Written by Annabelle Latz. Photos by Xavier Briel. Nothing could prepare me for it, and nothing will ever compare to it. Running on a white vastness, a cloud-whispered light-blue sky above, amongst an absence of landmarks and an abundance of flat land… Welcome to the Salt Pans Ultra Trail Marathon, Botswana’s inaugural ultramarathon stage race. For 100km, over three days, 25 of us ran across a section of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Located in Northern Botswana, this vast expanse of…
COVID-19 may have turned the running calendar upside down, but don’t let all your training go to waste! Rapid Ascent is launching its 2020 Trail Running Series, presented by MINI Countryman, with entries opening for two virtual races to be held on June 14 and July 12. Participants can enter either 5km, 10km or 15km races over whatever course they have access to whilst respecting social distancing rules. Then at 9am on race morning, competitors set off to complete their…
Ballarat’s Ash Watson reached new heights at last year’s Surf Coast Century taking home the 100km crown in record time. In the seventh edition of the race, Watson finished in 8:16:50, eclipsing the previous record time by 28 seconds. That makes him a double Surf Coast trail running record holder, as he also holds the current course record for the Surf Coast Trail Marathon held in June. With the Surf Coast Century upon on this weekend (21 September), Ash is back to have another crack at…
Run Larapinta 2019 came to a close yesterday afternoon at the famed Glen Helen Gorge, in the Northern Territory’s Red Centre. The gorge and rustic Glen Helen Lodge lies 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs on the Finke River in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Trail runners from interstate and overseas tackled everything from extreme heat, to cold weather, and howling winds across four stages of tough desert mountain running. The racing kicked off on the outskirts of Alice Springs for a relaxed…
TRM’s Euro-correspondent heads to the mighty Eiger Ultra to review an event considered a jewel in the Ultra trail World Tour crown. According to Wikipedia (that oh-so reliable source of world knowledge): “An ogre is a legendary monster usually depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world.” It is not surprising, then, that the Eiger Ultra Trail is named after the…
7000 trail runners and their supporters descended on Katoomba’s Scenic World and the surrounding World Heritage listed Blue Mountains National Park this weekend for the 12thedition of what is now the third largest trail running festival in the world, Ultra-Trail Australia. Conditions were perfect, with 50km and 100km runners treated to stunning blue skies and sunshine for the entire day, making it one of the best race days the event has seen in years. Polish runner Marcin Swierc claimed victory in…
Special trail envoy, Roger Hanney, takes a look back at how Ultra Trail Australia came to be the biggest trail running outing in the Southern Hemisphere and the second biggest on the planet. IMAGES: Kamil Sustiak Most sane people would run a mile at the thought of racing 100 kilometres on foot. But that distance is the main event at a multiday trail running festival in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, across the third weekend of May. Ultra-Trail Australia began in 2008…
Perth’s Justin Scarvaci bolted onto the home straight to win the Margaret River Ultra Marathon on Saturday, recording a new course record time of 7:46.26 despite howling winds and whipping sand. “It was a hard course, really brutal. There were strong headwinds. The sand section was horrible but I got through it OK. I just tried to stay focused on making ground on some of the relay runners. I was running in their footsteps in the sand and trying to…
Newcastle shone in the morning sun for the inaugural Coastal Ascent trail run on Sunday 28 April 2019. More than 800 runners took on either 25km or 11km of bushland, sand, single track and stairs enjoying spectacular views of Newcastle. Luke Babic (North Lambton) 1:47:13 and Ingrid Cleland (Charlestown) 2:07:28 won the 25km event. Sean Kelleher (Mayfield) 50:25 and Geordie Boyn (Cooks Hill) 1:04:44 took out the 11km event. “The scenery was stunning – coming down onto Dudley Beach, I…
It’s been a few years Shona! Last we saw of you in the spotlight you were caning ultra races – everything from Surf Coast Century to Ultra Trail Australia – but you lowered the profile for a while there. What was your hiatus all about and did you keep the miles up? Okay, the truth? A few things went on. I went through a pretty stressful separation in 2015. I tried to race my way through it as ultra running…
