We are happy to announce that Australia is ever more keen to be integrated into the Asia Trail Master Championship series: Brisbane Trail Ultra is a new 2020 Candidate Race!

The first edition of the event organised by Trail Run Australia has attracted close to 500 participants across four race distances from 100 miles down to 30 km. Race director Shona Stephenson is a renowned ultra trail runner herself and has put all her expertise into the event, scheduled for the weekend of 6/7 July.

Later this season, at the end of September, we will celebrate the first official points races in Australia during Ultra Trail Gold Coast - incidentally taking place not too far away from Brisbane neither - in a sign that also down under events are opening up to the growing Asian and international trail communities. Of course, ‘Ozzie'‘ runners have had great success already in ATM. Think of Kim Matthews becoming 2017 ATM Champion, Joanna Kruk winning every women’s race she starts, and recently John Ellis grabbing the lead in the men’s ATM championship by notching up wins in Vietnam and Malaysia. We are looking forward to seeing them on home soil and invite all Asian runners to join and experience trail running in Australia.

Brisbane Trail Ultra Festival is set in the stunning Brisbane Rainforest Hinterland starting 8km from the Central Business District of the City. Enjoy beautiful virgin rainforest trails whilst being challenged on this wilderness course trough sub tropical rainforests, gorges, eucalyptus woodlands and grasslands.

60% of the course is on single trails, with amazing views and vivid wildlife. This is one trail, ultra adventure you don’t want to miss. With the city so close by, you can plan a long weekend for the whole family!

It is still possible to sign up for this year’s edition until 1 July. So think about it!

Website:

Brisbane Trail Ultra

Facebook Page of BTU

For most people traveling to Australia remains a special trip to somewhere far away. So it is also for Asia residents. Nevertheless, air fares have come down substantially in the last decade and connections to nearly all Asian capital cities have increased in frequency. As Australia has been visibly edging closer to Asia, we have accepted the ATM application of Ultra Trail Gold Coast in Queensland, eastern Australia, as already announced before. But why no add some more time and experiences to your Ozzie journey and do a bit more trail running and sightseeing there apart from the UTGC event? In collaboration with Venture Travel, local outdoor travel specialists, we have therefore designed a week-long itinerary for runners in Victoria. The programme starts a day after the UT Gold Coast event in Melbourne, capital city of Victoria State in the Southeast of the country.

You need to take a domestic flight from Brisbane or Gold Coast to Melbourne on Monday morning, and we meet up in the late afternoon for a sunset run in and around the fabulous city. The full programme is listed below.

The cornerstone of the trip, along with the Great Ocean Road, is the Grampians National Park is 167,219-hectare (413,210-acre) and situated 260 kilometres west of Melbourne and 460 kilometres east of Adelaide. Proclaimed as a national park on 1 July 1984, the park was listed on the Australian National Heritage List on 15 December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty and being one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern Australia. The Grampians feature a striking series of sandstone mountain ranges, and its trails are great for running. From south to north is more than 150 km of trail. Halls Gap is the centre town of the Park, and is a great outdoor place with great restaurants.

At the end of the tour we make a relaxation and sightseeing stop in Ballarat for the final evening and night. A visit to the reptile park is jaw-dropping.

PROGRAMME

Day 1

30/9: Melbourne: programme starts with a meet & greet and a gentle run, followed by welcome dinner

Day 2

1/10: Great Ocean Road: after van transfer, we run from Lorne to Port Campbell for about 50 km on trails along the famous GOR with astonishing ocean views

Day 3

2/10: Grampians National Park: we run from Dunkeld to Mt William, roughly 50k to the highest point of the Park at 1167m above sea level

Day 4

3/10 Grampians National Park: from Mt William to Halls Gap, main town of the Park. Estimate 40 km.

Day 5

4/10 Grampians National Park: from Halls Gap to the northern border of the Park. Distance can be adjusted according to the group’s wishes.

Day 6

5/10 Ballarat: after optional morning sunrise walk, we transfer to Ballarat, a small but well-known tourism town with exquisite wine and beer bars. A recovery day with a visit to the famous reptile park, swim/spa/sauna, and farewell dinner.

Day 7

6/10 transfer to Melbourne airport. End of the programme and return to home country

GENERAL INCLUSIONS

• Accommodation - 3 star cabin and hotel

• Meals - all meals

• Snacks and water - supplied for running

• All runs, reptile park, pool recovery

• Transport - bus and all included as part of itinerary

Pricing

USD 1599,- per person. (runners only).
HKD 12,550,- per person (runners only).

For more information, please contact kris@kuaisports.com

Ultra Trail Gold Coast (AUS)

The Asia Trail Master series venture beyond the politically established boundaries of the continent for the first time for the Nerang 200 in Queensland, Australia, scheduled for 27-30 September. A very special type of trail event for ATM, also because it will be run on 25k loops and has 200 miles as the longest race distance! The popular Nerang 200 is credited as a 2019 Asia Trail Master Candidate Race.

Ian Cornelius, CEO of Gold Coast Ultras, is a big fan of our Asia Trail Master Championship series and is himself based most of the time in Philippines. After a long period of reflection and open discussion, we have accepted the application of Nerang 200 and have provided it with Candidate Race status this year. This means the event is set to appear on our official championship calendar in 2019, pending a positive evaluation of the upcoming edition. The official press release of Nerang 200 features a paragraph that sums it up nicely:

"Although not strictly part of the Asian continent, Australia is in much the same time zone as Asia and, of course forms part of Asia for the world cup (soccer) and various other sports. Both Asia and Australia are integral parts of the Asia Pacific region and the term Asia Pacific or Apac has been used for the past three decades when discussing trade, finance, politics and sport. Although Australia traditionally has a strong bond with Europe, the migrant intake from Asia for the past decade now exceeds that from Europe." 

Australian trail runners have been quite successful since the beginning of Asia Trail Master in 2015. Just two examples, Joanna Kruk from Adelaide has scored four race victories throughout the years in Thailand and Malaysia, and Melbourne-born Kim Matthews is our current Asia Trail Master women's champion - unfortunately out of action for the rest of this season with a complicated hip injury. By having Nerang 200 inside the ATM framework, we are excited and looking forward to seeing even more interaction between Australian and Asian running communities.

While the 200 miles race attracts attention due to its massive length, several shorter distances are of course also on the programme. Runners can choose to do 100 miles, 100k, 50 miles, 50k and 25k as well.  There's even a 4x25k relay for teams. The 25k basic loop has 885m of elevation gain in it, so this is by no means a walk in the park. By going round in loops, race logistics are of course easy and participants can carefully plan their nutrition and race strategy while spectators cheer them on all day and night. Indeed, Nerang 200 is known also as a great party event with camping options, bbq and music. 

International access is quite straightforward with Brisbane and Gold Coast airports just an hour's drive away. Airfares have recently been cheap compared to what they used to be. 

More details available on the event website and facebook page:

https://www.nerang200miler.com and https://www.facebook.com/Nerang200miler/

The official singlet for this year's Nerang 200 event