Early this year I had the opportunity to work as relief skipper on the Overland Track ferry, Ida Clair. I’d often thought doing laps of Australia’s deepest lake on the nation’s highest ferry service would be a hoot. Sure enough, I’ve now had dozens of conversations with hikers stoked to have completed their hike or excited about a mission into Pine Valley, the Labyrinth and beyond. I’ve also been able to witness Lake St Clair in her many moods which, I now know, can change many times in a single day.
During the cooler months my skipper day stars by setting a fire before breakfast service at Lake St Clair Lodge commenced at 8:00am. I could go for a run after ending my shift at 5:00pm but, as anyone watching Kylie and I on Strava can attest, we are early morning people. Before work is the go! After several runs on the trails around Cynthia Bay I decided to get up extra early and celebrate the day after winter solstice with a red hot go at Mount Rufus.
Anyway, I digress. Perhaps the many moods of Lake St Clair can be the focus of a future post. To blood my new blog I’ve decided to recall a recent run up Mount Rufus.
Apart from a long-since-melted May snowfall, winter was not yet seriously making its presence felt. This meant a dry and ice-free accent then, perhaps most importantly, the opportunity to barrel down at a rate of knots so that (a) I wouldn’t be late for work and (b) I may even have a crack at some quick segment times. Sure enough, after inspecting my Strava figures, I was stoked to have achieved the 15th fast time out of 46 Strata athletes. Even more better (sic), I was just ahead of the much esteemed trail runners, Kylie Garratt and Piotr Babis. Having said that I should acknowledge that neither of them knew I was racing them and there’s every chance my place on the leaderboard would be short lived if they came back for a red hot go!