The CrossingNorth Of Sydney
The Sponsors Show Up
The morning after walking into Sydney, I had to switch straight back into work mode. By night I was at Calga, with Mel's coffee, Gavin's Tailwind visit and Roger's Pie in the Sky lunch turning a hard northbound push into a very visible day of support.
After Sydney, there was no time to stand around being impressed with ourselves.
We would be back in the city for parkrun and sightseeing at the weekend, but first we had to get as far north as possible. The rough aim was about 200 kilometres across Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
That meant the route mattered.
After a fair bit of discussion, we went with the highway option: through Wahroonga, around Hornsby, up through Asquith, then onward towards the Central Coast. It looked like the best balance between somewhere I could actually walk and somewhere Ben and Ols could still support me properly in the vehicle.
I was mostly walking at this point. Running was for parkrun and moments of excitement, such as heading through Sydney to Circular Quay the day before.
There was also less than 1000 kilometres to go.
That was still an enormous amount of distance, but by HAA standards it was also properly encouraging.
The first bit of support came with coffee.
Mel had noticed I was in her area, decided that meant she should come out and say hello, and bought me a coffee at Off the Rails. Her poor husband had been bumped for HAA on his birthday. Sorry, mate.
It was lovely to meet Mel, and the warm drink and chat were very welcome.
Then the sponsor day really started.
Gavin from Tailwind Nutrition Australia popped up beside the route with his ultra-running mate Jeff. They brought Tailwind goodies and shared a few kilometres with me. Gavin’s support had been helping keep me fuelled since the early part of HAA, when the big tub of Tailwind chased us east from Runwest after we had already left Perth. Meeting him properly, on foot, beside the route, was very cool.
Lunch brought another one.
Roger from Hoka OneOne Australia came out to Pie in the Sky. He was heading to Europe that evening, but still made time to come and shout all of us lunch.
I met this crazy guy, and he bought me a pie. Hard to argue with that as a summary.
The shoe support had started with Muz at Runwest taking the initial punt on me. From there came Hoka, Tailwind, Lightfeet, advice, practical help, replacements, deliveries, and people who kept backing the whole thing after it had moved from idea to daily reality. This was one of the days where that support stopped being abstract. Gavin was there. Roger was there. Mel was there. Jeff was there. Ben and Ols were there. The campervan was there.
And, sadly, the kilometres were still there as well.
By evening I had reached Calga. Sydney Harbour Bridge was already about 60 kilometres behind us, which was a strange thing to write only a day after walking into the city in the rain.
Another big day done.
Crazy ultra people, sponsors, supporters, coffee, pies, Tailwind, Hoka, and the runiverse and everything.
Images From The Day
