Australia Run 2001

The 2001 Trans-Australia Footrace was an experience I will never forget. 25 of the world’s best ultra distance runners gathered in Perth, on the West coast for probably the most gruelling footrace ever. The aim was to run all the way across the continent, reaching the East coast at a little place called Eden in New South Wales, before heading inland to finish in the capital city of Canberra. The run was a celebration of Australia’s Centenary of Federation. For me the run started in November 2000 when, after having got home from a cycle, I played a message on my answer machine. It was from my friend Nick in Australia. He said he had just found out about a running race across Australia starting in January 2001, right in the middle of their summer. Competitors would have to run nearly 50 miles per day for 65 days in temperatures reaching sometimes 50C!

The natural masochist in me knew I had to do it. The £10,000 I had just saved as a deposit for my first house would have to be used for the run instead. Some things you have just got to do. And running across Australia was one of them.

But I didn’t have much time to get ready. Two months. Training for the race was hard. A freezing, wet, blustery Cornish winter was no way to prepare for the inferno of Australia. So after a long run each morning, in the evening I used to run to my local health club and spend 2 hours in the sauna before running back home. Well, I had to get acclimatised somehow.

I managed to get semi fit before flying out to Sydney 2 weeks before the start of the race. My sisters Alison and Susan live in Sydney and Alison was due to give birth to her first child just before Christmas. I had told Alison I was flying straight into Perth just before the start of the race when in fact I was going to Sydney first. I wanted to surprise her. Her husband Henry picked me up at the airport and then when we got to her road in Sydney I phoned her up on the mobile pretending I was I was still in England. I was just moaning about the British weather when I knocked on her front door. She said, ‘Hold on a sec, there’s someone at the door.’
‘I know’, I said.
The shock on her face was priceless. The surprise had worked a treat. She was speechless! The next day she went into labour and gave birth to a healthy boy Seb.

When I got to Sydney I figured I better go for a 50 mile run- as I was going to have to run that distance for 65 successive days in the race. It was not a pleasant run for several reasons:
1. I had jet lag after spending 24 hours on a plane.
2. I was wearing new trainers and got really bad blisters.
3. I didn’t take enough water with me and got badly dehydrated.
4. The temperature was 41C and I had just come from an English winter!

I hobbled the last 3 hours and was in a real state when I finished. The next day I could barely walk, let alone run another 50 miles. I was extremely depressed because I figured I had absolutely no chance of completing the run. As I flew to Perth for the start of the run I was a worried man. So what became of me?

THE ORGANISERS

Bernie Farmer
The co-organiser of the race. Bernie is a fantastic, kind, generous man with whom I got on extremely well with during the run. A businessman from Canberra, Australia- Bernie is the brother of famous Australian ultra distance runner Pat Farmer. Pat has run across the U.S.A but is perhaps most famous for running around the whole of Australia 3 years ago to celebrate Australia’s Centenary of Federation. He ran about 15,000kms at an average of about 70kms per day. It is a very sad story in that just before the run Pat’s wife tragically died in a car crash. Bernie acted as support crew for this run and it was during this run that the idea for the TAF was born.
Bernie was under a lot of pressure during the run, but still had a terrific sense of humour. A real ‘del boy’ character, as a businessman I think Bernie is too nice to make a lot of money. Indeed, during the TAF he used a lot of his own money to keep some of the athletes from less wealthy countries in the race. A terrific guy who I will never forget.

Jesse Dale Riley
Jesse is a huge American guy with a huge heart. At about 19 stone he doesn’t look like a runner but has, in fact run across both the U.S.A and Australia. He also organised 3 Trans-America races in the 1990’s with great success. Another nice guy, my lasting memory of Jesse is the fact that he never really changed clothes during the whole of the race. At the end of each scorchingly hot day he would have a shower fully clothed, get into his car and then turn the air conditioning on full blast until he was dry! No need to change clothes at all.
A lot of the other runners moaned a lot at Jesse. Poor guy. Ok, it wasn’t the best organised race in the world, but he did his best. That is all you can do.

2. Anatoly Kruglikov (RUSSIA) 1st place The winner.
He was absolutely incredible. His physique was amazing. Not an once of fat on him. His legs were like tree trunks and you could see veins everywhere. At the start of the race I thought he would never keep up the incredible pace he was setting. But he just kept going and going and finished the race averaging an amazing 13.5 k/p/h. He seemed to eat junk food all the way through. The amount he ate was incredible. During the race he only seemed to drink coke.
One story I heard about him was that some days after finishing the 50 or so mile stage, he used to go out training in the afternoon with his girlfriend. Absolutely amazing! He kept himself very much to himself and never really mixed with the others. Indeed, I don’t think I ever spoke to him.

3. Andre Derxen (RUSSIA) 2nd place
For the first couple of weeks Andre and Anatoly ran as a team and seemed good friends. Then one night on the Nullarbor we heard them having a huge argument and from that moment they never talked. I don’t know what the argument was about because it was in Russian. Whereas Anatoly had a sponsor, Andre didn’t have much money. He slept in a tent most nights and didn’t seem to have a great deal to eat. I don’t know how he kept going. A really graceful runner in comparison to the powerful running of Kruglikov, I really liked Andre. A very quiet man, he let his guard drop towards the end of the race and we were able to share a laugh or two. A nice guy who I respected very much.

4. Dusan Mjarle (SLOVENIA) 3rd place
A previous winner of the Race across America, Dusan takes his running very seriously. A soldier with the Slovenian army, he doesn’t actually fight, he just gets paid to run. He kept himself very much to himself during the run. His style is very ungainly, he runs a bit like a chicken! He moaned a lot at the organisers and the only times I really talked to him was when I was angry with him. One day I really wanted to beat him. As I was about to pass him I started to imitate him by running like him with my arms flapping like a chicken. I could see he was livid. He kept re-passing me but each time I ran past like a chicken. In the end I out sprinted him. It was hilarious. I had clearly got to him! At the end of the race he relaxed a bit and even gave all the competitors a book about Slovenia. Dusan likes a beer or two after each stage!

5. Mihaly Molnar (HUNGARY) 4th place
A great character with an infectious laugh, Mihaly tried to stay with the big 2 for the first couple of weeks. He even beat Kruglikov on a couple of stages. Unfortunately, he then got injured (shin splints) and I thought he would drop out. But, despite being at the back for a couple of weeks he was determined to keep going, despite the pain. Slowly, his injury improved and he was able to finish in 4th place. A nice guy who I got to know more when he became injured. He really liked to practise his English. Had a really good sense of humour and we took the mickey out of each other a lot.

6. Mick Francis (AUSTRALIA) 5th place
The leading Australian from Perth, though originally from Scotland. A really nice guy who took the race very seriously. Unbelievably, he ran the whole race with a hernia. The pain he must have been in cannot be imagined. My lasting memory of Mick? He was always to be seen on his mobile phone after each day’s stage. His phone bill must have been enormous.

7. Wolfgang Schwerk (GERMANY) 6th place
Part of the 5 strong German team, Wolfgang is a very talented ultra runner who lies 2nd in the world all-time list for the distance covered in 24 hours (285kms). Didn’t get to know Wolfgang very well. The German team didn’t really seem to enjoy the experience of the run. They seemed to spend a lot of their time moaning. He really hated the heat and so during the really hot days would run along with an umbrella to give him some shade!

8. Georgis Jeramalis (LITHUANIA) 8th place
Ah Georgis! What a character. Running is Georgis’ life. He has absolutely no money but relies on the goodwill of others to eat and survive. I really don’t know how he finished the race on so little food. During the race we would get periodically tested to see amongst other things whether our iron levels were too low. Mine were fine because I was taking a really strong iron tablet supplement. Towards the end of the race Georgis’ levels had fallen dangerously low. I had ten tablets left, one for each of the remaining days and figured I could do without them so gave them to Georgis. I said he must only take one per day because they were so strong. Obviously, he didn’t fully understand as he came up to me the next day and said: ‘Ah Bobby. Tablets very good. Please may I have some more?’ He had eaten all ten in one go! I hate to think what his stomach was like the next few days! One day he went missing in the middle of the stage. Eventually, he was found in the middle of a vineyard eating all the grapes! Georgis was a real character and gave us plenty of laughs.

9. Paul Every (AUSTRALIA) 9th place
My mate from years back, Paul is a zookeeper at Toronga Zoo in Sydney and a great guy. Struggled a lot during the run with injury and illness. After one stage he was admitted to hospital for the night, yet he still got up the next morning to run 50 miles. Incredible. I ran with Paul a lot and shared so many laughs with him. We would talk about anything on the really hard days just to take our minds off the pain. Whereas I used to run along along with a walkman and listen to music, Paul preferred to listen to the sounds of nature. As a zookeeper he was also very interested in all the wildlife we saw along the way. One of my favourite people in the whole world, along with his partner Di, who acted as his support crew.

10. The Berlin Express (GERMANY)- Marcus, Stefen, Karl-Heinz, Helmut.
So called because they were all German and spent much of the race running like a train, single file behind each other, never really speaking. They didn’t seem to enjoy the beauty of Australia, or at least didn’t appear to. I really think they missed out on the unique experience of running across such a beautiful country. Having said that, I really liked Marcus and his girlfriend Gabrielle; who acted as his support crew.

11. George Audley (AUSTRALIA) 13th place a.k.a ‘The Flying Fossil’
George was the revelation of the race. At 61, he was the oldest competitor and few expected him to finish and indeed, during the first couple of weeks of the race he really suffered. He looked absolutely terrible. However, slowly but surely he got a bit faster. Eventually he even latched onto the ‘Berlin Express’. Before long he was in front of them, getting faster every day. One day he overtook me. Determined not to let a 61 year old beat me I managed to eventually overtake him. But it was close. Became affectionately known as ‘The Flying Fossil’ and became a hit with the media.

Kaname Sakuri (JAPAN)
Poor Kaname. Ran with great speed for 58 days before he got a stress fracture in his leg. Bravely, he continued and managed to just finish inside the time limit for 3 more days. He was in absolute agony. However, with 3 days to go it was all over. Unable to even walk any longer without crutches he couldn’t finish within the time limit and so was disqualified from the race, so close to the end. He must have been devastated but took the disappointment with dignity. A quiet, likeable man, he was in 4th place before his injury.

Bryan Smith (AUSTRALIA)
I will never forget the moment when Bryan collapsed and died right in front of me on day 29 of the race. Bryan was one of the nicest people I have ever met. Kind, generous with his time, he taught me a great deal. On the day before he died I was running with him. At 48C the temperature was stifling and we were both struggling. I asked Bryan how he was, to which he replied, ‘Bob, I’m just trying to survive.’
The next day he was dead, after suffering a heart attack. Australia had lost their best ever ultra runner. An absolute tragedy, his death left me empty and not wanting to continue. But then I thought how Bryan would have wanted me to continue. So the rest of the way I ran with a bit of Bryan in my heart. It made the moment when I reached the Pacific Ocean even more significant. A true gent, Bryan is sorely missed.

Peter Gray (AUSTRALIA)
A real character. Peter, at 19 stone, looks like anything but an ultra runner. He was disqualified on the 100km stage out of Norseman for being outside the time limit. However, he stayed for the remainder of the race to act as support crew, a job he did brilliantly. He would often keep us amused by writing signs on cardboard which he put on the side of the road for us to read as we ran past. They were humorous and insulting at the same time. They certainly brightened up my day but I don’t think the Germans were too amused!

Kawika Spalding (U.S.A)
Another big guy, and amazingly, a smoker! Had previously finished the Run across America with the tactic of starting slow and getting faster as the race went on. Although it worked in the U.S.A, in Australia it didn’t. He never got any faster and eventually finished outside the time limit on the first day in the Nullarbor. Like Peter, he stayed on to help crew for others. A real character, Kawika has long hair and a huge, bushy beard.

Dave Criniti (AUSTRALIA)
The ‘baby’ of the race at 21, the race maybe came a couple of years too soon for Dave. Nicknamed ‘Casper the ghost’ because he was so pale, Dave struggled from day 1, eventually dropping out on day 11. The next year he managed to cycle around the whole of Australia and is now the leading Australian ultra runner. A really nice lad.

Andrew Lucas (AUSTRALIA)
In a race as long as the TAF you have to take care of your feet. If you get bad blisters it can mean the end of your race. Unfortunately, Andrew did not take care of his feet and ended up with the most horrendous blisters I have ever seen. For days he continued, fighting excruciating pain. Eventually, he could take no more and was forced to pull out. Physically he was fine everywhere except his feet. Unfortunately, you need your feet to run! An important lesson for Andrew.

There were others in the race, but they all dropped out early in the race and I can’t really remember them!

Chris Arnold (ENGLAND)
Chris was someone I knew from home in Cornwall. I asked him to act as my support crew because I thought it would be a great experience for him. And it was. 22 at the time and having just finished a degree in surveying, he was ready for some travelling. The role of support crew is a very hard one. He had to cook for me, massage my aching legs, drive the support van, run with me, give me food and drink during each day’s run, motivate me and even burst all my blisters for me.
And he did his job amazingly well. I think Chris learnt a great deal about life during this run. He saw what it was like for people to suffer day after day, yet still keep going. He learnt to deal with the hardship of life on the road. He was as sad as I was when the race ended.

Chris now lives in New Zealand and has managed to find himself a wife! I have lost contact details for him but would love to see him again. We went through something very special together. It would be a shame not to stay in touch.
Cheers Chris. You were brilliant.

Australia Run 2001
Australia Intro.....Australia Run Route.......Australia Run Diary......About Australia........
Australia Introduction
The 2001 Trans-Australia Footrace was an experience I will never forget. 25 of the world’s best ultra distance runners gathered in Perth, on the West coast for probably the most gruelling footrace ever. The aim was to run all the way across the continent, reaching the East coast at a little place called Eden in New South Wales, before heading inland to finish in the capital city of Canberra. The run was a celebration of Australia’s Centenary of Federation. For me the run started in November 2000 when, after having got home from a cycle, I played a message on my answer machine. It was from my friend Nick in Australia. He said he had just found out about a running race across Australia starting in January 2001, right in the middle of their summer. Competitors would have to run nearly 50 miles per day for 65 days in temperatures reaching sometimes 50C! The natural masochist in me knew I had to do it. The £10,000 I had just saved as a deposit for my first house would have to be used for the run instead. Some things you have just got to do. And running across Australia was one of them. But I didn’t have much time to get ready. Two months. Training for the race was hard. A freezing, wet, blustery Cornish winter was no way to prepare for the inferno of Australia. So after a long run each morning, in the evening I used to run to my local health club and spend 2 hours in the sauna before running back home. Well, I had to get acclimatised somehow. I managed to get semi fit before flying out to Sydney 2 weeks before the start of the race. My sisters Alison and Susan live in Sydney and Alison was due to give birth to her first child just before Christmas. I had told Alison I was flying straight into Perth just before the start of the race when in fact I was going to Sydney first. I wanted to surprise her. Her husband Henry picked me up at the airport and then when we got to her road in Sydney I phoned her up on the mobile pretending I was I was still in England. I was just moaning about the British weather when I knocked on her front door. She said, ‘Hold on a sec, there’s someone at the door.’ ‘I know’, I said. The shock on her face was priceless. The surprise had worked a treat. She was speechless! The next day she went into labour and gave birth to a healthy boy Seb. When I got to Sydney I figured I better go for a 50 mile run- as I was going to have to run that distance for 65 successive days in the race. It was not a pleasant run for several reasons: 1. I had jet lag after spending 24 hours on a plane. 2. I was wearing new trainers and got really bad blisters. 3. I didn’t take enough water with me and got badly dehydrated. 4. The temperature was 41C and I had just come from an English winter! I hobbled the last 3 hours and was in a real state when I finished. The next day I could barely walk, let alone run another 50 miles. I was extremely depressed because I figured I had absolutely no chance of completing the run. As I flew to Perth for the start of the run I was a worried man. So what became of me? THE ORGANISERS Bernie Farmer The co-organiser of the race. Bernie is a fantastic, kind, generous man with whom I got on extremely well with during the run. A businessman from Canberra, Australia- Bernie is the brother of famous Australian ultra distance runner Pat Farmer. Pat has run across the U.S.A but is perhaps most famous for running around the whole of Australia 3 years ago to celebrate Australia’s Centenary of Federation. He ran about 15,000kms at an average of about 70kms per day. It is a very sad story in that just before the run Pat’s wife tragically died in a car crash. Bernie acted as support crew for this run and it was during this run that the idea for the TAF was born. Bernie was under a lot of pressure during the run, but still had a terrific sense of humour. A real ‘del boy’ character, as a businessman I think Bernie is too nice to make a lot of money. Indeed, during the TAF he used a lot of his own money to keep some of the athletes from less wealthy countries in the race. A terrific guy who I will never forget. Jesse Dale Riley Jesse is a huge American guy with a huge heart. At about 19 stone he doesn’t look like a runner but has, in fact run across both the U.S.A and Australia. He also organised 3 Trans-America races in the 1990’s with great success. Another nice guy, my lasting memory of Jesse is the fact that he never really changed clothes during the whole of the race. At the end of each scorchingly hot day he would have a shower fully clothed, get into his car and then turn the air conditioning on full blast until he was dry! No need to change clothes at all. A lot of the other runners moaned a lot at Jesse. Poor guy. Ok, it wasn’t the best organised race in the world, but he did his best. That is all you can do. An assortment of people made up the 2001 Trans-Australia Footrace! THE RUNNERS 1.Bob Brown (ENGLAND) 7th place - What can I say!!! 2. Anatoly Kruglikov (RUSSIA) 1st place The winner. He was absolutely incredible. His physique was amazing. Not an once of fat on him. His legs were like tree trunks and you could see veins everywhere. At the start of the race I thought he would never keep up the incredible pace he was setting. But he just kept going and going and finished the race averaging an amazing 13.5 k/p/h. He seemed to eat junk food all the way through. The amount he ate was incredible. During the race he only seemed to drink coke. One story I heard about him was that some days after finishing the 50 or so mile stage, he used to go out training in the afternoon with his girlfriend. Absolutely amazing! He kept himself very much to himself and never really mixed with the others. Indeed, I don’t think I ever spoke to him. 3. Andre Derxen (RUSSIA) 2nd place For the first couple of weeks Andre and Anatoly ran as a team and seemed good friends. Then one night on the Nullarbor we heard them having a huge argument and from that moment they never talked. I don’t know what the argument was about because it was in Russian. Whereas Anatoly had a sponsor, Andre didn’t have much money. He slept in a tent most nights and didn’t seem to have a great deal to eat. I don’t know how he kept going. A really graceful runner in comparison to the powerful running of Kruglikov, I really liked Andre. A very quiet man, he let his guard drop towards the end of the race and we were able to share a laugh or two. A nice guy who I respected very much. 4. Dusan Mjarle (SLOVENIA) 3rd place A previous winner of the Race across America, Dusan takes his running very seriously. A soldier with the Slovenian army, he doesn’t actually fight, he just gets paid to run. He kept himself very much to himself during the run. His style is very ungainly, he runs a bit like a chicken! He moaned a lot at the organisers and the only times I really talked to him was when I was angry with him. One day I really wanted to beat him. As I was about to pass him I started to imitate him by running like him with my arms flapping like a chicken. I could see he was livid. He kept re-passing me but each time I ran past like a chicken. In the end I out sprinted him. It was hilarious. I had clearly got to him! At the end of the race he relaxed a bit and even gave all the competitors a book about Slovenia. Dusan likes a beer or two after each stage! 5. Mihaly Molnar (HUNGARY) 4th place A great character with an infectious laugh, Mihaly tried to stay with the big 2 for the first couple of weeks. He even beat Kruglikov on a couple of stages. Unfortunately, he then got injured (shin splints) and I thought he would drop out. But, despite being at the back for a couple of weeks he was determined to keep going, despite the pain. Slowly, his injury improved and he was able to finish in 4th place. A nice guy who I got to know more when he became injured. He really liked to practise his English. Had a really good sense of humour and we took the mickey out of each other a lot. 6. Mick Francis (AUSTRALIA) 5th place The leading Australian from Perth, though originally from Scotland. A really nice guy who took the race very seriously. Unbelievably, he ran the whole race with a hernia. The pain he must have been in cannot be imagined. My lasting memory of Mick? He was always to be seen on his mobile phone after each day’s stage. His phone bill must have been enormous. 7. Wolfgang Schwerk (GERMANY) 6th place Part of the 5 strong German team, Wolfgang is a very talented ultra runner who lies 2nd in the world all-time list for the distance covered in 24 hours (285kms). Didn’t get to know Wolfgang very well. The German team didn’t really seem to enjoy the experience of the run. They seemed to spend a lot of their time moaning. He really hated the heat and so during the really hot days would run along with an umbrella to give him some shade! 8. Georgis Jeramalis (LITHUANIA) 8th place Ah Georgis! What a character. Running is Georgis’ life. He has absolutely no money but relies on the goodwill of others to eat and survive. I really don’t know how he finished the race on so little food. During the race we would get periodically tested to see amongst other things whether our iron levels were too low. Mine were fine because I was taking a really strong iron tablet supplement. Towards the end of the race Georgis’ levels had fallen dangerously low. I had ten tablets left, one for each of the remaining days and figured I could do without them so gave them to Georgis. I said he must only take one per day because they were so strong. Obviously, he didn’t fully understand as he came up to me the next day and said: ‘Ah Bobby. Tablets very good. Please may I have some more?’ He had eaten all ten in one go! I hate to think what his stomach was like the next few days! One day he went missing in the middle of the stage. Eventually, he was found in the middle of a vineyard eating all the grapes! Georgis was a real character and gave us plenty of laughs. 9. Paul Every (AUSTRALIA) 9th place My mate from years back, Paul is a zookeeper at Toronga Zoo in Sydney and a great guy. Struggled a lot during the run with injury and illness. After one stage he was admitted to hospital for the night, yet he still got up the next morning to run 50 miles. Incredible. I ran with Paul a lot and shared so many laughs with him. We would talk about anything on the really hard days just to take our minds off the pain. Whereas I used to run along along with a walkman and listen to music, Paul preferred to listen to the sounds of nature. As a zookeeper he was also very interested in all the wildlife we saw along the way. One of my favourite people in the whole world, along with his partner Di, who acted as his support crew. 10. The Berlin Express (GERMANY)- Marcus, Stefen, Karl-Heinz, Helmut. So called because they were all German and spent much of the race running like a train, single file behind each other, never really speaking. They didn’t seem to enjoy the beauty of Australia, or at least didn’t appear to. I really think they missed out on the unique experience of running across such a beautiful country. Having said that, I really liked Marcus and his girlfriend Gabrielle; who acted as his support crew. 11. George Audley (AUSTRALIA) 13th place a.k.a ‘The Flying Fossil’ George was the revelation of the race. At 61, he was the oldest competitor and few expected him to finish and indeed, during the first couple of weeks of the race he really suffered. He looked absolutely terrible. However, slowly but surely he got a bit faster. Eventually he even latched onto the ‘Berlin Express’. Before long he was in front of them, getting faster every day. One day he overtook me. Determined not to let a 61 year old beat me I managed to eventually overtake him. But it was close. Became affectionately known as ‘The Flying Fossil’ and became a hit with the media. THE NON-FINISHERS Kaname Sakuri (JAPAN) Poor Kaname. Ran with great speed for 58 days before he got a stress fracture in his leg. Bravely, he continued and managed to just finish inside the time limit for 3 more days. He was in absolute agony. However, with 3 days to go it was all over. Unable to even walk any longer without crutches he couldn’t finish within the time limit and so was disqualified from the race, so close to the end. He must have been devastated but took the disappointment with dignity. A quiet, likeable man, he was in 4th place before his injury. Bryan Smith (AUSTRALIA) I will never forget the moment when Bryan collapsed and died right in front of me on day 29 of the race. Bryan was one of the nicest people I have ever met. Kind, generous with his time, he taught me a great deal. On the day before he died I was running with him. At 48C the temperature was stifling and we were both struggling. I asked Bryan how he was, to which he replied, ‘Bob, I’m just trying to survive.’ The next day he was dead, after suffering a heart attack. Australia had lost their best ever ultra runner. An absolute tragedy, his death left me empty and not wanting to continue. But then I thought how Bryan would have wanted me to continue. So the rest of the way I ran with a bit of Bryan in my heart. It made the moment when I reached the Pacific Ocean even more significant. A true gent, Bryan is sorely missed. Peter Gray (AUSTRALIA) A real character. Peter, at 19 stone, looks like anything but an ultra runner. He was disqualified on the 100km stage out of Norseman for being outside the time limit. However, he stayed for the remainder of the race to act as support crew, a job he did brilliantly. He would often keep us amused by writing signs on cardboard which he put on the side of the road for us to read as we ran past. They were humorous and insulting at the same time. They certainly brightened up my day but I don’t think the Germans were too amused! Kawika Spalding (U.S.A) Another big guy, and amazingly, a smoker! Had previously finished the Run across America with the tactic of starting slow and getting faster as the race went on. Although it worked in the U.S.A, in Australia it didn’t. He never got any faster and eventually finished outside the time limit on the first day in the Nullarbor. Like Peter, he stayed on to help crew for others. A real character, Kawika has long hair and a huge, bushy beard. Dave Criniti (AUSTRALIA) The ‘baby’ of the race at 21, the race maybe came a couple of years too soon for Dave. Nicknamed ‘Casper the ghost’ because he was so pale, Dave struggled from day 1, eventually dropping out on day 11. The next year he managed to cycle around the whole of Australia and is now the leading Australian ultra runner. A really nice lad. Andrew Lucas (AUSTRALIA) In a race as long as the TAF you have to take care of your feet. If you get bad blisters it can mean the end of your race. Unfortunately, Andrew did not take care of his feet and ended up with the most horrendous blisters I have ever seen. For days he continued, fighting excruciating pain. Eventually, he could take no more and was forced to pull out. Physically he was fine everywhere except his feet. Unfortunately, you need your feet to run! An important lesson for Andrew. The Others There were others in the race, but they all dropped out early in the race and I can’t really remember them! MY SUPPORT CREW Chris Arnold (ENGLAND) Chris was someone I knew from home in Cornwall. I asked him to act as my support crew because I thought it would be a great experience for him. And it was. 22 at the time and having just finished a degree in surveying, he was ready for some travelling. The role of support crew is a very hard one. He had to cook for me, massage my aching legs, drive the support van, run with me, give me food and drink during each day’s run, motivate me and even burst all my blisters for me. And he did his job amazingly well. I think Chris learnt a great deal about life during this run. He saw what it was like for people to suffer day after day, yet still keep going. He learnt to deal with the hardship of life on the road. He was as sad as I was when the race ended. Chris now lives in New Zealand and has managed to find himself a wife! I have lost contact details for him but would love to see him again. We went through something very special together. It would be a shame not to stay in touch. Cheers Chris. You were brilliant.	The Russian powerhouse Kruglikov, the race winner. Kruglikov with his girlfriend Andre relaxing after another long, hot day Dusan fighting the traffic approaching Canberra Mihaly running along the straight, flat roads of the Nullarbor plain Paul running with Geoff (his support crew) 3 members of the ‘Berlin Express’ Stefan Schlett enjoying the finish in Canberra Kaname in action before his unfortunate injury A great photo of Bryan on the Nullarbor plain Big Chris!
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