Nov 30 update

Day 7 was the wildest weather which continued through night. Freezing despite sleeping in all my dry clothes down bag and space blanket over top. More rain Day 8 but patchy sun. Had great feed in Balingup with Ron who came out to meet me. Great afternoon with some great climbing and views. Ankle held up well until Gregory Brook hut where I stayed. Through donnelly. 2 more huts today hopefully. 

Nov 29 Update

'Holy Cow, what a storm, was in full on survival mode to get to hut. Made it around 8pm, well over distance with course change. About 65km I think. Heading to Balingup - more rain'

Nov 28 Update

- Moving ok. 3 Hut day today - Sitting in hut with 1 more to go today but howling storm has hit so hoping it will break soon. Tough section to finish day. Will be late.

Nov 27 Update

Day 6 on Bibbulmun stopped early to rest inflamed ankle. Will make early start tomorrow.

Update 26 Nov

Stopped at murrays 35km in 8.5hrs. great day beautiful hut, went for a swim. cruising nicely again.

Nov25 Update

Getting hot again. Moving ok but slower, 88km and 19.5hrs drained me a bit. Not sure if I stop at Murray or push on to Dookanelly.

Update 24Nov

On Mt Cooke Looking to stop soon, Day2: 64.5km. Lost track coming off Mt Cooke cost me time so stopped at Nerang 14.21hrs. Long haul today weather good wish me luck! Spectacular View from Mt Boomerang

Update 23Nov

Packed it in after 15:09hrs and65.9km on garmin but less by guide book. Sharing Mt Dale hut with naked old man who got a fright when i rocked up in the dark. At brookton hwy now reloading. Feel good. Another long day ahead. Warming up but moving well. Just climbed up from Canning river. 31km for day so far in 6:20 but some hills ahead.

Update 1

Damn hot but going well. 40km in including bonus kms for official detour at Weir and missed turns retraced early on. Struggling with fluids in heat. Looking forward to cool evening. Have drop at Brookton Hwy but might not make that. 

He's off

Bibbulmun Track

Stretching from the outskirts of Perth all the way south to Albany, the Bibbulmun Track is Australia's longest dedicated hiking track. At an official 967km but closer to 1000km in reality it takes the average hiker many weeks to complete an end-to-end traverse. The current Fastest Known Time for the Bibb is held by Bernadette Benson in 15days 9hrs 48mins completed in November 2011. This was a supported effort (see definitions fastestknowntime). The claimed fastest 'self-supported' is by Andy Fawcett in 17days 15hours and 10mins set in November 2008. No supporting evidence has been offered to substantiate this time and it appears that it was not a solo effort. After that the next best known and documented traverse was by Nicki Rehn in 19.5days in 2009 which included a rest day amazingly.

I am planning a traverse of the full Bibbulmun, solo and self-supported starting Friday 23rd November. I will be carrying a Spot tracker and Phil will be posting updates here as I can get them to him. I plan to utilise half a dozen small food drops and spend some nights in town accommodation en-route. My primary goal is to finish. How long it will take me remains the big question. If I do finish, I hope to establish a new verifiable self-supported fastest time. Anything more will be a bonus. Wish me luck!
Andy

Another GNW done and dusted

November 10-11 Phil and I completed another GNW100 miler. That makes seven finishes each (plus I have a 100km finish the first year when Phil paced Dog instead of entering). That puts us well clear of all others on the GNW finishers list. In great conditions we both set PBs, Phil in 25:02 and myself in 31:44. I would like to say it is getting easier but it's not. And the re-introduction of the old section after Bumble Hill was at least half an hour slower. Our 63+ hour finish of the full GNW250 back in June seemed a long distant past. But the sleep monsters were just as bad. And the trail was equally unforgiving. The records are irrevocably etched now and we start to think about the next challenge. Phil is planning to rest a nagging injury hoping to clear it up. Me, I have another long trail to tackle. I will update here before starting and get Phil to post updates as best I can relay them through when I have reception.

GNW 250km Revisited

Phil and I are looking to have another crack at the GNW250. Starting in Newcastle early on Friday 8th June we hope to run the full course to Sydney over the long weekend. We attempted this back in 2010 while competing in the GNW100 race. That time we started at 1am and ran to the start of the race at Teralba. After completing the race and reaching Patonga Beach we were driven to Brooklyn where we continued into our third night without sleep. The combination of day-time heat and night-time sleep deprivation eventually forced us to stop at Berowra Waters when fatigue finally defeated me.

This time we will be starting fresh in the morning and won't have the heat to contend with. The only real handicap is the limitations of my heart post AF surgery but that is one of speed and not distance. After setting a PB at TNF100 recently, Phil is in great form so we are hoping he can drag me along to a respectable time.

We have a few friends offering to help out as crew, saving us a lot of logistical work and time. We will be carrying the Spot tracker linked to this page and hopefully will get a few updates on progress through during the day. However it pans out, we are just happy to be able to get back out there and have a run in the bush.

The finish

I'm back! 9 days 11 hours 49 mins.

Fantastic mate. Congratulations. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Day 9 wrap

Another long day 15 1/2 hrs including long stop in Nannup to eat and book bus and flight home. Then had to go back into town after leaving to get signal to find out where the fire was. Long road slog on this new section of trail. 26km with half that bitumen. Once on real trail in the dark nav was way dodgy as this has hardly been used and leaf litter path blended with bush. Made it to Donnelly River where staying in a bunk house. Last night on the trail! Foot holding together. Going to be rather sore when I finally stop. Otherwise legs feel good. Feet overall tenderized. Shoulder starting to get used to pack and not as sore. Will message when I reach the finish.

Day 9

Taped and padded ankle and can move ok. Bit of a limp going. Trying for nannup and reassess. Weather better. Just trashed.

Day 8 wrap

Another 14 1/2 hour day. Would have been quicker but another midday meltdown took its toll. And after10 hours with 3 more to go a major diversion added another 4-5km. And to finish the last hour was a hobble as developed bad flexor retinaculum inflamation on my ankle. Stuffed some foam down there and hope it settles overnight. This hut is in the middle of a dusty little village. A bit strange after all the lovely bush settings.

Day 8

'Light cloud helping and made good time so far today. Moving faster caused achilles irritaion but not too bad. Stillness creating pressure cooker feeling in the forests. Having little rest before tackling next section'

'Forced break. Getting staggers and very dizzy. Overwhelming heat. Resting in shade for a bit. Over halfway for the day so can afford rest'

'Very tough day at the office'



'Guess this is how I feel'



Hang in there mate!!

Day 7

Could it get any hotter!



Stopped in pub at Boyanup about a km off trail. Lovely shower. Fresh pair of Injinjis and rehydrating. Early start tomorrow to try for Jarradale. Would love a cooler day but apparently not coming.

Day 6 Wrap

After major meltdown spent an hour sitting hunched in shade of little bush at intersection to Collie. Contemplated just hitching a ride in and calling it a day. Was heat stressed and smashed. Struggled to walk 3km/hr all morning(footpod battery died so no measure except off map now).Decided to walk the hour to Collie track junction. This is an in and out track deviation I hadn't planned to take. Adds around 36km. By the time I got to the junction I had cooled off and realised I probably wouldn't reach the township until 11-12 on a Sat night. I didn't fancy sleeping in the town park so decided that option wasn't meant to be. Besides there was nothing major wrong with me. I was just beaten by the heat. As the sun got lower I felt better and picked up pace considerably. Went into Park campground at Honeymoon pool but it was full. So went another 4km to find an empty hut. Heaven.

My feet at the end of Day 6 reflect how I felt.