BRISBANE HOSTS FIRST SPARTAN TRAIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Race Director’s Report by Brisbane Trail Ultra 2021

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND HOSTS THE FIRST SPARTAN TRAIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT AT THE PRESTIGIOUS BRISBANE TRAIL ULTRA 2021

Spartan Trail World Championship (STWC) is the toughest event in Southeast Queensland, with almost a 50% drop out rate for the BTU100Mi, (45% of male field finishing and 79% of female starters finishing). You don’t race an event like this, you survive it.

The stunning Brisbane Trail Ultra course attracted the attention of the STWC due to the degree of difficulty, beautiful virgin rainforest trails and atmospheric finish line, being at the top of the Kangaroo Cliffs, yes, they must climb those infamous stairs with only 300m to go. The BTU is an Australian standout event that follows in the footsteps of European ultra-trail events by connecting the trails to the villages or cities by finishing along the Brisbane River, and showcasing the Brisbane City Council light show on the bridges and buildings as they finish their final 4km of their grueling adventure challenge. The course blows the mind, tests the body, draws out the tears and the biggest smiles anyone has seen on runners after they have finished their 100 Mile (160km) course.

Records fell across the event with the unprecedented $17,000 of cash prize pool up for grabs, being the most generous Trail Running event in Australia, drawing the cream of the crop to the start line of the BTU100Mile (STWC) BTU110 (AURA National Trail Running Championship), BTU30 ( STWC). This is a massive step in the right direction for elite trail running athletes who sacrifice so much to be at the start and even more to be at the finish line of an event. The biggest prize pool seen at an Australian trail running event attracted Aidon Hobbs (BNE), who is a national steeplechase representative toe the line and out-pace local legend Ben Duffus (BNE), in a time of 2:00:51, breaking the record by 18 minutes, followed by UTA50 winner Tom Brimelow, Victorian Brodie Nankervis (VIC) (national orienteering representative), and Kiwi trail running legend Vajin Armstrong (NZ), who just placed 2nd at UTA100 to race the BTU30 to be part of the prestigious STWC, Vajin risked a trip across the Tasman and made it through before the border bubble blew up. All 5 men broke the course record, (arguably harder as we now have the infamous Kangaroo cliffs to climb) in fact top eight men broke the record and last year’s winner Lachlan Jamieson came in 8th place, taking 3 minutes off his record time, with Hammer Athlete Quinton Gill (313) coming in 6th 2:14:50 ACT Athlete and Team La Sportiva Runner and BTU60 2019 winner, Sam Burridge (302)2:15:50 coming in 7th. The BTU30, STWC women’s field was equally impressive. We saw Cecilia Mattas (336) (UTA100 1st place 2021) breaking the legendary Beth Cardelli 2019 course record. We know that prize money will push athletes and increase the competitiveness of the field, with Spartan Pro Team 2nd runner Monika Holmwood (UTA951 2nd) taking the trip from the ACT to the BTU, with and Dominique Ferguson placing 3rd and Brisbane Locals, Krystal Neumann, Katie Mackenzie (BTU60 2020 2nd place) coming in 4th and 5th.

Athletes in 2020 and 2021 must be so mentally tough, with rolling lockdowns to prepared for. Only the week before the BTU the Gold Coast Marathon was cancelled for the second time in a row due to a snap lockdown. The BTU was lucky, with the timing of the event, as well as being big enough to be a great event, but small enough to be able to manage the runners in waves at the start line, sending off runners 10 at a time, and 30 seconds apart to ensure CovidSafe social distancing. The ultra-trail event is also fortunate as it is spread out over a distance up to 100 Mi with a 36 Hour cut off, with runners also spread across 6 different events and finishing at the finish line for 24 hours, meaning the finish line social distancing can also be maintained, on top of it also being a safer open-air outdoor event, with the majority of it being held in the D’Aguilar National Park, Brisbane Forest Park and along the Brisbane River Parklands.

An impressive field of runners lined up to race with podiums were full of either Interstate or international. The bar has been raised; the barriers smashed. La Sportiva Athlete Matt Crehan (Victorian border gambler) became our first and only runner the break the 20-hour time barrier with 19:53:14, closely followed by local runner Nick Bamford, 20:05:32. Then came Rob Tabuteau in his first 100Mi attempt, with Craig Robinson 4th (NSW) and Ingo Ernst in 5th (ACT). The women event was equally as exciting with Maree Connor (NSW) becoming our first female runner to break the 24-hour barrier in 23:29:50. She was chased by junior young gun, Jacqui Bell (Red Bull Athlete) who took almost 4 hours off her time finishing in a 24:55:09, Carmen Atkinson from the Sunshine Coast was 3rd with a respectable 26:18:51, Carol Robertson, who every year has stepped it up, 2019, 2nd place BTU60, 2020 2nd place BTU110, now in 2021, she has placed 4th BTU100Mi. Sheree Barnes, the Brisbane Trail Runners favourite, coming in with the biggest blister the ultra-world has ever seen at the end of an event, still intact came in 5th. The top 5 women all broke the record for the BTU100Mi, which in 2019 and 2020 only had 3 finishers in total. This is a massive improvement of women at the BTU100Mi, in fact, the women’s field outscored the men for % of finishing 76.9% to 45.8% with 10 finishers from 13 starters in the BTU100Mi event.

There were championships taking place across three events with the BTU110 being the selection event for the AURA Long Course (100km) National Trail Running National Championship. The male and female field was strong, however, La Sportiva athlete Hayley Teale was a late withdrawal due to an injury, it placed 2019 2nd place female (14:15:43), B100 Winner 2020, Jessica Schluter, became the favourite. Jess took almost an hour off her 2019 time to finish in 13:17:45. This is the 2nd time Jess Schulter has won the AURA Long Course National Trail Running Championship which is fantastic to see. She was chased by Jen Mullin (WA)2nd and Hoa Banh (SA) 3rd. The male race to become the AURA Champ was on from the start, the men had something to prove and wanted the win and the bragging rights for the year. It was a pain threshold tester, being classed as one of the toughest events in the Oceanic Region for the 100km distance, you had to hurt to be able to win in this talented field. The lead pack of four guys stayed together until 2020 winner Andrew Dey, who is a road marathon specialist, tapped out, and DNF after 75km. He knew that Mike Carroll, Piotr Babis, and Matthew Dunn has risked two weeks quarantine to make it to the start line, so much more was on the line for them. Then there were three, the three men, all from three different states or territories raced it to the finish line. No records were broken, but they went close to stunning Vlad Shatrovs’ (NSW) 2019-time, Mike Carrol (ACT), finishing in 11:31:46 on an arguably more difficult course, with Piotr Babis (TAS) under 6 minutes behind and Matthew Dunn (VIC) coming in under 12 hours with 11:52:40.

The BTU60 was an exciting event with rising star Matt Gore winning with a blistering time of 5:32:07 with Yun Phua in 2nd and 1st female Reesha Lewis coming in 3rd, only 3 minutes behind 2nd place male, with ACT runner Patricia McKibbin placing 2nd and returning 2020 3rd podium placed Rebecca Idens taking 3rd, now two years running but with a personal best by 30 minutes.

The BTU is a actioned packed weekend, with some short course “Sprints” kicking off with the race within a race, BTU- Red Bull Climb that was taken out by the classy Aiden Hobbs and Cecilia Mattas who both ran the BTU30. In 2021 the BTU introduced two “Sprint” events, the BTU20 and BTU10. The BTU20 has a surprise upset with a local female, Anna Munro taking out line honours, beating all the men and doing the women proud with an impressive time of 1:41:30, she was an outstanding 9 minutes ahead of second-place Rory Kilpatrick (233)1:52:53.

In the BTU10, it was all about who ran the smartest with the front pack getting a little bit excited at the first turn, missing it completely in the rush, and ran an extra 5km, it was a classic trail running F’Up and what makes trail running so exciting, it’s not about how fast you are but also how good you are at reading the course and making sure you follow the course markers. The inaugural BTU10 winners are Daniel Keenan (53)1:00:57 (New Course Record) and Jaimee Trembearth (15)1:05:52 (New Course Record)

The endorphins were running high, the recent snap covid lockdown stress released, and the runners could safely race, relax, connect and enjoy a little bit of trail heaven before the South East Queensland was thrown back into another snap lockdown and the world seemed to change again.

Pictured: AURA’s Matt Crehan taking out the BTU100mi event at the Brisbane Trail Ultra. Photograph – Supplied.