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Active Geelong ambassador Keith Fagg completed not one, but two long distance walking events last weekend, continuing to inspire and entertain us with his event stories! Here’s Keith’s weekend wrap-up in his own words: 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆: 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗸 🍃 If there’s a such a thing as a ‘weather god’, the organisers of the annual Surf Coast Trek must enjoy a direct line to some mythical meteorologic being! Over the 10 iterations of the Trek to date, the weather each year has been quite amazing for the Trekkers. Hardly a drop of rain has fallen on those 10 days. And despite some early predictions of rain for Saturday, the BOM dropped that later this week, predicting “80% chance of no rain”. They delivered on that particular precipitation prediction. But for the 10th Trek, the organisers must have spent the night before on their knees! Not only was it cool but sunny for most of the day, there was a noticeable tail wind as the Trekkers headed along the two beach sections. But their petitions really came home to roost with the tides! The low tide that morning was a very low, falling tide. While this made for an easier stroll only the long beach section from Urqhart’s Bluff to Point Roadnight, this really came to the fore in the shorter but usually treacherous beach just before Point Addis. Tackling that beach can be best a-likened to walking on steeply sloping, uneven, coarse quick-sand, making this the least ‘looked-forward-to’ part of the Trek. ‘Notorious’ is a very apt descriptor! Yet, this year the aforementioned falling low tide created an almost smooth, waters-edge path - there is a tidal god! Sure, we still had to watch the incoming waves and often scurry up-beach to avoid wet boots. But traversing the vast majority of this beach was - dare I say it - a comparative delight. You will probably never see such words written about that beach again! The Trek itself from Airey’s Inlet to the Torquay Esplanade - approx. 37.5kms - is a challenging trail, mostly gravel & stone with many ups and downs, and generally more ups than downs, or so it seems anyway! No one is more amazed than myself that I beat my 2024 time by 12 minutes! Surely, there’ll be a count-back! The benign conditions on the Point Addis beach must have certainly contributed to that. At 22nd out of 513 finishers but 19th last year, the calibre of the trekkers is increasing each year. I’ll advocate for a 70+ category next year! 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆: 𝗚𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻 🚶 One of the many benefits for starting at 6:30am is being treated to a magnificent sunrise. Of course, my participation in this event was entirely dependent on how my legs and dodgy left knee pulled-up after Saturday’s Trek. So, as the 5:30am alarm sounded, I rapidly went to feel my legs to see if they hadn’t gone on strike overnight. But with my feet still attached and feeling in my toes, that was a good start! So off I went, perambulating around the Barwon River. I was actually leading the event until at about the 11km mark, when a runner sailed past. I was a tad miffed but, to be fair, he - and the other 793 runners - had given me a one hour head-start, which the organisers had once again graciously allowed. Needless to say, over the next hour or so, the vast majority of the 793 other runners also went past! Like Saturday’s Trek, the Geelong Cross Country Club have developed their Half Marathon - sold out this year - into a very well-oiled machine, and virtually all done with volunteers. With arrows and witches hats everywhere- even at 6:30am on a Sunday morning - a runner couldn’t get lost (even one my age) and the drink stations were plentiful. Happy to report that of the 795 finishers, I was number 790 at 2:55 (2:48 in 2023). Not only that, I was SML in my 60+ age category, male & female! Quite a badge of honour 😊 71,404. According to Strava, that’s the number of steps taken by my almost 70 year old legs in the two events this weekend. That’s quite enough! And Heather is suggesting I write on my future race bibs “If found wandering, please return to….!!” Very wise! #ActiveGeelong #MovementMovement Surf Coast Trek Geelong Cross Country Club (fb)