Movember 2009 Mt Coot-tha Mousdash

Click here for the 2010 Mt Coot-tha Mousdash.

Movember (From Wikipedia)

Movember (a portmanteau of the words 'Moustache' and 'November'), is an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. The event has been claimed to have been invented in 1999 by group of Australian men from Adelaide.
Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Last weekend, i took a break from work to take part in the 10.5 km Mt Coot-tha run. At work camp I worked between 12-14 hours a day so i had very little preparation let alone training for this event. And since I had a sort of shaggy facial hair to pass for a 'tash, and also my workmates kept asking me, i thought why not. I did the 10km bridge-to-brisbane a few months back and that wasn’t too bad.
bridge to brisbane

So early last Sunday morning, i turned up at the start line not knowing what was in store.

When i found out it was a mountain run, my heart sank. I thought it was around the base of, not up and then down a mountain. Well i was there so might as well give it a go.

There was around 650-700 participants.

From the get go i realised i was mixing with the wrong crowd.

These mousdashers are mostly elite runners and athletes.

I started near the front of the pack but everyone kept going past me.

That’s me leading the race, i mean the bottom half of the race. And then the photographer disrupted my rhythm. (nice tash Mart.)

I plodded on regardless. But i’ll spare you all the gory detail. Like how i literally crawled up the mountain (and i thought i was a mountaineer), jogged along the ridges and just managed to tumble downhill and labored the final 1.5km flat section to the finish.

I wanted to stop for coffee at the park, but i forgot my thermos. (That park looks familiar.)
see side trips: mt-coot-tha

It felt like like the sun was setting when i finished. The marshalls were ready to pack up and reopen the road.

The man’s sign said it all: I conquered Mt Coot-tha. Now i know how Edmund Hilary felt when he conquered Everest :-). Close enough ain’t it?

Below are the results. Aside from the elite athletes, there's two other kinds of people that put me to shame: the older than me 55 yrs +, and the young teenagers. The oldest runner (76yo) and the youngest (12yo) easily beat me.
I did beat a few 60+ yrs old, and a couple of young teeners too :-).
Mousdash Mt Coot-tha Fun Run 2009. November 15, 2009
Results By intraining race Management Systems, Inc.

Place Name Bib No Age Time Martin's comment

1 GEOFF BERKELEY 9665 40 38:55.0 First

2 Benjamin Duffus 8919 17 39:39.6 Second

3 David Loader 9105 45 40:39.0 Third

62 Martin P 9218 28 48:29.0 Katoks (namesake)

73 jim buchanan 9666 76 49:05.5 Oldest Participant

167 Daniel Manning 9117 12 54:07.1 Youngest Participant

207 Ulrich Dr. Chill 8915 66 56:03.3 He was steaming

300 Cyrus Dickie 8908 29 59:53.8 Serious Cyrus

305 J Leggett 9098 48 1:00:06.8 J legged it

338 Marek Fuks 8964 27 1:01:49.3 good on you Marek

373 Martin Polichay 9819 43+ 1:03:50.0

The best of the rest

478 Ed C  59 1:10:20.5

551 MK  60 1:18:15.2

603 Seb C  1:47:32.1

I hope to do better next year in this event.
2010 mousdash

Postscript
Later that day i went to watch Manny Pacquiao give Cotto a boxing lesson. (I think the pacman has enough good-looks to pass for an Igorot). At the same time Tiger Woods was winning the Australian Masters golf.
I challenge these two young lads to a winner-take-all tournament. They can bring Roger Federer with them. Or Lance Armstrong. A no-holds barred jolens or siatong with all of these so-called world beaters. I reckon i’ll be a big chance. They haven’t even conquered Mt Coot-tha.
The Mousdash Mt Coot-tha Fun Run is in support of Movember.