Taking place this year from May 11-14, 2023, Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB will celebrate its 15th anniversary… ‘growing from humble beginnings to becoming the second largest trail running event in the world.’
Ultra-Trail Australia (UTA) began in 2008 as a single distance ultramarathon, with 157 athletes taking on 100km of trails through the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains.
Fast forward 15 years, UTA has become a mainstay of the global ultra running calendar, attracting around 7,000 athletes each year to the now multi-day festival of trail running.
Since 2022, UTA has been part of the UTMB World Series, which offers runners the opportunity to begin their quest to UTMB Mont-Blanc – the UTMB World Series Final and the pinnacle event of trail running.
David Austin has been part of the UTA journey since the beginning. As of last year, he is the only founding runner remaining – someone who has finished every UTA100 since the event began.
“I just love the race. I love the people around it. I’ve loved watching it grow from about 160 people to what it is today,” Austin said.
The inaugural race in 2008 attracted 157 starters, 130 of which finished the challenging 100km course.
Austin continued, “That first one was so unique, I ran the whole last stage from the Queen Vic to where they used to start at the Fairmont, and I did not pass a soul and a soul did not pass me. I never saw anyone. All I could see was just a couple of headlights in the distance and if I turned around when I was up on the mountaintops you could see a couple of lights in the back, and it was just unreal.”
Part of the growth of Ultra-Trail Australia has seen the introduction of additional distances. The event now incorporates an 11km, 22km, and 50km, alongside the 100km, which has helped to attract more first-time trail runners to the event and has helped boost the number of women taking part. UTA now has an almost even number of men and women racing across all four distances each year.
The 2023 Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB takes place from May 11-14 in Australia’s Blue Mountains, with limited entries remaining across the four distances – 11km, 22km, 50km and 100km.
www.ultratrailaustralia.com.au
