UTA Ultra Trail Australia UTMB 2026
Blue Mountains
15 May 2026
21.69km, 1142m vert, 2:33:31
Pre
Brett signed up for this race in the Blue Mountains, and I decided that sounded pretty cool. It was sold out, but I got myself a transfer from some injured dude, and was pretty stoked ! I prepped as well as I could, with a nice taper. This was slightly interrupted by a couple of hamstring twinges, but they seemed to disappear by race day, so all good.
I flew over to Sydney, hired a car and drove to Blackheath. It was kinda rainy. My motel was rather old-school and tired. The biggest problem was its location *right* on the main western highway, and at the bottom of a hill before the town. This meant that the massive trucks were either accelerating hard up to 80km/h or engine braking hard down to 40km/h. Neither was good, and this went on all night. At least the (slightly quieter) train only went every 30 minutes or so. But, hey, you don't need sleep to run.
On Thursday I had a day to sightsee, and the sun came out. I started with a wander from Blackheath visitor center around a super lovely quiet and deserted (at 6:45am) path through to Govett's Leap. (and then Evan's Lookout). These gave splendid views over the Grose valley. (the other side from where I would be running tomorrow).
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Later Thursday morning I drove to Katoomba. I got my race rego etc, and then entered Scenic World for some minor adventures:
A steep train ride down to the Jamieson Valley.
Then a simply gorgeous walk around the rainforest trails.
Then up on the Cable Car.
After this I caught the Sky gondola thingy across towards the 3 sisters and views of Jamieson Falls.
Brett and Natalie got ready.
Race Time!
I was up at 3:50am before my alarm went off (damn trucks!) and had some toast and jam, as you do. I found a parking spot at Leura near one of the bus pickup points, and was at the race start point at Queen Victoria Hospital by 6:00am in the dark.
It was cool and drizzly and misty - very atmospheric and other-worldly!
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I didn't see Brett here before my 6:40am start, although his wave wasn't far behind mine. (Brett had failed to catch his bus (in spite of arriving for it 1 minute early), and got a lift with Charlotte most of the way to the startline, minus 2.7km)
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| Brett hiking to the start line |
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| Race Start |
The race starts with a minor uphill and 1km of flat, and then 8km of steep downhill. Like, very steep and fast. The footing was fine, since this part is on a wide gravel road, but we knew to be cautious about smashing our quads here. I tried to cruise down (doing 4:25 pace) and not murder my legs. Pretty successfully I think.
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| An Evil Profile |
I took my Salomon vest and poles and quiver. I took them out at the bottom of the hill, and never re-quivered them! I think they helped quite a lot - both on the uphill semi-runnable bits and on the steep/stairs non-runnable bits.
We crossed a few streams as we went - never needing to get our feet wet. The mist was enough to keep me generally dampish, but fortunately I used my phone for some videos etc and didn't need to put it away in a plastic bag.
I had filled my (new) water bladder with 1.1 liters, and tried to drink pretty regularly. The (only) aid station was at 13km, and I was going to fill up my chest bottles there... but when I got there, I didn't see anything resembling water, or Naak, or any fluid. I was obviously just being dumb, since apparently there were (unmanned) water dispensers. Anyway, by the time I got to the far end of the aid station (without filling up), I couldn't be assed reversing course, so I just kept going. I kept drinking from my bladder and paced myself to only run out at the very end. (although if I had more fluid I would have drunk a bit more)
I was poling and power walking most of the big climbs up out of the valley. The track became a lovely single track and there were a surprising amount of fast runnable sections as well.
The famous 951 steps of the Furber Stairs were the last big obstacle. I was feeling ok on the climb, but whenever I got to a flat or minor downhill bit, both calves started to cramp. (fortunately it was 95% uphill!).
I got up to the top without problems and had to shuffle my way awkwardly along the last 300m to the finish at Scenic World to minimise the cramp, but this only slowed me by a minute or two I'd say.
Finishing was great. I was 4th in 55+ age group. Very happy with that. There were 2350 starters just in the 22km option, and over 8000 across the weekend's events. Massive!!
Brett came in a little while later, for 8th in 65+. Brett had tripped at one point and taken a tumble but fortunately was uninjured.
Natalie had started last in the last wave, and walked the 22km. A great effort to come in under 5 hours.
Wrap
Charlotte/Deborah/Mills were very kind to ferry us around (and cook dinner).
I had the standard gel or muesli bar per 40 minutes, and felt reasonably strong throughout. Gotta fix that cramp somehow though! (even picklejuice didn't help much). My white Hoka Tecton X were perfect - there were some muddy bits but not enough to be a problem. On a fully dry day, road shoes would be an option, but there were a few semi-technical bits on the second half where trail shoes were helpful.
A super fun event with zillions of runners and a great vibe.
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