This weekend I was one of a crew of 5 to go to man a staging post on the Six Foot Track Marathon http://www.flickr.com/photos/11895723@N05/sets/72157604088189645/show/.
Each year there is a foot race along the track - all 45kms of it. The Six Foot Track is an old stock route and goes from The Explorer's Marked Tree, near Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. It is run as a fund-raiser for the Rural Fire Brigade and the RFS man drinks stations along the route and provide support such as carrying out retired and injured runners.
We met up at the station at 6am and left shortly thereafter in the PC (4WD). Kim dozed on and off but I don't know how she did - it's not built for comfort. We headed west over the other side of the mountains then took a dirt track. A lot of bouncing around and pot holes later we found ourselves back on the bitumen, 40 minutes behind schedule and way off track. I was feeling decidedly queasy and was wondering whether to chuck out the window or reach for my helmet when we finally found our spot and parked ourselves at the top of a hill. We didn't have much time to set up our tables with sports drink and water and cut up some bananas and water melon before the first runners started coming round the corner.
Terry and I kept the cups of fluids filled while Kim and Graham counted off the runners - they don't want anyone getting left there. Most of them were very good natured and thanked us for being there. As they staggered up the hill many also asked how we were! We were fine, we weren't doing any running. There was one cranky so and so who when Terry said "Powerade on the first table, water on the second," snarled it was "High Five" not Powerade. We changed the chant to "sports drink" after that.
We wished we had some way of getting back at them. Kim thought we should radio ahead to the next station that they were terrorists and needed to be detained. Today I found out that it was the Bullaburra crew at the next station and they included my colleague, Rita. She was telling me today they were all dressed as Crime Scene Investigators so we could have had the cranky runners (or the yummy ones) detained for questioning and giving of DNA samples!!
Kim was rating the men and would give me a heads up on the pretty boys. Then David, our captain tried to help. "Is that it?" I said after he alerted me to some very disappointing talent. "Remind me not to go on the pull with you, David, you've got a rubbish taste in men!"
It was my first time and naively I put out a rubbish bag for people to put their rubbish in. I could tell the first few people wanted to be tidy but as the morning progressed the mounds of cups, banana peels and wrappers grew.
I had been needing a wee when we got there, but being late, as I said we had no time to lose in getting set up. Pouring water into little cups all morning was torture but finally the field thinned out and I had the opportunity to go to the loo - but where? As you can see from some of the shots above, we were on the top of a hill with no trees around. We were in a cow field with long grass so I didn't fancy tromping through the grass and disturbing snakes. I followed a track down the hill and found myself a nice little hollow to drop my strides in. Aaaaaaaah the relief. Then started back up the hill to the rest of the crew. And not a minute too soon. As I began my treck back, two PCs came past. 30 seconds earlier and they would have found me in my hollow, with my strides round my ankles. As Rita said, that would've been round all the brigades before I'd reached my crew!!! It's a risky life as a female firefighter!
The last runners are followed by sweepers who look for stragglers and run the Track with a broom! Once they came through we were able to clean up all those plastic cups and head home via the pie shop at Wentworth Falls.
Each year there is a foot race along the track - all 45kms of it. The Six Foot Track is an old stock route and goes from The Explorer's Marked Tree, near Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. It is run as a fund-raiser for the Rural Fire Brigade and the RFS man drinks stations along the route and provide support such as carrying out retired and injured runners.
We met up at the station at 6am and left shortly thereafter in the PC (4WD). Kim dozed on and off but I don't know how she did - it's not built for comfort. We headed west over the other side of the mountains then took a dirt track. A lot of bouncing around and pot holes later we found ourselves back on the bitumen, 40 minutes behind schedule and way off track. I was feeling decidedly queasy and was wondering whether to chuck out the window or reach for my helmet when we finally found our spot and parked ourselves at the top of a hill. We didn't have much time to set up our tables with sports drink and water and cut up some bananas and water melon before the first runners started coming round the corner.
Terry and I kept the cups of fluids filled while Kim and Graham counted off the runners - they don't want anyone getting left there. Most of them were very good natured and thanked us for being there. As they staggered up the hill many also asked how we were! We were fine, we weren't doing any running. There was one cranky so and so who when Terry said "Powerade on the first table, water on the second," snarled it was "High Five" not Powerade. We changed the chant to "sports drink" after that.
We wished we had some way of getting back at them. Kim thought we should radio ahead to the next station that they were terrorists and needed to be detained. Today I found out that it was the Bullaburra crew at the next station and they included my colleague, Rita. She was telling me today they were all dressed as Crime Scene Investigators so we could have had the cranky runners (or the yummy ones) detained for questioning and giving of DNA samples!!
Kim was rating the men and would give me a heads up on the pretty boys. Then David, our captain tried to help. "Is that it?" I said after he alerted me to some very disappointing talent. "Remind me not to go on the pull with you, David, you've got a rubbish taste in men!"
It was my first time and naively I put out a rubbish bag for people to put their rubbish in. I could tell the first few people wanted to be tidy but as the morning progressed the mounds of cups, banana peels and wrappers grew.
I had been needing a wee when we got there, but being late, as I said we had no time to lose in getting set up. Pouring water into little cups all morning was torture but finally the field thinned out and I had the opportunity to go to the loo - but where? As you can see from some of the shots above, we were on the top of a hill with no trees around. We were in a cow field with long grass so I didn't fancy tromping through the grass and disturbing snakes. I followed a track down the hill and found myself a nice little hollow to drop my strides in. Aaaaaaaah the relief. Then started back up the hill to the rest of the crew. And not a minute too soon. As I began my treck back, two PCs came past. 30 seconds earlier and they would have found me in my hollow, with my strides round my ankles. As Rita said, that would've been round all the brigades before I'd reached my crew!!! It's a risky life as a female firefighter!
The last runners are followed by sweepers who look for stragglers and run the Track with a broom! Once they came through we were able to clean up all those plastic cups and head home via the pie shop at Wentworth Falls.
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