UTA Day 1: fast, furious and foggy

I’m sure Katoomba is beautiful and the views from the many lookouts along Cliff Drive are jaw-droppingly gorgeous. But I couldn’t swear to it because today it was so foggy at times it felt like visibility was down to about the length of an Olympic swimming pool.

That didn’t stop the racing though, UTA11 kicking off proceedings this morning. And it was a victory for youth with 16 year old local Elijah Gosby winning the race in 64 minutes. It was an incredibly tight affair with second and third coming in just a minute behind.

It was lovely to see Elijah give his mum a big, sweaty hug at the finish line. A day off school and a winner’s medal. It doesn’t get much better than that!

The women’s race wasn’t as close at the front, Simone Brick winning fairly comfortably.

If the atmosphere at the finish line is anything to go by, we are in for a treat for the rest of the races. Even though the UTA11 kicked off at 11am on a Thursday, there were still plenty of spectators cheering the runners on, cow bells clanking furiously.

The event commentary team deserve special mention too. Ali Pottinger and Matt Rayment, who also do fine work on podcast Dirt Church Radio, did a great job pumping up the crowd and ensuring there is nothing but a healthy dose of joy as each runner crosses the line.

The event precinct is a sprawling affair taking over Scenic World and the Katoomba Christian Convention centre. The process to collect race bibs was very efficient, with plenty of volunteers.

Being part of the UTMB family, there is no shortage of UTMB and UTA branded merch to buy, including all the essential bits and pieces of mandatory gear you may not have gotten around to buying before leaving home.

One nice touch is a series of banners arrayed along the main pathway to the event centre showing the men’s and women’s winners of the 100k and 50k events over recent years.

I hadn’t realised so many big names had won the event, especially on the men’s side. Names like Ryan Sandes, Tim Tollefson, Pau Capell, Dylan Bowman and one genuine contender for GOAT status - Kilian Jornet.

There’s also an “Athlete’s Village” with stalls selling all sorts of equipment - like a giant trail running shop. I think a few credit cards might take a slight battering before the weekend is done.

Fingers crossed tomorrow will be clear and I’ll actually get more of an idea of just how beautiful the Blue Mountains are. I’ll also be hoping the rain stays away. Every time I look at the forecast it’s changed and at the moment it’s showers on Friday and fine and sunny on Saturday. I’d take that.

Course update

I’ve had an update on the course from my mate Cam who has raced here before and has had a few training runs on the course in the lead-up to this year’s event. Like me, he is running the UTA50. Cam says:

I had no idea there were creek crossings so that’s a great shout out. Thanks for the intel Cam.

In the interests of transparency, I am competing at UTA on a complimentary ticket. I am paying all other expenses involved with the event - travel, accommodation and so on - out of my own pocket.