Earlier in the year when I signed up for Razorback, I also put myself down for the Wilson's Promontory 100km. It came strongly recommended by a number of people who had run it and was another distinct part of Australia I'd yet to explore. Seeing the photos and footage from the event completely sold me on the idea so I decided it was a must. Strangely enough, the whole event largely slipped from my mind and I wasn't too fussed by the time it rolled around. I had quite a bit going on at the time, so was more focused on spending time with some great people I was running with than what my training was doing. The SCTR events were ticking along nicely and I did manage a 5km PB and a new 10km PB as I'd pulled up pretty well after Razorback. Even managed to get in a nice 14km along the Yarra Trails which I had only run on once before a few years earlier.
Event day rolled around again (as they do), and I headed off on a 4 and a quarter hour journey from home in Leopold to Wilson's Promontory. The drive was fairly easy and while I knew the place would look pretty nice, I was blown away from the moment I could see it in the distance. This really looked to be something unique. After a rego and a reasonable night's sleep, I geared up for the run, carrying enough to be fully self supported excepting a stop at the light house for water.
The initial climb was nice enough, but after clearing that first main section, we were spoiled by a long gradual descent and flats through boardwalks and ferns. It was incredible, and owing to unusual weather for the day with high humidity, it looked and smelled just like the rain-forests I'd visited in Queensland on childhood holidays. I had teamed up with Midsy, a fellow SCTR, by this stage and we were running well along the course. As an added bonus he had hiked every section of the course before and knew it well, making navigation much simpler. Hitting the first beach was one of those rare moments when you have to stop just to take it in. Each cove we passed through was even more beautiful than the last and to say I was thoroughly enjoying it would be a considerable understatement. We kept up a steady pace along the trail until about 19km where Midsy rolled his ankle a little and had to drop back the pace. We stuck together for another 9km or so, but further problems with his feet and he urged me to push on ahead so we could run our own paces. 
By now I was heading inland, turning at the junction up a long gradual climb to Roaring Meg before beginning the 3km each way out and back to South Point (the southern most point of the Australian mainland). I was going through water steadily owing to the relatively warm day and high humidity, but starting out with 3.8 litres total meant I certainly wasn't yet running out and had enough to help a few other runners who had gone completely dry. Taking in water (usually face first into the stream) where I could helped.
South Point had been quite a reasonable descent and climb back out, but starting back from Roaring Meg, it was a small climb then steady descent to the Lighthouse. The actual climb to the lighthouse was reasonable, but short, and it wasn't until the resuming after the little out and back to it that the real climbing began again. The next climb continued for the better part of the next 6km, before suddenly dropping over 2km to the beach, taking me back to the junction point I had passed earlier before heading inland.
Over this section I was really starting to feel the heat and cumulative toll and was practically falling asleep on my feet. I had brought No Doz along again as a safety and decided to try one when I hit the beach at 58km to see if it helped. Within about 15 minutes I wasn't feeling sleepy any more and over the next 16km of fairly flat running I managed to maintain a steady pace around 5 min/km, the legs feeling great. If not before I was now completely sold on caffeine in ultras.
Not knowing what distance I'd complete on the day (as there were many options and you could simply vary your route if you needed and report it), I had been contemplating the 80km as an option - at least once I'd passed the 44 and 60km turn offs feeling okay. I decided at about 50km in that 80km was no longer an option and I had to complete the 100km I set out for. I rang up the Beyer's, the ever present and amazing volunteers and support and asked if they could line up some Coke for the finish where I would have to head out for the final 20km. Anthony had offered to pace me from that point so I locked that in. Having asked for their help I no longer had the option of bailing out and letting them down and this kept my head in the space I needed to focus on the goal of finishing the full 100km.
After topping up my bladder and pouring the coke into a bottle as my fueling source for the final leg, I headed off with Anthony towards the last main climb and return via the beaches. I was well ahead of my intended time to make 14 hours and managed to see this last view as the daylight faded, providing spectacular photos. The Coke, now flat and warm but still entirely awesome, kept me going with its wondrous caffeine and I kept moving fairly well until about 94km where there was a short 1.6km out and back but I was over it.
I headed out and back along that stretch, albeit very displeased with this part of the course (and pretty much everything in general at this point) and finally began the descent back down to the bridge back to Tidal River and the finish line. I managed to pick up to a decent pace and even sprint the finish, collapsing in an exhausted mess, but I'd even managed to beat my best case time of 13 hours by 5 minutes and also picking up 4th place. It was an 8 min/km average, but I was incredibly happy with how I'd ran the course, and was amazed to later find out it was around 3400m elevation gain. It certainly felt like there was plenty of climbing, but it was never as harsh as Razorback so it surprised me that even with the extra 36km it had more elevation in it. This really was one of the most spectacular, quite likely the most, out of everything I had run to this point and I would even consider breaking my informal rule of not repeating a race to return if it doesn't conflict with my other planned events.https://connect.garmin.com/activity/762656793
https://www.strava.com/activities/296511965
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