Fab four secure third place

Two Ranks, Gym Floor took third place in the mixed relay category of the 100km Sri Chinmoy trail ultramarathon in Canberra on August 2.

The team comprised four ADF physical training instructors who met during the PTI course at HMAS Cerberus.

Air Force PTI Cpl Jordan Blank had gotten the running enthusiasts together, and they named their team after the phrase they often heard during training, which usually preceded some form of physical retraining.

“We’re all competing in the Kosciuszko ultramarathon at the end of the year, so it was a little bit of a test run for that,” Cpl Blank said.

It was Cpl Blank’s first trail race, so as he set off on the first leg before dawn, at a frosty minus 1 degree, he didn’t quite know what to expect.

“I've run marathons in the past so I knew I was reasonably quick on the road. My initial thought was to get out ahead of people and when you get to the hills, at least you're ahead of the game a little bit,” he said.

The leg took him over Red Hill and Mount Taylor, bringing the team into 10th place at the first baton handoff to AB Jakob Donovan.

A recent convert to distance running, AB Donovan said the track was more of a mental challenge than physical.

“There was less hills than the other legs, but I underestimated just how remote it was going to be. Navigating across the rocky terrain and hills was a first for me,” he said.

“The plan was to conserve energy for the first 12K then just hook the second half and make sure I left nothing in the tank.”

AB Donovan managed to overtake several runners on the track over Mount Stromlo and handed his baton off to Army's Cpl Isobel Chisholm in seventh place.

It was here the team started to hit the gas, with Cpl Chisholm taking advantage of a relatively flat track to snatch a few more places heading over Black Mountain.

While thoughts of the post-run meal usually motivate her during long runs, a message from her teammates while heading uphill gave her some extra energy.

“They said ‘better lock in, we're currently in sixth and hunting third'. After seeing that, it motivated me to try and pick it up a bit more and really push towards the end,” she said.

When she handed the baton off to anchor runner Army's Cpl Patrick Bartlett, the team was in fifth.

The race was on.

Cpl Bartlett set a terrific pace and chased down his prey, tearing through Mount Ainslie to the finish line by Lake Burley Griffin.

His teammates joined him for the final 500 metres of the run to cross the line in third place for a total time of 9hr 20min.

Cpl Blank said he was proud to share the podium finish with friends made during his initial employment training.

“I was very grateful for the three I had running with me. It felt much like finishing the course did, like we'd all got through it together. It was an outstanding achievement,” he said.