Day One Thousand and Ninety Nine

Friday 15th June

2.05am and the alarm went off. I had already showered the night before so I got up and drove myself to Registration at Bellbird Grove.  I let the security guard go at about 2.40am and proceeded to start the generator and lighting towers. 

The rest of the staff arrived and then the first wave of buses showed up. We had a crap traffic management company who turned up with no radios and little idea so I spent a lot of time briefing them up and giving them our radios.

We had a few dramas getting the first set of buses away but I'm happy to say all buses left in plenty of time for getting walkers to the start.

Once the second wave of buses was on route I drove up the mountain to see the 8.30 and 10am starts. This was a good chance to see the starts at my event as in all the trailwalkers I've worked on I've never actually seen a start.

Here is a video of the action

Once the last start was away we tore down the start and waited for Gantry guys to take that down and take it to the start. In the meantime I drove down the line visiting Checkpoint 2 on the way.

the rest of the day was at the Finish building that in time for first walkers to come through in 11hrs 53 minutes. Kate also volunteered at the Finish and I headed home before she finished her shift. It was about 9.45 by this time and I was knackered.