Jo Blake

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Name: Jo Blake

Age: 44

From: Illawong

Goals: To go all the way and find out what the monument looks like in real life; and to do the run from Charlottes Pass with my crew and to share the moment with a couple of mates (and Shelley and the boys by phone). Aside from that, my goal is to be in a state on Saturday night to drink beers with Bluedog, Sarge and whoever else is available into the next morning.

Words: Gordon Tallis "Toughest player I ever played against? No question, Geoff Toovey."

C2K history: I ran last year in the shortened version and have been looking forward to going again ever since the completion of that event. I finished 2nd behind the gutsy Tim Cochrane and was very happy with the result. I enjoyed the evening battle with Bluedog and Spud and I'll never forget the moment when I hit the top of Beloka Range and realised I'd been crewed back out of the depths and was flying down to Jindbyne.

Personal Bests
What?	When?	Where?	Vital Statistics
Marathon	2006	Gold Coast	2:36
100k	2006	South Korea	7:05
24h	2009	England	249.1km
C2K	2008	NSW (inclement weather course)	27:38

The story

I ran the race last year because it seemed such an iconic event to do. Having never run over 100kms it was venturing into a new world. Whilst I had my ups and downs I emerged with wonderful memories of the entire experience and knew I'd be back to go all the way.

After the race I did say that I felt for me, a race of that distance could only be done once a year. However, 2009 turned out to be a wierd old year. It started terribly when my Dad had a stroke / fall and passed away in January.

I struggled to get going again after that and my training was very haphazard and speed seemed to be a thing of the past. I felt my 100km racing days may have been over and decided a year of different events could be in order. So on a whim I entered the Coburg 24hr late, took a family holiday to Melbourne, and returned to Sydney with a new event to work on. I went on to do three 24hr races over a 5 month period totally disregarding my comment post C2K in 2008.

I really enjoy the challenge of the longer Ultras although I never see myself following the path laid down by the legendary Martin 'Flyer' Fryer into even longer races.

But ultimately I'm only here again because I've got two mates happy to give up their time to support me in this race and I just hope my performance justifies their efforts.

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2009 athletes