City to Surf - 37th in 46:34!

46:29 chip time.

Finally done this race justice after years of trying! Plan from the start was to attack the hills, both ups and downs, and it really paid off. Caught up with Tucks, Tim C, KMK and Ray beforehand then met all the other HuRT Squad on the start line. Also caught up with Dave Sweeney which added to the nerves as I was keen for revenge from Gold Coast. I was still chatting with Robbie and Mark Warren when the gun went which seemed to surprise everyone. Ran down the hill startled more than anything else, felt breathless up to the tunnel as usual, pushed the downhill to Edgecliff then tried to push up the Edgecliff hill. At this stage I was running with Tucks and Charlie. Felt OK for the first time ever in Edgecliff which gave me a lot of confidence. Pushed the hill down to Double Bay to edge ahead of a group containing Charlie and Tucks but struggled a bit up the hill from Double Bay to Rose Bay. Tucks and Charlie edged ahead here and I didn't have the legs to go with them. Clocked 5km through Rose Bay in 16:02 (a PB). I was struggling on the flat sections (opposite to normal) until I could find a rhythm - eventually did just before the start of Heartbreak Hill. I was running with Nick Bennett at this stage. Again tried to push Heartbreak but was a bit crestfallen when Chadi came flying by - he ran a stormer up the hill. Some bloke on a bike seemed to be shouting instructions to Nick - first to latch on to Chadi but when he disappeared to latch on to me. This actually gave me a bit of confidence as I've never been someone who anyone should think of latching on to up a hill - it's a bit like drafting a toddler on a trike.

From here I was just trying to keep pace with Richard Gardiner and Peter Mitchelmore. We went through 10km in 33:43 so I knew a sub-47 was on the cards. They both pulled ahead slightly on the long downhill to Bondi then, out of the blue, so did DrJH (Jamie Harrison). At the bottom, Jamie had about 15 yards on me and Mitchelmore about 25. Richard Gardiner pushed the slight rise over the bridge so I just tried to stick to him. Rounded the corner on Campbell Parade and thought, this is it, let's just put on a sprint to see if I can catch DrJH. I did with about 100 yards to go and continued the sprint to pip Richard as well (although the results would suggest not Peter as I had originally thought).

Good to catch up with DrJH afterwards - nice to have one of Australia's great distance runners tell you he had his eyes on you the whole race and then to outkick him. OK, he may not be the same runner he was 20 years ago but still a tough bugger. Dave Sweeney ran low 47's which I'm sure he'll be disappointed with but he'll bounce back when he sorts his knees out. Fantastic run by Tucks - 45:46, just behind Tom Crasti (a low 31 10km runner) and beating Chris Truscott (45:5X). Charlie is getting back to top form with a 45:36 and Chadi clocked 46:00. The other great runs were Rob Lansdown with a 47:10 and Kanser pulling a great run out of the bag to clock 47:51 despite being sidelined with a heavy cold all week. Shows he's developed some great strength which will serve him well in Berlin.

Nice chat with all the HuRT Squad after - there's quite a few of us. Congrats to Rich P on impending fatherhood - joining the 4 kid club!

Love this event. Another beautiful day. And the achilles' aren't too sore! For now.