One of the most amazing trail runs close to Sydney is the Heathcote and Audley Circuit. The circuit is a 14.5 km loop starting either at the Heathcote train station. Alternatively, you can start the track at the Audley Royal National Park visitor center. Since we’ve done this track multiple times before, we drove to the Heathcote train station to start our run. There is plenty of parking available, which makes the start here a safe choice.
To prepare for our run, we of course consulted our trail running checklist. Equipped with plenty of water, GU Energy Gels for a quick release of energy (the cola with caffeine is a must try). We also brought Skratch Labs energy bars for the slow carbs, we were well prepared for this challenging run.
The start
Our run started a little before 8am, while the trail was still quiet. We were lucky to run during one of the first proper Australian Spring days: blue skies, a gentle sun, and hardly a breeze. All in all, perfect running conditions!
As said before, this trail is one of our favorite tracks. The NSW government has unfortunately decided to alter many classic trail running locations by putting in board walks. This makes running in the bush close to running on concrete, and spoils most of the trail runs. Also, this really does little to increase the accessibility of the trails. Many tracks so far have been altered in this way, which now no longer will be visited by us. A truly sad and disappointing development.
Luckily, this trail hasn’t been altered (yet), and remains an almost pure running experience in a very diverse environment. Big declines and inclines and some interesting river crossings. The track has a lot of small rocks which makes this path quite technical track. We also had our first encounter of the season with a Red-bellied black snake, which was an interesting experience!
The track
Due to the recent rainfalls, there were some puddles and small streams on the track. The puddles made the track even more interesting than it already was. We jumped from side to side to avoid most of the mud, but could help to both get covered in a small layer of mud when we reached the finish.
Both of us had numerous near-falls on the track due to the rocks and our exhaustion. However, due to experience and ability (or mostly luck most likely), we managed to finish the track unscathed. When we arrived back to our starting point, we were greeted with an open day from the volunteer NSW Rural Fire Service. The fire service invited us to have BBQ sausages on bread with them, which was great!
The run might have affected our senses a little bit, but we could both swear that these were some of the best sausages we ever had. If this is in any way representative of the quality of these firefighters, NSW is in great hands. In any case, we would like to thank them for their welcoming gesture and their ongoing service to keep us save!
