Bogong to Hotham Rooftop Run
A Competitors Eye View
Damon Goerke / 17.01.2005
A field of 25 people started this years Bogong to Hotham trail run on Sun 9th January 2005. That may not sound like many, but when you consider that it is quoted as the toughest run in Oz, and less than 10 people usually finish, thats a pretty good field. 65km in length with 3000m of climbing, it starts from Mountain Creek near Mt Beauty, climbs Mt Bogong, descends to Big river (start of the Mitta Mitta) then climbs up to the Bogong high plains and along to the halfway point at Langfords Gap near Falls Creek. The second half is a bit easier, crossing the high plains before dropping to the Cobungra River and the final climb up to Mt Hotham.
Mike Grayling, the event organiser, got us off and running at 6:22am and the pack seeded itself over the first couple of km\'s before hitting the turn off up Staircase Spur and the start of the first climb. The crowd quickly spread out as everyone settled in for the long climb.
A wrong turn at Bivouac Hut by the leaders, Dave Criniti and Martin Fryer, found a group of 5 of us all together again. Somehow I managed to get away from the others and was the first to hit the summit cairn in about 1\'25. The other 4 were not far behind but the rest of the field was out of sight.
As usual the run to Cleve Cole hut was an absolute delight, with great views of the surrounding mountains and more importantly, the majority being downhill. The usually faint track down to Big River was clear and easy to follow and a fallen tree across the river prevented us from getting wet shoes.
I saw my only snake for the day on the climb up, not far from the bottom, just a small black one who slithered off the track quickly. After passing the tree line and approaching Warby Corner, I had a chance to look behind and found I was in the clear with no one in sight so had at least a km lead, this was an unusual sitation for me to be in. See All Event Posts
