Sat
26
Apr
2014

Running Wild S4 Long #3: Mt Solitary Ultra

runningwildnsw@gmail.com
Mt Solitary, New South Wales, Australia
http://www.runningwildnsw.com

Mt Solitary - Long Course Race #3 - 45km

This course excites us all on the committee and rightly so. In our opinion, this is one of the best mountain/ultra trail courses in Australia. Yes, this is a fairly ambitious claim, but until you have done this course you will never know the joys that can be had all over this course.

Runners start from Queen Victoria Hospital and make a long descent to Kedumba River. The first 5km is uneventful fire trail, before the fun starts. Runners take a single trail for the next 3km and is surely one of the nicest pieces of flowing single trail used in races. After crossing the river, runners will start the 3.5km climb to the eastern col of Mt. Solitary. This is a brutal climb of over 800 vertical metres over the distance. After reaching the col, the climbing is not over. Runners will traverse the top of Mt. Solitary, but still climbing in elevation to the western side. A rocky descent is made, before the single trail fun starts again. Runners will pass the Ruined Castle and head around towards the Scenic Railway. For this year, it is likely that runners will climb to the top of either Furber Steps or Golden Stairs for the aid station. After refueling, runners will continue along the single trail at the base of the escarpment. Runners will continue around to Lila Falls, before the trail opens up to fire trail. The crossing of Jamision Valley starts with a descent to both Leura and Jamison Creeks, before a grinding 8km climb back up Kedumba Walls to the start/finish area.