Baw Baw Announces New Trail Run Festival With A Dirty Surprise
News Release / 08.01.2013
Mountt Baw Baw has announced a new trail running festival that will set a new bar for the singletrack sport when runners tread the mountain slopes on the long weekend on March 9th-11th , 2013.
On the roster will be up to seven trail runs of varying course lengths and difficulties plus the opportunity - for those game enough - to vie for King and Queen of the Mountain titles.
The Mt Baw Baw Trail Run Festival will feature three days of trail running events, kicking off with what could be one of Australia’s toughest marathons: a 42.2km course from the historical township of Walhalla.
Why the toughest? One look at the course profile will make legs and lungs perspire in fear, the most obvious feature being an uphill haul for the majority of the distance.
Runners looking for a slightly easier but no less beautiful entrée to such an intimidating challenge can take on the half marathon, which tracks along the second half of the same course, beginning near the halfway mark at Mt Erica.
The challenge continues on Day Two of the festival with two 12km events run around the trails starting and finishing at Mt Baw Baw’s mountaintop village. The first outing will be a mid morning foray while the second will take place at night.
For those new to the sport, and for the kids, there will also be a 5km fun run/walk taking in the summit of Mt Baw Baw and the impressive vistas it offers.
On the final day, there will be a morning session of ‘free mountain running’, a new offering on the local trail run scene that focuses on super-short 1.5km courses, the catch being that the terrain is ridiculously steep.
“You see a bit of this style of running in European events,” says Race Director Grant Seamer, from Mt Baw Baw Resort. “It’s short and fast and it’s all about running technique, rather than endurance.”
The first race, run as a time trial, is raced down what is usually used as a downhill mountain bike course, peppered with technical obstacles including a big rock drop off. Here, the technique of running downhill at speed is key.
The second race will be the same course albeit run in reverse an hour later. That’s a 400-metre vertical climb in 1.5km.
“The uphill is about technique, too, but mostly about a runner’s tolerance for lactic acid!” says Grant.
