Inspirational story by a Newsport reader

Simpson Desert Ultra Marathon 2022

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The SDU 2022 team with women from all over Australia. Image: supplied

This story was sent in by Newsport reader Bec Assman

A little 12 months ago I got a wake up call about my health. I realised I needed to start looking after myself more and with the encouragement of an old school friend started doing boot camp classes.

I attempted an 8k trail event in June 2021, that didn’t end well and started to look into ways of improving myself with trail walking.

At that point I stumbled across an instagrammer by the name of Cath Wallis. This lady emanated everything I was looking for. It was as if she spoke directly to me. Cath put out a call for team members to join her in the 2022 Simpson Desert Ultra (SDU) Marathon. To my shock and absolute honour I was chosen to be part of her team.

For 8 months I trained in her program and also attended virtual meetings once a month on mindset, nutrition and all other sorts of information. I was part of a team of amazing women from all over Australia. I am also very lucky to be supported by my local trainer and wellness ladies with Julie Salam of Wawu Warriors in Mossman.

Well, the SDU came around and we embarked on the massive journey to Birdsville from Mossman. Approx 1560 km (one way). I was excited about travelling to the desert and meeting my teammates in person. But mother nature had other plans! Flooding in the desert. We arrived safely from the North but several other team members were stranded. The event organisers managed to get most people across the river by truck, bus, unimog or boat.

In total around 148 of the 180 entrants made it to Birdsville. The event runs four distances - 25k, 50k, 75k & 100k. The good news is the rain had formed a crust on the sand dunes which made them a lot easier to traverse. Not so great were the wet clay pans. They were horrendous. My walking partner Tracey and I were doing the 25k. I can not put into words the scenery out there. It is stunning.

Tracey and I started our course just before sunrise and travelled well until I started to experience pain in my right foot around the 8km mark. We knew there was a midway checkpoint so I pushed on until we went to Checkpoint 4. This was at the 16k mark. Unfortunately my foot let me down and I had to pull out at the checkpoint. Tracey met up with another lady in our team and continued on to finish her 25k. I am so proud of her.

I did not finish the event the way I wanted to but I would not change my experience for the world. I am stronger, fitter and more mentally tough than I was 12 months ago. I know if my foot had not been so painful I would have finished. One of my other teammates summed it up well - “your foot just let you down, that’s all”.

What I take from the event is the friendships I made in my team. I met some amazing women from all walks of life; there were scientists, university lecturers, current servicewomen and ex-servicewomen, farmers, mums, wives and daughters. We were all there for the same reason to challenge our belief of what we were capable of.

Massive thanks to my husband Frank for driving me down and back, supporting me all the way and also the remainder of the team at the event, Cath for choosing me in the team, Julie for helping me on my journey and Kylie for starting me on the journey and to all the mums out there that think they can’t do something like this. Just remember - you are stronger than you think.

Bec Assman participated in the Simpson Desert Ultra Marathon 2022 earlier this month. Image: supplied

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