Sydney's City-To-Surf has a spectacular start and finish. The ~56,000
entrants are split into 3 groups and lined up in 3 streets leading into
an intersection on the edge of Sydney CBD. Its an impressive view for
the ~500 seeded/preferred runners in the centre of the intersection.
A finish last year under 55 minutes gets you into the preferred group
but this can be difficult if you aren't already in the preferred group.
Runners hoping to qualify queue for 2+ hours to get a reasonable start.
Evidence of a a recent sub-35 10k will also get you a preferred start
and luckily they accepted my time in last year's sydney marathon as
equivalent (not that it was) so i started up the front for my first C2S.
I did feel a little guilty warming up in a nearby park, chatting with
seeded runners and then strolling over to the start 20 minutes beforehand.
My training had been well short of what it should have been. I've not
given running a high priority since May. I'd kept up the speedwork but
without the volume to back it up, it had been indifferent. My target of
52:00 for the hilly 14km to Bondi seemed very optimistic. I reckoned
I wasn't in as good shape as I was for an 81:05 half in May. The only
positive was that I managed to fit in a ~7km race on the previous 2
weekends - so some sharpening at least.
You don't get a choice about starting fast if you are at the front of
the C2S. Almost 20,000 people go with the first gun, its downhill for
the first few hundred metres and and this year the tunnel at 1km was
partially closed by construction work so every one was keen to get there
before it became a choke point. You wouldn't want to fall.
After the tunnel runners thinned out a little and I could think about
pace. The plan was to go out hard and see if I could keep together on
the hills. There is plenty of downhill in the last 4k. I missed the
early km markers and figured I wasn't doing well - there were still many
runners around me. But 18:21 at 5km was good news. I was on pace and
over the first couple of (smaller) hills. At 6km the long climb out of
Rose Bay begins, famous as the C2S's "Heartbreak Hill" and much feared.
I maintained a good rhythm but there a couple of turns and sharper rises
that make you work.
A 7km split of 26:45 didn't sound good but Heartbreak Hill was almost
finished and I felt OK, regularly passing other runners. The course
was harder than I expected from 7km to 11km - plenty of undulations -
I was working hard but it didn't feel fast.
I did catch the runner who'd beaten me into 2nd in my age group the
previous weekend. I'd followed 50-100m behind him for the entire race
last weekend, so there was a little satisfaction passing him on a climb.
At 11km you can see the ocean in front of Bondi - a great sight - and not
long after some long winding downhills. My downhill technique must be
improving as I passed a few people.
The course loops around behind the beach and the finish appears
tantalizingly close when you still have a km to go. I was hoping a
negative split would have me just under 53:00. Very pleasantly surprised
to be handed a timing card which said 51:25.
Spent a few minutes chatting to some of the other runners. One of them
had run the race with a stress fracture of the tibia. He'd run the
race over 20 times and didn't want to miss it. A sensible person might
have walked at the back of the pack. He turned up in racing flats and
finished just behind me but limping and in some pain.
Many celebrate around the beach or in the pubs but I had to head home.
I'd run in New Balance RC210s - light but not exactly comfy. Swapping to
well-used 2090s for run home certainly felt good as did a much slower
pace across Sydney's eastern suburbs home.
I'm happy with 213/48574 finishers but I was well behind my age-group
winner. Steve Moneghetti at 41 and wearing a microphone to provide
live commentary stayed at the front until about 13km. Two Tanzanians,
Patrick Nyangelo and Dickson Marwa, dropped him in the last km to take
first and second but well outside Moneghetti's 13 year old record.
Now thinking about making another attempt at a sub-80 half next month.
Andrew Taylor