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…
After knocking off four of the world’s most treacherous deserts, 24-year-old ultramarathon runner Jacqui Bell from Brisbane Australia (as seen on the cover of and featured in Trail Run Mag Edition #29) is in New Zealand with her sights set on being the youngest person in history to run an ultra-marathon on every continent in the world. After last year being crowned the youngest female ever to undertake the four desert ultra-running event challenge in one calendar year, Bell will…
Everyone loves a new ultra but when it comes aligned with a cause that seeks to protect our wilderness, the announcement resonates all the more deeply within the trail community. So we welcome the news that the Bob Brown Foundation will host a new 70km ultra-marathon event, the takayna Ultra, in Tasmania’s stunning north west. The event will take trail-runners across a wild and remote region; over grass plains through coastal eucalypt forests, and along open beaches, dunes and impressive rocky shorelines along the rugged wild coastline of…
You want ultra? Well, you got it up Nerang way with a new 500 kms trail race to be held in the Nerang National Park in September 2019. It follows the 200 miler (Australia’s first 200 miler) held there in September 2018. Race Organiser, Ian Cornelius, a veteran of 4 x 330 kms stage races, a contestant in the 1994 World 1,000 mile championships, and director of Gold Coast Ultras, believes that “This will be the longest and perhaps most extreme trail race ever…
Ash Watson and Deb Nicholl have been crowned champions of the Surf Coast Century 100km Ultra Marathon while Roger Lay and Rachel Tucker have taken the titles in the 50km race over the weekend at Anglesea, Victoria. The seventh edition of the race saw over 1,100 competitors from across Australia and overseas journey 50km and 100km across a spectacular off-road course along the beaches, 4WD tracks and hinterland trails of Anglesea, Torquay and Aireys Inlet. Despite conditions that saw multiple…
Written by David Lipman In just it’s second year, the Montreux trail festival is QUICKLY gaining the momentum of a flying European descending from Rochers-de-Naye (1600m descent over 10km to the finish line that all races in the festival have in common). Billed as the Vaud Alps experience tour, it does not disappoint! Race directors Diego Pazos (Swiss Ultra Trail Runner of the year 2015) and Cédric Agassis and their team have put in a lot of work to create…
There’s nothing like running the rim of an extinct volcano! Yes, the Crater Rim Ultra delivers on its label promise, with trail runners taking a point to point journey around the crater that makes up the impressive Christchurch Port Hills in New Zealand, encircling Lyttelton Harbour. 2018 sees event double as the Athletics New Zealand Trailing Running Championships, so there’s extra kudos on the line. From a low-key beginning back in 2001 when 31 runners finished, the event has grown…
At the age of 41, Brendan Davies says plenty of people no doubt thought he had entered his “twilight” years as an elite runner. On the weekend just gone, the popular Blue Mountains resident enjoyed proving his theory that age can be an advantage when you also put in the hard work on the trails. After a five-year gap, Davies claimed his second Ultra-Trail Australia 100km title with a time of 9 hours 18 minutes 10 seconds. “I’m doing it for the…
Perth’s Josh O’Hart and Deb Nicholl of Brisbane have won the inaugural Margaret River Ultra Marathon, finishing the 80km event in impressive times; Hart with a sub-eight hour effort (07:58:14) and Nicholl in eight hours, 39 minutes. More than 700 runners stepped onto Hamelin Bay beach for the start facing a race all the way to Wilyabrup in south-west Western Australia. The point to point course was tackled by individuals and relay teams of up to five runners who divided the distance into five different…
