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2009 Report & Run Times Report The Bellarine Rail Trail run is a unique 34km training run along the Bellarine Rail Trail between Geelong and the seaside town of Queenscliff. The course is tremendously scenic and mostly along unsealed paths, although the bitumen monster is rapidly swallowing up much of the Geelong half of the trail as the years progress! The run is free of charge and started under the reigns of ultra enthusiast Phil Essam in 2004 as a traditional Fat Ass event with 11 runners. This year saw 145 runners take part in what is a great training opportunity leadingup to the Melbourne Marathon 7 weeks later. The Fat Ass component of no assistance no longer remains with marshals at most road crossings, distance markers every 5kms, multiple aid stations along the way, sponsors & spot prizes, a new run website thanks to Infosync, an official postrun breakfast & even an Anaesthetist on a mountain bike ready to pounce on anyone who doesn’t look 100% alive! There are now only 11 people who have completed all 31 Melbourne Marathons. This year saw 3 of them toe the start line of the BRT, namely Bruce Hargreaves, John Dobson & Peter Ryan. They were joined by various others, many of whom were stepping well out of their comfort zones in terms of distance and for others, the 34kms was merely a warm up. One thing in common for all was that the howling westerly wind & chilly temperature made for a very cold wait on the start line as the Skins, R4YL & Steigen spot prizes were drawn – will try to refine that process for next year! Fortunately the very recent heavy rains had passed & the one comforting thought was that the run is one way in a westerly direction – what more could you ask for! The trail winds its way through the outskirts of Geelong, through Leopold & onto Drysdale Railway Station that is the half way mark. This section does have 3 highway crossings that with the 140 runners, did provide some significant challenges for both marshals & impatient runners! From that point, the road crossings become very infrequent & the trail remarkably scenic as runners begin a gradual descent with Queenscliff visible in the distance. 400m from the finish, runners are greeted by the sight of the Queenscliff steam train, preparing for its 11.15am departure to Drysdale for those able to sneak in under 2hrs 45min. Notice that I have made no mention of first across the line in this report to highlight the fact that this was not a race – everyone there was a winner! Postrun celebrations included a never ending bowl of lollies, biscuits, sports drink & a R4YL merchandise van manned by Mark Gorski, the manager of Richmond’s new R4YL store (390 Burnley St). Also featuring was the postrun breakfast at Gusto Café enjoyed by about 50 runners (this part wasn’t free!) where we were enthralled by Bruce Hargreave (aka Digger) showing historical footage of the Melbourne Marathon and giving a presentation on the remarkable Comrades Marathon. Many thanks to Digger for putting this together & inspiring us all. A big thanks to all of my helpers on the day and to the generous support of the run sponsors including Skins, R4YL, Steigen, Need for Speed & Infosync. Look out for the run in 2010 where we will be back bigger & better than ever with a brand new course. Full details of that change very soon! Brett Coleman
Run Times NB: Times are approximate. This was a group run and not a race as all who took part understood. Those finishing in the same minute are listed alphabetically (ie not necessarily in finishing order). Please let me know if any times are incorrect or missing.
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