It was this weekend past that a group of 18 avid ETOWC members made the trek down the picturesque Great Ocean Road – to the annual Mike Gowan Lorne training camp. It was promoted as bigger than the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca – and the weekend did not let us down in terms of laughter, funny moments & of course – some hard training thrown in as well.

Friday saw the mob roll into the YHA Hostel & I have to say – one of the best & modern hostels you would ever find. Once we all found our bearings, settled into our bunk dormitory rooms & sorted out the sleeping arrangements, we decided to wander down through town & maybe stop in at the Lorne pub for a refreshing ‘nightcap’ ale. All was going to plan until our coach was told he was not allowed in (see highlights below). This we thought pretty much put an end to the night – so we headed on back to our rooms – when all of a sudden a black BMW rolled up beside our group, windows down, two blonde headed women sticking their head out, looking for a dorm key !! Supposedly Dee & Celeste were looking for a ‘trashy’ mag to read before sleeping, couldn’t find a shop open - so decided to do some laps as if they were in Chapel St Sth Yarra !! A few skid marks were noticed on the road the day after proving the truth in this matter …

So we all went to bed – a bit anxious for the 7am start the following morning & what was in store for us – when the men’s dorm turned into the “ETOWC Symphony Orchestra”. This was only an encore performance as the Saturday night would prove to be better than anything Beetoven or Bach would ever create …

Saturday (AM) morning came around and although the skies were a little overcast; we woke to great surf conditions. The swell was small however provided us the perfect opportunity to have Mike teach us the finer art of “porpoising, running over waves, body surfing & good surf swimming technique. The training lasted for about 2 hours and although a lot of us felt relatively fit beforehand, it is a whole different fitness when it comes to running & swimming through waves and trying to catch & body surf waves into the beach etc. In all it was a good start to the day & we all looked forward to our breakfast.

At 11am we convened for our “Mountain to Surf” run which was approx 8km in length. We took a vote & all decided to follow Krista through the scrub as her bright yellow top stood out like the Airey’s Inlet lighthouse on a moonless night!! After about 30 mins into the run, we took a wrong turn & instead of ending up at the beach, we ended up back at where we started. The wrong turn also made us climb a hill that felt like we were going up the Rialto Building steps!! A group of 4 decided to go a little further thinking eventually they’d find the ocean (Grant had mentioned he’d camped at where we were running to & it was near the ocean). After another 2 km run straight uphill, it turned out we were ‘further’ from the water than before & by the time the map was read at the picnic ground – it would be an 8km run back to our hostel!! You can bet none of that 4 would last long orienteering or rogaining.

Saturday (PM) saw us all head back down to the water for the “Pier to Pub” prologue event to determine the starting order for the big race tomorrow. It was here that we all had the privilege & honour to meet and swim with one of our past Olympian swimming champions & Silver Medallist “Daniel (Killer) Kowalski” Daniel came & swam the 1.2km with us although not a lot of us seen him as he took off like a startled rabbit to the point where Mike was even looking around saying “no one can swim that fast in the ocean …” So – swim was done (albeit with a few experiencing bad cramps) and handicapping was completed for tomorrow – off to the pub for dinner. (some highlights below) 

Sunday (AM) saw us all take off for our ride to Apollo Bay & again the conditions provided were great. If anyone has never completed the ride along this part of the Great Ocean Road – then you don’t know what you are missing out on. The ride went relatively event free although one rider who shall remain nameless, cramped on the bike, fell off his bike as couldn’t get his foot out of the cleats in time and - it was the same fella who cramped the day before in the swim & needed rescuing out of the surf! (need some salt tablets I think Ryan). We also found out we weren’t allowed to rest our bikes on the coffee adverting partitions at the Kennett River general store as it may scratch the paint!!! We were only after a water tap …

Sunday (PM) and the race was on. Again conditions were good and it appeared the handicapping system put in place was relatively accurate. From all accounts first to the beach was Celeste followed by a group of swimmers who basically crossed the line all together. However, we were missing one – Dave. It turned out Dave decided to have his own Pier to Pub swim - via Torquay. Luckily the life guards were on hand in the rubber ducky to guide Dave home.

All in all it was a great weekend & we are all very much looking forward to next year, (although none of us can walk properly due to sore calves). Dates have already been booked (18 & 19 Dec) so get in fast. There is also a big chance that the Sunday Pier to Pub swim will carry “Club Championship” points.

• The participants who were there - Mike, Darren, Brett, Grant, Ryan, Steve, Laura, Deanne, Celeste, Krista, Bean bag, Jenny, Dave, Janet, Meg, Tristan, Maiken (Saturday) & Megan (Sunday).
• The coach being refused entry by the female bouncer at the pub on Friday night because his eyes were red & she thought he was on drugs. Yeah Mike – like she would never have heard before the excuse you gave that you’d been surfing at Bell’s …
• Brett & Krista taking on the locals at pool on the Sat night (and beating them) only to find out some new rules. One being, even though we potted the red ball off the break – we’ll choose to play the yellows as they are better positioned on the table.
• Same pair of locals looking like they needed a good shower as the ‘yabbies’ seemed to be biting … (those who seen the incident would understand)
• Obviously got cold back in the men’s dorm on Sat night as 2 guys went to sleep in different beds – but woke up Sunday morning lying next to each other. We all still trying to work out who was in more shock …
• The ETOWC symphony orchestra on the Saturday night putting on a stellar performance (led spectacularly by the coach). Needed a conductor desperately
• All of us having our photo taken and meeting “killer” Kowalski