featuring some spectacular views, we traversed beaches, clifftops and many rises and falls on a day that couldn't really decide whether it wanted to be warm and muggy or cold and windy, so it decided to be both.
We had a massive group of participants today (17) and the groupings and conversations changed regularly. We were self-sufficient, carrying all our lunch, wet and dry gear and lots of BBQ Shapes, with Brian also carrying a heavy camera to capture all of the scenery.
Today saw the debut of our eldest paricipant, Big John, at age 69, who defied the non-believers by completing the full day and then talking tonight about backing it up tomorrow. The full-time boys, who were now joined by their better halves, were again very quiet and touchy-feely but they weren't shy to make sure that Sarah and Eileen carried the pack their share of the time. True gentlemen.
Lisa Moran made her guest appearance in a fly-by on her way back to Adelaide and can certainly hold her head high as she breezed her way through the 36km without even a whimper, whilst also raising the calibre of conversation with her talk of research and work.
Neil and Gary bantered their way through the day with their talk of Mother England and how they'd won the Ashes as England but preferred the Socceroos in the World Cup. They were happy to flip and flop as Poms or Aussies, perhaps depending on which one would give them a winning result!
Katie blew a tyre (a nasty blister) and was forced to withdraw from the day with plans of returning tomorrow, but then pulled a heart string, sorry a calf muscle, unloading the bus, which has put her out of finals contention tomorrow.
We were all thinking today could be written up as "not that bad" until we got to the final kilometres which were along Johanna's Beach (no more than 1.5km) as the tide was coming in, there was no firm sand, it was ankle-deep soft, the wind was blowing a gale, it was raining, the waves kept chasing us, forcing some quick steps to escape, and we could see the end line but it didn't seem to get any closer. Indisputably the toughest part of the day.
Tomorrow feels like game day, the final day of the MS1000. For the five guys who have so far completed every single agonising, although enjoyable, kilometre, tomorrow is make it or break it as we will either be left stumbling at the final hurdle or stumbling over the finish line. Guess we'll have to wait and see, but Ian (the Director Sportif) coming off the bench for the final hoorah could be the difference and lead us to the holy grail - in this case Glenample Homestead (not very theatrical, I know).
Start time: 8:17am
Finished all together: 6:20pm
Support Crew: Bruce, Ron, Carmel, Nick, and the tyre place that fixed Carmel's car and gave her time for a manicure.
The penultimate day of the MS1000 saw us tackle 36km from Blanket Bay to Johanna's Beach. Featuring some spectacular views, we traversed beaches, clifftops and many rises and falls on a day that couldn't really decide whether it wanted to be warm and muggy or cold and windy, so it decided to be both.
We had a massive group of participants today (17) and the groupings and conversations changed regularly. We were self-sufficient, carrying all our lunch, wet and dry gear and lots of BBQ Shapes, with Brian also carrying a heavy camera to capture all of the scenery.
Today saw the debut of our eldest paricipant, Big John, at age 69, who defied the non-believers by completing the full day and then talking tonight about backing it up tomorrow. The full-time boys, who were now joined by their better halves, were again very quiet and touchy-feely but they weren't shy to make sure that Sarah and Eileen carried the pack their share of the time. True gentlemen.
Lisa Moran made her guest appearance in a fly-by on her way back to Adelaide and can certainly hold her head high as she breezed her way through the 36km without even a whimper, whilst also raising the calibre of conversation with her talk of research and work.
Neil and Gary bantered their way through the day with their talk of Mother England and how they'd won the Ashes as England but preferred the Socceroos in the World Cup. They were happy to flip and flop as Poms or Aussies, perhaps depending on which one would give them a winning result!
Katie blew a tyre (a nasty blister) and was forced to withdraw from the day with plans of returning tomorrow, but then pulled a heart string, sorry a calf muscle, unloading the bus, which has put her out of finals contention tomorrow.
We were all thinking today could be written up as "not that bad" until we got to the final kilometres which were along Johanna's Beach (no more than 1.5km) as the tide was coming in, there was no firm sand, it was ankle-deep soft, the wind was blowing a gale, it was raining, the waves kept chasing us, forcing some quick steps to escape, and we could see the end line but it didn't seem to get any closer. Indisputably the toughest part of the day.
Tomorrow feels like game day, the final day of the MS1000. For the five guys who have so far completed every single agonising, although enjoyable, kilometre, tomorrow is make it or break it as we will either be left stumbling at the final hurdle or stumbling over the finish line. Guess we'll have to wait and see, but Ian (the Director Sportif) coming off the bench for the final hoorah could be the difference and lead us to the holy grail - in this case Glenample Homestead (not very theatrical, I know).
Start time: 8:17am
Finished all together: 6:20pm
bloody proud of you all. amazing effort and so professionally done.
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