UTA Day 2: fog, mud and more fog

I didn’t think it was possible, but it was even more foggy in Katoomba this morning than it had been yesterday. It was like walking through a cloud - damp and clammy. It had also been raining, so there was no shortage of mud.

History was made before sun-up though, with the inaugural UTA miler getting underway. Just over 370 starters are battling it out over more than 160k for the right to be the first ever winner of this event. Amazing humans, every one of them.

Much further towards the other end of the scale was the UTA22 which started just as the sun was failing to penetrate the fog. After 22k, culminating with 951 Furber Stairs, this race came down to a sprint finish with Leo Peterson finishing 12 seconds in front of Ben Duffus in a time of 1:40:47.

Kiwi Jessie Speedy won the women’s in 1:57:27, almost four minutes ahead of Bridie Temple.

There were some horror stories about the condition of the course - it’s a mudfest. It’s going to be fun once the back-of-the-packers are unleashed tomorrow. And that’s why we love the trails! No two courses and no two runs are ever the same!

There were also a number of presentations today. Nick Christopher, the UTA senior operations manager, took part in a Q&A to brief 50k and 100k runners. He was asked to nominate his favourite part of the course and he opted for the section from the bottom of the Giant Stairway through to Fairmont.

I’m hoping that section will be runnable and will have the space to allow passing. Sounds like the Giant Stairway could be pretty precarious if it’s still wet. His advice was to make some friends out there on course because a misery shared is a misery halved. Seems a bit pessimistic to me, but probably accurate.

He also said part of the course reminds him of scenes from The Sound of Music. Seems like a stretch to me but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. If the visibility improves that is.

Dirt Church Radio also held a live podcast during which they interviewed a number of athletes. George Murray, the 2023 UTA100 men’s winner, had a pretty good take on what makes this course, and trail running in general, so captivating.

“It’s nature, so this course is always changing. We’re running the same course as last year, but it’s not really the same course.”

They also spoke to 2024 women’s UTA100 champion Beth McKenzie who talked about the “vibrant energy” trail running gives her. She also had an interesting take on the appeal of the sport.

“One of my favourite parts about ultra running is the problem solving,” she said. “[You have to] plan for things to go wrong.

“I just get great joy and satisfaction from that along the way,” she told Dirt Church hosts Ali and Matt.

So what does race day hold?

I suspect I’ll be doing PLENTY of race day problem solving. I deliberately self-seeded myself into the slowest starting group, despite being placed in a faster group by the race organisers.

My logic was that I’ll be stopping here and there to take photos, make notes and shoot some video, and I didn’t want to slow anyone behind me down.

But I’m regretting that now. At the back of the field every choke point and queue will be at its longest. The weather’s likely to slow people down, so I think there may be a bit of patience required at times, especially in the first 20k.

This will test my stoic nature. So I’m saying it now - you can’t control everything, you can only control how you respond. So don’t get frustrated. Bring the joy. Yep, easy to say!

I’ve ended up with five dorm mates at Camp Katoomba. Flo, CM and Trent are all running the UTA100. Pete’s running the UTA50. Buya ran the UTA22 today. He’s already headed off to Sydney to meet some friends. It was his first trail race and the first thing he said to me was “when can I do that again?”

Respect to CM - 75 years old and tackling the UTA100k. He’s got some miles in his legs though, today he was showing me the photos from his 50k race at Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc. Now that course reminds me of The Sound of Music.

Follow along

UTA has an excellent live results service and if you’re so inclined you can follow my progress on Saturday. I should get started around 7:30am and hope to be finished before sundown. I’m wearing bib 6353.

See you on the other side!

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.