Jenny Owens - 100km Wild Endurance Challenge 2012

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Category: Jenny Owens

I have no idea where to start …! That was the hardest physical challenge I’ve every done!!

Before I get into this, I will just say … The views during this challenge were amazing – this made some of the experience, much more enjoyable! The organisers did a great job, the sun (and moon) were shining and it was fantastic to be able to raise money and awareness for the Wilderness Society and the great work they do.

The challenge started at 8am on Saturday morning (with a 5:15am rise to get to the start), with 650 competitors (or should I say, idiots!) in 135 teams.

I was lucky enough to have Winter Olympian, Michael Dickson, John Marsden, my partner, Matt Lyons and myself in our team. Matt and I trained a bit for this event (as did the others) but never did we imagine the challenge would be so difficult!!!

For the first 14km, we hiked up: the average vertical was worked out at 10 metres for every 1 metre climbed, some places even more! And when you go up … you eventually have to go down! The vertical down was the same over another14km! That was just section one!!! By the end of the downs, my legs were shaking and really struggling not to collapse bracing after each big step or rock!

Unfortunately, John had to pull out at the 50km mark… He had drank around 6 litres of fluids and wasn’t able to pass any of it over the 10hrs. He needed to sit and drink some fluids and make sure he didn’t have to get himself to the hospital. Lucky after 3 hrs of re-hydrating, and some rest, he was able to go and joined back in at the 85km mark.

This was such a tough challenge. If you weren’t climbing up or down big steps, rocks, ladders, or ropes, you were rock-hopping, jumping over things, nearly rolling ankles, trying to side-step mud to keep feet dry, taking shoes off to cross rivers, ducking under/over fallen trees/rocks, trying to keep your eyes open at 3am while physically/mentally shattered!

As stupid as Nordic walking is (and looks!), I now wish I had invested in a pair of Nordic walking poles just for this challenge!! Around the 75km mark, Matt found some strong sticks to help us, which made a HUGE difference – just a bummer we didn’t think of that earlier!!

There were many times during the challenge when I thought I was done but from somewhere kept getting a second wind (I think I reached my 6th wind by the time I stopped!).

(press play to see some amazing footage and pictures from our adventure!)

Once it got dark, temperatures dropped to a low of 4 degrees and the wind had picked up. This was where things got really tough – after midnight was the hardest! Not only was I mentally and physical exhausted, I also just wanted/needed to close my eyes and practice a bit of sleepwalking. The little suckers were also starting to play tricks on me a little and I kept thinking I was seeing things!

Everyone had their heads down, were very quiet, only speaking if really needed!

At the 81km mark, I was feeling pretty good again, we were 4km out from the 3rd check point. I’ve never walked a longer 4km in my life… By the time we got to the top of the mountain, I was ready for that break!

We stopped and refuelled for about 30 mins – it was always hard after every stop to get our legs moving again but we eventually did. This time around, after I got warmed up and moving, the legs unfortunately only lasted about 1km more! I just couldn’t keep the pace up and kept dropping back, slowing everyone down and we were all getting cold. I couldn’t walk any more, and around the 87km mark collapsed down on the side (I say collapsed because my legs wouldn’t allow me to lower myself down!!!).

I didn’t want to go any further, I felt that I couldn’t… Matt got me up and pushed me on a little further until it all literally ended in tears!!! I was freezing cold and very unhappy! I didn’t give a shit about finishing the 100km at that stage! Apparently I wasn’t making any sense, I wasn’t able to talk and when I did, I was slurring like I was drunk! I had pushed myself beyond probably what I should have, but that’s all part of the challenge!

With 10km to go, at around 5:30am Sunday morning (I had now been awake for over 24hrs), we were at the top of yet another valley, I looked down and just knew if I went down into the bush again, I wasn’t going to make it back up the other side to the top! I also didn’t want to slow the others down any more than I already was – there is a right time to pull out as a team member and I feel that I did the right thing by them, but also myself.

Matt was great to have there with me, pushing me through, I couldn’t have done it without him. He also stopped when I did because I had to wait about half an hour in the dark and cold for our support crew, Dan Fielding (who did an amazing job – Dan was supposed to do the challenge with us but had to pull out due to some serious injuries he had in December) to come and collect me. John and Dicko went on to the finish.

Our team placed 16th overall (out of 135 team) and 5th in the mixed team division.

Congrats to Dicko for being the biggest idiot out of all of us to actually be able to complete such a challenge!!! Very amazing of him, I’m very impressed. But I think a big congrats to John and Matt too…. Definitely a big effort, no matter how far you got.

So, 90km completed…! At the time and also yesterday, I absolutely had NO interest in actually ever attempting 100km again! Today is a new day and I’m thinking: “damn, it beat me”!!! I hear the Oxfam 100km Challenge is a hell of a lot easier (Dicko has completed the Oxfam twice), maybe I’ll do that in the future at some point but for now, I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished!

If anyone is looking for a real serous challenge, this is definitely it (or maybe the North Face race if you’re really nuts)!! I have NO interest in doing this one again – too tough for me!! A lot of competitors come back each year and the event is getting bigger and bigger.

HUGGEST EVER thanks to XTM. Pete and Gaz, you’re legends, your product not only keeps me warm on the ski slopes, it always works out in the wilderness!

Thanks again to Dan for looking after us during the event, cooking us dinner, helping us refuel our packs, picking me up etc.

Also a HUGE thanks to everyone who supported me and our team for the challenge. We raised $2455: $1000 more than our goal.

There are NO more challenges like that for me this year; it’s back to ski training, which I’m looking forward too. I’ll plan on doing some different challenges next year after the northern winter.

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