Fitzroy Falls Marathon 2012

If there is a spring equivalent of the iconic 6ft Track Marathon for NSW trail runners, it has to be the Fitzroy Falls Fire Trail Marathon (FFFTM).  Now in its 12^th year, Fitzroy Falls is a regular marathon distance event on the fire trails near Bowral in the NSW southern highlands.

Without the massive elevation changes of the 6ft, the 800m elevation delta on the circular Fitzroy Falls course nevertheless make for a tough outing, and a wet spring meant that the normally tame creek crossings were much deeper and more numerous this year.

The toughness of the course is can be gauged from the historical race times – coming into 2012, only ten sub-3 hour marathons had ever been recorded on the course.  2012 saw a red-hot field, with previous winners Alex Matthews and Mick Donges duelling with the new trail sensation Andrew Tuckey.  Throw in last year’s runner up Ian Gallagher, Australian Commonwealth representative Brendan Davies and elites like Tim Cochrane, David Hosking and Martin Pengilly, 2012 was set to be a
great year.

Despite the wet and sticky conditions, the elite race was as competitive as predicted, with four runners coming in under three hours and Andrew Tuckey taking the win with a stunning 2.47.05 to record the fourth fastest time ever  Andrew narrowly
beating 2010 winner Mick Donges who improved 15 minutes on his 2010 winning timing.

In the woman’s race, a strong finish from Canberra’s Louise Sharp edged out Coastal Classic winner Shona Stephenson (2^nd) with Sarah Carpenter coming in third for the second straight year.

TRM columnist Nick Wienholt (who was very happy with 21^st with a PB of 3.30.04) caught up with some of the top runners after the race to chat about how their race went.

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