Ultra Trail Australia – are you ready?

It has been announced that entries for Australia’s biggest trail running festival, Ultra-Trail Australia 2017, will begin to open at 10am on Wednesday October 12th.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Ultra-Trail Australia will be a four-day trail running festival of unprecedented scope; it’s the UTA 10th birthday party!

From May 18 – May 21, 2017, Katoomba, NSW, will play host to over 12,000 athletes, spectators and support crew, converging for a four-day trail running extravaganza. Underpinned by the flagship UTA100 and UTA50 events, 2016 saw the addition of the Pace UTA22 and the Scenic World UTA951 stair race. Both events were extremely well received and successful and will be featuring on the Ultra-Trail Australia schedule again in 2017!

2016 also saw the introduction of the expanded Ultra-Trail Australia Event Expo, an energetic and dynamic festival style expo celebrating the world of ultra trail running and adventure. In 2017, the UTA Expo will engage the 12,000 plus visitors that Ultra-Trail Australia attracts as well as many local Blue Mountains residents. With exhibitors from the adventure, running and trail-running industries as well as stallholders from the wider Blue Mountains community showcasing local arts and produce, the UTA expo will have something for everyone!

Harnessing massive community support and countless volunteers Ultra-Trail Australia epitomises the self-giving spirit of Australia and its people and attracts a large contingency of international runners. The event is renowned for unfailing camaraderie amongst athletes and helpers alike. The carefully mapped courses showcase the lush rainforests, ethereal waterfalls, vast tablelands, stunning rock formations and breath-taking views of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Ultra-Trail Australia stands as a celebration of our pristine wilderness and the unlimited potential of the human spirit.

Event Opening – Australian EDST
10am October 12th, 2016
UTA100 entries open
UTA951 entries open

10am October 13th, 2016
UTA50 entries open

10am October 14th, 2016
UTA22 entries open

Check in to www.ultratrailaustralia.com.au

13 Lessons: UTA mid-pack perspective

Everyone loves hearing the inspirational feats of the elite runners. Our jaws drop as we hear the winner’s time (9.20…how is that even possible?). But what went down in the middle of the pack? Is there anything to learn from those runners for whom a silver buckle is a distant dream?For anyone who is more likely to crawl up the Furber Steps than sprint, and who maybe had a little meltdown on Nellies stairs, this is for you. Here are some lessons from middle of pack runner Nicki Letts from www.runoldgirlrun.com:Taking in the View at the top of Tarros Ladders

  1. Plan nothing else for the day

Stop seeing the run as race, and instead think of it as something you are doing for the day. As explorer Lawrence Oates famously said, “I am just going outside and may be some time”. Okay, he never returned, but the point is 100km is a bloody long way. Accept that this is something that will take all day and night. Once you can get your head around this, the rest of these lessons are a breeze.

  1. Choose accommodation close to the start/finish line

The last thing you want to worry about is how to get to and from the start/finish line. Especially if you don’t have a support crew. We stayed at Katoomba Falls Caravan Park, less than 1km from Scenic World (book early!). Walking to the KCC and Scenic World is far easier than dealing with shuttles, taxis and car parking. And when your brain isn’t functioning pre- or post-race, easy is exactly what you need.

  1. Get tech tips from the second oldest runner in the field

At T minus 24 hours, we were eating our brekkie in the campsite kitchen when Alf walked in, munching on a bowl of cereal. He quickly pegged us as runners and humbly introduced himself as the second oldest runner in the field, at 73 years old. If this wasn’t inspirational enough, he then taught us how to use the UTA app. Alf told us the app is especially comforting for him, as he could pinpoint his exact coordinates if he wandered off course. Who can argue with that? We downloaded the app.

  1. Invest in the right compression bandage

It’s no secret that UTA guys are strict on the mandatory gear list. We enjoyed a very thorough safety briefing explaining why. But there’s nothing quite like a real-life encounter to drum home the message. On a pre-race morning walk along the trail to Echo Point – the very same track we would be running along – we came across a rather real, big anguish. That’s Latin for snake. And very close to the word ‘anxious’, closer still to the word ‘anguish’. Needless to say, we packed a snake bandaged and passed mandatory gear inspection.Gear Check

  1. Devise a bulletproof nutrition strategy

Ultra runs are really all about the food and drink (and not just the celebratory drinks at the finish line). They can actually be won and lost by fuel choices – or lack thereof. We went into this run knowing what we would be eating and why.

We train with Clif Bars, so that was a no-brainer, and a choice of four flavours meant we wouldn’t get bored. Kooee beef jerky for protein goodness. Mars bars for the later checkpoints when everything starts to taste the same. Electrolytes and salt tablets would keep the cramps at bay. And 2 minute noodles would provide the perfect mix of salt, sugar and warmth at the final checkpoints. Admittedly, we don’t train with 2 minute noodles, but everything else passed the high-energy no-reflux challenge with flying colours.

  1. Drink to your uni days

There’s not a lot of nutrition advice I’d take from my 19-year-old self. Which is why it’s probably surprising that there are two things we consume during the run that once only passed my lips as a hangover cure. The first is flat coke – it gives you all the sugar and caffeine you need for a final push, without any unwelcome bloating. The second is Red Bull. We never drink this stuff, so downing a can at the final water stop gave us wings for the last 5km.

  1. Soak in the views

“The colours are magnificent”, said David King in the Welcome to Country. He hit the nail on the head. I’m not saying you should stop and pull out your selfie stick at every viewpoint, but you are in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful spots in Australia – if you don’t bask in the views, you might as well be running around your local footy ground.Beating the Sun

  1. 8. Train on stairs 

Confession: when running this two years ago, I had a meltdown in the middle of what’s best described as the waterfall section (Leg 5). I simply wasn’t prepared for that many stairs at that stage of the race. It didn’t help that we were running in the dark and could only hear what we presumed were very beautiful waterfalls (this wasn’t good for bladder control either!). This time, not only did we train for stairs, we made it our goal to get to this section in daylight. Meltdown averted.

  1. Don’t count the Furber Steps

There are 951 uneven stairs climbing up, up and across the finish line of UTA100. But do yourself a favour: do not count them. Sometimes it’s just better not to know.Mt Buller

  1. When all else fails, dance up the hill 

As trail runners, we don’t run with music. We talk or enjoy the silence and the sound of waterfalls (sigh). But there’s nothing like your favourite tunes for a pick-me-up. I carried it the whole way and only used it to pull me out of my darkest moments (specifically between 85-95km).

That said, I am incredibly grateful to my co-midpack-runner, Mat, who told me halfway up the Furber Steps to turn off my music. I did, and my reward was the sound of cowbells and realisation that the end was really, really close.On top of the world CP1-CP2

  1. Hide a treat at the finish line

After 15+ hours of drinking and eating, more food and drink is usually the last thing you crave. But crossing the 100km finish line puts you into a whole new mentality. You want to celebrate before you collapse into a post-run coma. But being a mid-pack runner, there’s no guarantee the bar will still be open when you rock up. That’s why this year we popped a mini bottle of wine and beer into our finish line bag. And man, did it taste good!

  1. Don’t anticipate a good post-run sleep

The night’s sleep after 100km must be the best of your life, right? Wrong. Your brain is asleep but your legs are still out there on the trail. Get ready for a night of twitching, dancing and kicking. They will even start running at one point. You’ll dream about falling over twigs on the trail and wake up in frenzy. Do yourself a favour, enjoy the finish line for a few hours – stretch, relax and cheer other runners across the line. There’s certainly no sleep waiting for you back at the hotel! Oh and if you usually share a bed, warn your co-habitant that they won’t be getting any sleep either.Into the Wild

  1. Forget what you said at the finish line

 Remember when you swore you would never do this ever again? You lied. You’ll stew for a couple of hours/days/weeks. Then the pain will fade. And only the good bits are left. Like when you were running through Leura Falls and the sky turned purple. Or when the volunteer at the final water stop told you to “get out of here, we don’t want you to hang around!” Or when, halfway up the Furber Steps, you were fighting back the tears and the runner behind gave you a pep talk. Or when you grabbed your partner’s hand and sprinted across the finish line to cheers and bells. Oh yes, you’ll be back. And next time, while it will still hurt, you’ll know just how incredible it feels to reach the end.

Read more of Nicki Letts’ musings on a trail running lifestyle at www.runoldgirlrun.com 

RESULTS from UT: http://uta.livetrail.net/classement.php


Screenshot 2016-04-11 21.50.21

Ultra Trail Australia – a Hawkeye view

Our last post took a look at an example of the heart and soul of events like Ultra Trail Australia – ordinary people achieving extraordinary things – but of course up the pointy end, there is always some good racing going on to satisfy the bookies and pundits. One of them, writes Dan Lewis, is Scotty Hawker, who registered second place behind international interloper Dylan Bowman in 2015. Will he take a step up this year for the ultimate accolade? Dan also takes a top end quick list-look at who’s going to be on whose heels come race day…

Scott Hawker finishing second in the 2015 The North Face 100, Blue Mountains, Australia.

Scott Hawker finishing second in the 2015 The North Face 100, Blue Mountains, Australia.

When fertility specialists told Scotty Hawker that being an elite ultra-distance trail runner was affecting his chances of becoming a father, he decided to step back from the sport he loves.

The 29-year-old Kiwi, who is now a resident of Katoomba in Australia’s Blue Mountains, gave up the gruelling training runs and the 100km races. And it has all paid off.

Hawker is looking forward to fatherhood and going one better than his effort last year in Australia’s most prestigious trail running event, Ultra-Trail Australia.

He believes that the long break he needed to take from trail running so his wife, Liz, could fall pregnant (their daughter is expected in late July) has also left him with the freshness to take out the marquee 100km race through the Blue Mountains bush on Saturday, May 14.

“It’s really been a blessing in disguise,” Hawker says of the career pause since coming second in last year’s UTA.

It was the proud Kiwi’s best ever result, but he only raced once afterwards, in Italy in June, before specialists told him that if he wanted to become a father he needed to restrict himself to “normal exercise … just doing a bit of walking and a 30-minute jog here or there”.

It was tough for a man who has always loved the buzz of extreme exercise, but Hawker followed their advice and by late last year Liz was pregnant.

Beth Cardelli (AUS) - Winner

Beth Cardelli (AUS)  – a strong contender in the women’s race.

Hawker then got back into training, but his body wasn’t happy. “I was walking up hills I would normally run up without blinking an eyelid,” he said. “I had all these niggles that let me know I had had a lot of time off.”

But Hawker persevered and now he feels like a stronger runner than ever before.

His training times have been “absolutely awesome” and in his one competitive run since coming back, the 45km Mount Solitary Ultra in the Blue Mountains on April 17, he finished a close second behind his good mate and training partner Jono O’Loughlin – another favourite for this year’s UTA 100km title – “with a bit of fuel in the tank … I think it’s on the card to have a pretty good run [in UTA on May 14].”

Hawker believes tough challenges will also come from the likes of 2012 UTA winner Ryan Sandes of South Africa and China’s Yun Yan-Qiao, who was third in last year’s UTA.

In the women’s field, favourites include Australia’s Beth Cardelli, who frequently trains in the Blue Mountains, and Li Dong of China, the first female to finish in UTA 2015.

Hawker is Christchurch product who was living in flat, hot Perth before deciding to move to the Blue Mountains last year to guarantee a landscape and climate that could help maximise his trail-running potential.

When Hawker raced UTA last year, he was cheered like a local hero rather than a Kiwi raider. If he were to go one better in 2016, they might just hear the roar at the Scenic World finish line in Katoomba all the way over in New Zealand.

As well as the elite fields gathered for the UTA 100km and 50km races on the Saturday, the running festival boasts a new 22km race this year from Wentworth Falls to Katoomba on Friday. It will also be hotly contested by some well-credentialed runners including Brendan Davies, Aaron Knight and Lucy Bartholomew.


Mt Buller

UTA LEADING RUNNER CONTENDER ROLL CALL 2016                                              

100km  > Women                                                     

Fiona Hayvice , New Zealand      

  • 2016: 1st Tarawera Ultramarathon 100km New Zealand
  • 2015: 3rd Kepler Challenge 60km New Zealand
  • 2015: 1st Tarawera Trail 50k run New Zealand
  • 2015: 4th Tarawera Ultramarathon 100km New Zealand

Beth Cardelli, La Sportiva, Australia

  • 2016: 1st Mt Solitary Ultra 45km
  • 2015: 1st Hillary 80km Ultra New Zealand
  • 2014: 2nd Kepler Challenge 60km New Zealand
  • 2014: 11th Western States Endurance Run 100 miles USA
  • 2013: 1st The North Face 100 Australia

Melissa Robertson, Australia

  • 2016: 2nd Tarawera Ultramarathon 100km – New Zealand
  • 2015: 4th The North Face 100 Australia
  • 2015: 2nd Stromlo 50km
  • 2015: The Great North Walk 100 Miles

Dong Li, Salomon, China

  • 2015: 1st The North Face 100 Australia
  • 2015: 2nd Hong Kong 100
  • 2015: 2nd MSIG Sai Kung 50k 100 – Hong Kong
  • 2015: 3rd TNF Transgrandcanaria

Kellie Emmerson, Salomon/2XU, Australia

  • 2016: 1st Buffalo Stampede Marathon
  • 2015: 1st Surf Coast Century 100km
  • 2014/15: 1st Surf Coast Trail Marathon
  • 2015: 1st Maroondah Dam Trail Run
  • 2015: 19th IAU Trail World Championships Annecy

Ildiko Wermescher, Mammut Pro Team, Hungry

  • 2015: 3rd Madeira Island Ultra Trail 85 km
  • 2014: 6th Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc (UTMB) 168km
  • 2014: 2nd Eiger Ultra Trail 101 km
  • 2014: 4th Transgrancanaria 125 kms

Katherine Macmillan, Australia

  • 2016: 2nd Bogong to Hotham
  • 2015: 1st Yo Yangs 50 miles
  • 2015: 3rd Cradle Mountain Run 85km
  • 2015: 6th The North Face 100 Australia

Gill Fowler, La Sportiva, Australia

  • 2016: 1st Razorback Run 64km
  • 2016: 1st Hillary 80km Ultra New Zealand
  • 2015: 4th Lavaredo Ultra Trail 119km Italy
  • 2015: 1st Cradle Mountain Run 85km

Caroline DuBois, Australia

  • 2015: 1st UltraVasan45, Sweden
  • 2015: 1st Les 100 km de Vendée – Champ. Nationaux, France
  • 2015: 1st Les 100 km de Vendée, France
  • 2013: 2nd 100 km du Périgord Noir, Belves – Champ. Nationaux, France

100km > Men

Scotty Hawker, Hoka/Compressport, New Zealand

  • 2015: 4th Lavaredo Ultra Trail
  • 2015: 2nd The North Face 100 Australia
  • 2015: 1st Ultra Easy 100k Sky Run New Zealand
  • 2014: 7th Lavaredo Ultra Trail Italy

Ryan Sandes, Salomon, South Africa

  • 2016: 3rd Tarawera Ultramarathon 100km New Zealand
  • 2014: 1st Madagascar Race 250km stage race
  • 2014: 2nd Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji Japan
  • 2014: 1st Transgrancanaria 125 kms

Yun YanQiao, The North Face, China

  • 2015: 3rd The North Face 100 Australia
  • 2015: 1st Beijing Mountain 50K
  • 2015: 1st Ultra Trail 100K Mt Gongga
  • 2014: 1st The North Face 100 Hong Kong

Jono O’laughlin, Australia

  • 2016: 1st Mt Solitary Ultra 45km
  • 2015: 4th Six Foot Track Ultra 45km
  • 2015: 1st Mt Solitary Ultra 45km
  • 2015: 4th The North Face 100 Australia

Mario Mendoza, Nike Trail, USA

  • 2016: 3rd Lake Sonoma 50 Mile USA
  • 2016: 2nd Chuckanut 50K USA
  • 2015: Runner up at Ultra Race of Champions 100k
  • 2015: 1st Trail Factor 50K USA

Jordi Gamito Baus, WAA,  Spain

  • 2016: 10th Transgrancanaria 125 km
  • 2016: 6th Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race
  • 2015: 5th Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race
  • 2015: 2nd Ultra Trail De Barcelona 100km

Pau Capell, Compressport,  Spain

  • 2016: 3rd Transgrancanaria 125 km
  • 2016: 4th Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race
  • 2015:6th Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC)
  • 2015: 1st Ultra Sierra Nevada 103 Kms Spain

Andrew Lee,  The North Face, Australia

  • 2015: 7th Hounslow Classic Ultra SkyMarathon
  • 2014: 2nd Yurrebilla Trail 56km Ultra
  • 2014: 9th The North Face 100 Australia
  • 2009 The North Face 100 Australia Champion

Ewan Horsburgh,  La Sportiva, Australia

  • 2016: 7th Buffalo Stampede Ultra
  • 2015: 14th 24 hour IAU World Championships
  • 2014: 1st Alpine Challenge 60 km
  • 2014: 1st Tahoe 200 Mile Endurance Run

Ben Duffus, Hoka, Australia

  • 2015: 1st Hounslow Classic Ultra SkyMarathon
  • 2014: 3rd 80km du Mont-Blanc France
  • 2014: 5th The North Face 100 Australia
  • 2013: 1st Surf Coast Century 100 km

 

Freddy Thevenin, Prudence Creole, France

  • 2015: 3rd Grand Raid Reunion (167km)
  • 2015: 8th Transgrancanaria (125km)
  • 2014: 4th Lavaredo Ultra-Trail

Screenshot 2016-04-11 21.50.2150KM > Men                                          

Vlad Shatrov, Australia

  • 2016: London Marathon – 2:25:47
  • 2015: Berlin Marathon – 2.18.40
  • 2013: 1st The North Face 50 Australia

Mark Green, Australia

  • 2016: 4th Six Foot Track Marathon
  • 2015: 2nd Mt Solitary Ultra 45km
  • 2015: 3rd Six Foot Track Marathon

Garry Mullins, Australia

  • 2015: 2nd Centennial Park Ultra 50 km
  • 2015: 1st Self-Transcendence 100 km Road Race, Christchurch
  • 2016: 6th Canberra 50km Ultramarathon

Craig Dean, Australia

  • 2016: 5th Buffalo Stampede Marathon
  • 2015: 13th The North Face 50 Australia

Sam Burridge, Australia

  • 2016: 3rd Buffalo Stampede marathon

Wes Gibson, Inov8/Hammer, Australia

  • 2014: 6th Knapsack 6hr Australia Day Lap Race
  • 2013: 9th Sri Chinmoy Canberra Centenary 100 km
  • 2013: 4th The North Face 50 Australia

Tony Fattorini, Australia

  • 2014: 9th Six Foot Track Marathon
  • 2013: 1st Six Foot Track Marathon
  • 2012: 2nd Kepler Mountain Run

50km > Women                                                     

Sophie Brown,  Australia

  • 2016: 3rd Six Foot Track Marathon
  • 2015: 1st Alpine Challenge 60km

Maggie Jones, Australia

  • 2016: 3rd Buffalo Stampede Ultra 75km
  • 2016: 3rd Razorback 64 km Run
  • 2015: 3rd Hounslow Classic Ultra SkyMarathon

Hanny Allston, Shotz Sports Nutrition/Suunto,  Australia

  • 2015: 1st Surf Coast Century 50 km
  • 2015: 1st Buffalo Stampede Marathon 2015
  • 2014: 1st Six Foot Track Marathon

www.ultratrailaustralia.com.au

 

 

 

101 Reasons to run Ultra Trail Australia

While plenty of attention is garnered by the front runners, we reckon the more moving and inspirational tales of ultra running are found further back in the pack, as with the likes of Brett Sammut whose story from 2015 ran in Edition #17 of Trail Run Mag. With Ultra Trail Australia happening this weekend, we thought it worth a look back at Brett’s experience in the Blue Mountains.
WORDS: Chris Ord


When life becomes too much, some run away to oblivion. Others, like Brett Sammut, reach the precipice but use running as a way to step back and rediscover a reason to live, and then some.

But what happens when the spectre of failure looms large on the trail to redemption, as Brett faced attempting his first UTA (then The North Face 100)? 

brett 3

© Lyndon Marceau / marceauphotography

The night was a darker pitch than any before. A suffocating weight of blackness tunnelled vision down to transient sweeps of light cast by passing cars. A two-hour walk of wallowing pain echoed as barely ten minutes, but every second of it was unbearable, like seventeen years of pain focused through a magnifying glass; beams of a black sun searing into his mind, charring it like the sun burns a dried autumn leaf.

In that moment, there was a clear, definite and imminent end to this phenomenal feat of endurance for 43-year-old New South Welshman, Brett Sammut.

He was about to quit in the most final way he could imagine.

From his perch on a gutter leading nowhere, on the fringe of a regional city the ex-policeman had served and loved and hated, Brett was preparing to throw himself in front of the next speeding truck that happened along.

His enduring to that point in his life was of a kind more miserable, intense and soul-shattering than any ultra runner – even at their lowest ebb – could ever imagine. Unless, that is, an ultra runner out there has ever been moments from throwing themselves in front of a speeding B-Double, Brett’s preferred method of ending his inner turmoil.

It wasn’t the first time Brett had tried to take his life. A policeman for 17 years, Brett was used to staking out dark corners on the hunt for people who wish and inflict harm on society. He was used to long chases. Long hours. Long nights. Like anyone exposed for an extended period to the raw pain of other people’s lives, Brett suffered. The things he saw, the things he had to do, to deal with while in the Force wore him down to the point where he joined those he usually chased into the gutter, albeit in a more literal sense.

The North Face 100 2015

The North Face 100 2015 // Aurora Images

“I was an overweight copper,” says Brett whose peak was around 118kg. “I left the police with diagnosed depression and anxiety. I felt worthless. I knew why I’d become depressed: it was a combination of seeing things that people shouldn’t see and doing things people shouldn’t have to do.”

A beer drinking culture within the force where colleagues drank to forget the worst shifts didn’t help.

“I didn’t drink beer so I was a bit of an outcast, but also, I had no real release valve like they did. I’d go home, not wanting to talk to my wife or daughters about the things I witnessed. I just bottled it up.

“One day my bucket spilled and I had a bad (mental) crash. That’s when I first tried taking my own life. I’m just grateful that the truck never came. I would have missed out on so much. It was a wake up call I needed.”

The following day, in a cloud of confusion, Brett sought a doctor and got the help he desperately needed. The solution, however, was a bitter pill to swallow.

“Medication,” says Brett. “I hated taking that medication.”

IMG_5046

IMAGE: Chris Ord / Adventure Types

“To me, it was a sign of a failure. I know it was needed to help me. But I resented taking the medication and to get up every morning and take a 10-milligram pill was hard. The the first few weeks I flushed them all down the drain.”

It wasn’t long before Brett was forced to spend time in a psychiatric hospital.

“That was devastating,” he recalls. “One moment I am a policeman, with the power to take someone’s life or liberty in just circumstances, the next minute I’m locked in a room for three months, my own liberty taken, with no power to do anything.”

Brett had hit his rock bottom.

“I got diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, a few anxiety disorders and suicidal tendencies. I also had a diagnosis of a perfectionist disorder.”

Before being hospitalised, Brett had taken to running in order to lose weight. “But I read somewhere that running could also help ease reliance on medication, so I had thoughts of using that as part of my therapy.”

With some skepticism, Brett’s doctor prescribed he go for a run, on an assumption he would fail and they could get back to the medicated course of action.

“He was trying to expose me to a ‘safe’ failure, I guess, as part of my treatment. But he didn’t want me to really use running as part of treatment.”

Despite no training, Brett travelled to run the Canberra Half Marathon, his first.

“I loved it. It wasn’t necessarily what my doctor wanted – me to love the running – but I did.”

© Lyndon Marceau / marceauphotography

© Lyndon Marceau / marceauphotography

It’s not unusual to find perfectionists or indeed obsessive compulsives, out on road or trail, monitoring to an inch of their lives time splits, calorie counts, and race pace. Indeed, sometimes for those with personalities locked like a homing missile on the intricacies of measurement in running, the sport can be harmful. Had running just become another mask for the pain, an addiction akin to his beer drinking colleagues back in the force, albeit arguably healthier to all appearances?

“To a degree, yes, but really for me it was about the participation medal,” says Brett. “It was about the achievement, the sense of completing something, more so than being good at something.”

“When I stopped being a police officer I became a nothing,” he explains. “That was how I identified, even though of course I was a father, a son, and a husband. But so much of your being is wrapped up in what you do when you are a policeman. When it is ripped away, you are at a loss. For me, rightly or wrongly, there was no real reason to live. There was no reward. To live, I still needed the thing that was in fact killing me.”

Trail Run Mag

DOWNLOAD Trail Run Mag for FREE at www.trailrunmag.com/magazines

While running and the medals on offer were no doubt a safer substitute for his achievements as a police officer, he admits to still using running as a way to escape problems, rather than face them.

“Leaving town was the reason I started running in a lot of events. In the first year after getting out of the psychiatric ward, I raced twelve half marathons. It was getting out of Orange. Getting out of town. Leaving everything behind me. I could actually relax doing that. And then driving back home I had that little medal, which to me is someone saying ‘you did well’ which you don’t get in hospital.”

Brett’s journey to the trail and ultimately his first attempt at this year’s The North Face 100, went via some triathlons and road runs, before he signed up to a Running Wild 6-Hour event in the Blue Mountains. The fit was instant, Brett describing how there was something more alluring, more medicating, more comfortable about the trail running scene that plays an important part in his ongoing recovery.

IMG_5155-3

IMAGE: Chris Ord / Adventure Types

“Trail running it seems like a little family. I was accepted straight away. And not as Brett the depressive, Brett the suicidal guy, or Brett the ex-copper. I was just Brett the guy who could run. Like everyone else there.

“There was a sense of not only acceptance, but also community, and I think that is unique to trail running as compared to the road running scene where you don’t know anyone, and no-one wants to know you.”

The friends Brett gained from running quickly replaced those from his policing days who had quickly fallen away when he became ill.

“There is still a lot of stigma attached to mental illness within the police force,” says Brett. “But I’m happy to say that the trail running friends I have gained are a much better, more accepting bunch.”

The environment he was beginning to immerse himself in also played their part, believes Brett.

“It can be so peaceful on trail. I think that helps clear the mind for people like me. There’s no cars, traffic, noise, no clutter…”

Brett firmly believes running and treating depression go hand in hand.

“Trail running in particular amplifies that level of recovery process. My medication levels have dropped the last six months, and I attribute that to the trail. Even when I was running road, I still required my full dose… there’s crowds, cars, people hating on you for being a runner – it remains a place of heightened anxiety. There’s none of that in the bush – just birds and space. Even when you trip over you can laugh it off – you’re by yourself, there’s no one else to blame – and you get back up and run. There’s something about the environmental aspect of the trail that definitely lessens my anxiety, lessening my reliance on medication, which was the aim from the beginning.”

1W3A7203 600

IMAGE: Chris Ord / Adventure Types

Fast forward through Brett falling in love with singletrack, and we’re standing in the crisp night as crowds mill atop the cliffs of Luera, in the Blue Mountains, filing in to collect their race packs place for tomorrow’s The North Face 100. For many, it will be the biggest challenge they have ever faced. The question that hangs heavy in the air anchoring the nervous chatter, is will they achieve it?

For Brett, that weight of expectation has extra gravity. What happens when a man battling mental illness, someone whose daily nemesis is the prospect of failure, faces something as tough as running 100km; what happens when he faces a race where the Did Not Finish rate is one in three?

While others are anxious about how their body will hold up, for Brett – having now been physically fit for two years – the spikes of anxiety are more about how his mind will hold up to the rigors of an ultra.

The question was answered at Checkpoint Three, but it wasn’t his head that caved in to the challenge. After 47km, it was his body. Three hours of being violently ill, vomiting, cramping and becoming dangerously dehydrated, Brett faced his inner demon and pulled the pin.

“My first thought was of letting down my family,” says Brett. “I thought about what I had sacrificed for the race, and more importantly what my wife and kids had sacrificed for me to race.”

Those thoughts alone would have cut deep for Brett, or for any family man. But what Brett hadn’t let on was that his wife, Francine, has terminal breast cancer, and he is her primary carer. Time, therefore, is of the essence, and both he and his wife had sacrificed a sizeable chunk of it for Brett to run in The North Face 100. Their family’s collective sacrifice in seeing less of their husband and father in a precious period of life, where death again threatened, was arguably much more of a black hole than your average ultra runner’s time vacuum.

1W3A7231 60

IMAGE: Chris Ord / Adventure Types

“There were tears when I met up with my family. They were waiting at checkpoint four with homemade signs and banners,” says Brett.They, of course, were a bedrock of support. Dad was safe. Husband was alive. All was well.

“That first hug from my wife was heavenly.”

“Quitting was hard. I felt like a failure again. My goal was to finish. I failed at that goal. But I look at it now – I am healthy, I didn’t get injured. A year ago I would have been in worse mental state by quitting. But I’m proud of what I did regardless – I ran further than I have ever run before.”

Determined to turn the situation into a positive, Brett remained on course to help fellow runners who were racing without support.

“The race was meant to be a chance for me to fight my personal demons and score a victory, but while I failed in this instance, I still saw it as a chance to help others to achieve their goals. So I spent the next few hours and into Sunday morning helping strangers to get through checkpoints and lifting their confidence in their ability to get the job done; to be able to keep moving and keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

“It was the best thing I could have done. I never realised how much joy it would give me, especially when it came to seeing the names of people I helped on the finishers list.”

“That’s what I take away, that to me running is not about times, placings, results or, now I have come to accept, even finishing. It is the chance to be a part of an amazing community and the feeling of belonging.”

A few years ago, Brett Sammut felt overwhelming reason to embrace death. On the trail he found reason enough to live. Trail running gave him strength enough to face failure when it visited 53km short of his long-imagined success. And it continues to give him 100 reasons to live: the 100 kilometres he intends to conquer in the Blue Mountains in the future.

“I’m still on a journey and I want to keep coming back to The North Face every year,” says Brett. “First of all to finish, and then keep getting better. It’s my reward that I will keep looking forward to, keep living for.”

Addendum: In 2016, Brett is returning to run the 50km.

(*And the 1 in 101 Reasons headline? Of course, his two girls and wife…his family). 


Brett Sammut’s blog on his The North Face experience can be seen at https://brettsammut.wordpress.com 


If you or someone you know is experiencing depression or mental health issues, contact:


Screenshot 2016-04-11 21.50.21