a lazy grand in the bag!

Fri 12.oo noon 12KM Go Betweens 50m02

Sat Rest (drive to Gladstone)

Sun Botanical to Bridge Gladtsone 8KM(?) 25m24 4th 1st M45
3KM(?) 9m03 1st & 1st

Mon 5.00am 16KM Cadel+Roo 66m45

The lure of $1000 had me driving 6hours!! to Gladstone for the inaugural 'Botanical to Bridge' 8KM event. A hell of a drive as beyond the Sunshine Coast the Bruce is a single lane highway with the occasional passing lane! I treated it like a race against my GPS trying to get to the destination before my original ETA at outset. One pit stop and 100 to 110K's all the way.

Gladstone is still a small country town but its natural gift is a deepwater harbour which makes it ideal for filling up huge ocean tankers with the abundant coal from this region. The Gladstone Port Authority sponsored this event and were very generous! Open Cat prizes were $2500, $1500 and $500 and what a turn up for the books they put on a $1000 for first over 45!!!!! If they keep that up I can see this race becoming a beacon for Masters runners from Brisbane to Sydney, to Canberra and to Melbourne!! The organisation was magnificent with an army of volunteers, closed off roads through the middle of town,courtesy buses to and from start/finish, bottled sports drink/water/fruit at the finish, helicopter local TV coverage. The race started on a steep hill and ran pretty much direct into town with a dogleg to send us through the main st of town Goondoon St. I started OK was very impressed with race winner Jackson Elliott as he took off over the first 2K leaving everyone else in his wake. I'm not sure if Jackson is from Sydney or the Gold Coast. 2nd place went to Jason Gerahty who is from the Gold Coast and 3rd was Neil Labinsky from Nambour. I was happy to finish 4th as I only got beaten by quality guys. To some degree I held back a little as I wanted to race the 3KM an hour later! I heard that the course only measured 7.7K's by Garmin and I am certain it was short! As was the 3K.

The 3K started about an hour later and the logistics of getting back to the start took some sorting . I felt OK and early on cautiously cruised into 2nd place and then into the lead up the hill at Goondoon. It felt good cruising into the crowded finish area clear , Jason Gerahty called out "$750", as he rubbed his thumb and fingers together in the age old 'money' sign! the announcer said "and here comes the winner - lets hope its a local - it's David Sweeney of North Lakes!" I was pleased that know one would have a clue where North Lakes was! It was a great stroke of luck (no competition) and my second race 'win' this year!!

The 3KM race had more prize money than you'd see at any but the biggest races! Open was $750 for 1st, $500 for 2nd , $250 for 3rd and $700 for first over45 !!! I only managed to get my second online entry in by changing my name from David to Dave. But no where did the terms and conditions say running in both races was not allowed . I was presented the $700 'M45' cheque on stage (I did realise that I would not be able to claim the Open prize having entered the M45 Cat) however the 2nd placed M45 kicked up a fuss and I had to hand back the cash! I didn't mind too much , I still had a lazy grand in the bag!

I raced back home another 6 hours with just the briefest of pit stops at Gin Gin (same spot as on my way up) , the return was a lot tougher than the drive up . I used the pain of busting for a waz as focus to stay alert! It was an epic 1075KM round trip and the kids were overjoyed with the $100 each I've promised. Just the smiles on their face made it all worthwhile.