As locations go for a trail race - you don’t get better than the Margaret River Ultra. Rapid Ascent do fantastic events in perfect loactions. Need I say more.
I ran this event for the first time last year as a newly transplaneted East Coaster moved to Western Australia. It was a great introduction to what lies south of Perth and also to my newly adopted running group - BT Run Club.
I teamed up with 3 others to run the 5 leg 80km group event. Click below for Leg maps and descriptions.
Leg 1: 10.5km Hamelin Bay to Boranup Campsite - myself
Leg 2: 18km Boranup Campsite to Contos Campground - Trent
Leg 3: 18km Contos Campground to White Elephant Café - Barry
Leg 4: 20km White Elephant Café to Gracetown - Joel
Leg 5: 13.5km Gracetown to Cheeky Monkey Brewery and Cidery. - myself
The legs take in all the sights - brilliant white beaches, cliff top trails, karri trees, famed surf breaks and iconic headlands. Without much argument I took on the first and last leg. I got to cross the finish line at the Cheeky Monkey Brewery!
We made a weekend of it and arrived just in time for the race brief on the Friday afternoon, carbed up and went to bed with only a small sample of the breweries finest. We had to be up early for the 0700 start on Saturday.
Despite rain over night the weather cleared for start time and we had a fantastic race. We had been warned about the large stretches of sand in Leg 3 but Barry took it all in his stride. If you haven’t run on sand before definately get some training in your prepation - it will pay off in spades. All legs have at least some sand running. Good compression socks and sand gaiters are recommended also to keep the sand out of places you don’t want it.
We went with zero expectation but ended up coming in 5th in the Mens team event overall, but the best part of the weekend for me was the Sunday kids run and presentation.
My son Aston (at the time 4 years old) signed up because he wanted to run like his very proud Dad. The motivation of a man dressed as the Squirrel’s Nut Butter (it’s a thing) mascot chasing him down was all he needed to get around the 1.5km course without stopping.
COVID-19 meant this years event needed to resheduled from the normal May but Rapid Ascent have today locked in the date. Mark it in your calendars - 16/10/2020 thru 18/10/2020. This will be the third year the event has run and Aston and I will be there chasing the vibe and PBs.