Crewing At C2K

Friday & Saturday
Purpose:  helping out a runner
Distance: 95.2 km
Time:  18 hours 53 mins 41 secs
Rate:  11' 54"  per km
Altitude gain:  2604 metres
Weather: sunny days, cool/cold nights, temp range 1-23 degrees, humidity low, wind calm except Friday afternoon, strong west 25-30 kmph, snow on high peaks

Week & Dec:  124.3 km,  Year:  4969.2 km

I crewed for Billy Pearce over the weekend as he attempted his 3rd Coast to Kosciuszko starting at Eden on the south coast of NSW & finishing on top of Australia's highest mountain. So, sea level to 2228 metres over 240 kms of gravel & sealed roads.
A field of 49 runners started with only 3 DNF's, the best finishing rate in the 10 years of the event's history. Seems good weather conditions plus the excellent calibre of the competitors as well as some tight entry guidelines made this possible.
I had never been to C2K, and very rarely go the high country, winter or summer.
Billy is almost a control freak with all bases covered, many covered a couple of times to allow for any changes due to weather or running problems.
I crewed with 2 others, Brad & Travis, plus the help of Rhian, a medical attendant for the race. My role was pacer & occasional other duties, but mainly I was to keep the runner going forward.
All went to a race plan Billy had prepared until the afternoon on day 1 when breathing problems changed the race plan. The cold night air certainly didn't help as his airways became blocked & he stopped many times just to get his breath.
Afternoon of day 2, the snow on top of the mountain dictated that running/walking on the trail at night with ice forming in the sub zero conditions would be too dangerous if a runner had problems & needed to be evacuated. The top section, the last 18 kms, 9 kms up and back from Charlottes Pass was cancelled after about 20 runners had gone through with enough time to do the round trip.
With Billy struggling, the text came through just in time to advice this cancellation, thus allowing him a chance at a finish at Charlottes Pass inside the midnight cut off. We basically had 8 hours to get him to do 40 kms. Sounds easy, it's dark, cold & Billy is slow to even manage 15 minutes per km on long gradual up hill, all the way.
Many stops & starts later, we get to the new finish line with just 3 minutes to spare & are we happy to see that happen. It had been 42 hours since the start, a long time out there on one of the most iconic events on Australia's running program.
We were allowed to pace our runner after dusk on day 1 and in the end I did the 95 kms of recorded GPS distance. The Garmin battery ran out of puff with just 2.5 kms to go after a half recharge at Jindabyne during the day.
Lack of sleep, about 2 hours over the 2 days leaves me sleepy tired, no physical tiredness, and nothing a couple of good night's rest won't fix.
It was a wonderful weekend, again catching up with many ultra running friends you meet at these events over the years.
However, next it's finishing off the training to be ready for Bogong to Hotham in early January 2014.