The Great Rail Run - Queenscliff to Drysdale

I've left off blogging about this as I was still processing my thoughts about last Sunday.   I had entered the Great Rail Run - Queenscliff to Drysdale 17km..

I got down to Queenscliff nice and early about 7.15am, after having stayed in Geelong for the weekend following the line of traffic heading down the coast.   Lots of people milling about as they were accepting race day entries also.  It was chilly but up on the platform it was out of the breeze.   Mood was great and the train was getting steamed up, two engines and a handful of carriages.  There was probably about 350 runners I guess.

The race consisted of the full 17km, a 10km (starting from Suma Park, where those competitors got on the train and it dropped them at Suma Park) and a three team relay.  A few spots of rain which soon stopped, and I sucked it up and bagged up my jacket to put in the van to meet me at the end.

Once the race started I soon warmed up.  There was a lovely tail wind and overcast conditions.  The train starts about 5 mins after the runners.   Mind you end result was that 25 runners beat the train, it came in 26th place.  But soon enough it chugged on past and it's smoke was merely a spot in the distance.

There were five water spots, such lovely volunteers - I got offered champers at one and he promptly gave me my cup of water.  What a joker.  Also volunteers stopping traffic at the road crossings as the rail trail crosses roads in a few sections.  At one road crossing there were no cars, so the cheeky volunteer held up the slow sign to me!  I had worked out I'd be happy to finish in 2:20 and by the 10km I was going great and knew if I remained on pace I would be in well before that.

But it was not to be.  At about the 12km mark I came across an incident where a runner was down and having CPR done on him.  His face had cuts and blood and he wasn't breathing and his whole head was a blue/grey colour.  There were about eight runners in a line taking turns to do compressions with St. Johns Ambulance also on the scene.  So lucky it was a section of the trail that the ambulance could get down.  There were also two nurses and a paramedic runner there too taking a major role, what's the odds when something dire happens that you'd be so lucky having those professionals also running the race.

They had the defrib machine on him and when it came time for everyone to stand back and it shocked him, I have never seen that before apart from on TV, it was very confronting.   I and a few others stood comforting his wife helplessly looking on.   I had done CPR in First Aid at work many many years ago but none of it was in my head at all.   The MICA ambulance then arrived and they worked on him very calmly with drips and putting needles into him and he started breathing again thankfully and he would be taken to hospital.

The organisers told us if we didn't want to continue they would arrange a bus for us to take us to the finish but we all decided we needed to finish this.  But the heart of the event had gone by that stage.  I think those of us left were in shock and continued on very slowly.   I've never been more thankful to see a finish line in my life.   Now I will wear this as a badge of honour, but when I checked the results I had come last!  Some people did cross after me but they were part of a relay, so on times I took the wooden spoon.

The organisers had spoken to each of us in that tail end of finishers to make sure we wee okay.  I got a massage on my calves, had a veggie burger for breakfast and then caught the shuttle bus back to Queenscliff, found my car and had a good howl.

Such a fantastic race, it really was and I would do it again in a heartbeat, but this year, just a wee bit more than I bargained for.

In the race recap email, there was a lovely message from the Race Organisers and a message from the man's wife, it was great to read this feedback:

"VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU..

As some participants may be aware a runner in yesterdays event collapsed while on course. In what can only be described as a true demonstration of people coming together to support another in need, many runners stopped and worked together to help for more than 30 minutes. Peter is currently in Geelong hospital and we have been asked to pass on the message below from Peter's family. 

Peter's family would like to thank his fellow runners who came to his aid on the Great Rail run. Words cannot express our gratitude. Thanks also to St Johns volunteers and the paramedics.  Peter is now stable and receiving the best treatment at Geelong hospital."