LMU 104K

The 50km loop starts by heading west from the race village before joining up with some undulating fire roads. Pay careful attention in the 104km event as you will see this terrain once more in a few hours time (and with slightly heavier legs!). After some very runnable fire trail adjacent to Boree Creek, you’ll take a right turn after the Boree Road Aid Station and begin a gentle climb towards Alf Myers Way.

You’ll begin to climb in earnest now and continue to do so, with just a few small descents, until you reach a hard right hand turn, almost switching back on yourself at the 14.5km point. You’ll be met with stunning and endless views to the south towards Cadia as you face a long descent down into established pine forest plantation. After about 6km of steady descending, you’ll begin some short ups and downs until a particularly steep descent before flattening out and running into Rosebank Road Aid Station at 24km.

Having fuelled up here you face around 6km of steady climbing with the mountain summit popping in and out of view as you get back to higher elevations. At the 30km point you’ll be relieved to hit the end of this climb and cruise into the Towac Way Aid Station. Leaving the safety of the aid station sees you take on two technical descents back to back.  First up is the epic Glider Trail. Pick your lines carefully and watch your footfalls as you hit the steepest gradient of 32%. After some brief ascents, you’ll then take on the Pine Ridge descent with more downhill gradients over 30%. Keep your eyes on the trail and your ears to the wind, because you’re now within touching distance of the Tea House Aid Station at the 35.5km point.

After such an epic descent, you’re now met with a short ascent on sealed road before flicking right into some wicked downs and up, up, up again as you take on Fern Gully Fire Trail. Another short section of sealed road greets you now but it’s only momentary before you veer left and begin the final push to the summit on the Spring Glade track. The summit sits a full 200 vertical metres above you, and you’ll start to feel the change in temperature and flora as you push ever higher. Before long, you’ll you’ll take a hard right, a few stepped rises, and you’ll pop out of the snow gums and on to the summit itself. Take a breath, ring the bell and grab some nutrition – you’re now standing at the highest point and enjoying the party atmosphere of the Summit Aid Station, with 41km now complete!

From here, you’re about to take on the third epic descent on this loop – Powerline. If you can manage it, take a look at the view and play “spot the race village”, because it’s sitting there somewhere, only 600 vertical metres below you! Bomb the descent and enjoy the adventure of Black Flat Creek trail, knowing that the lower you go, the more you can open your stride. Eventually, you’re down at more reasonable altitudes and running on steadily descending pine needled forest trails, dotted with foliage and flowers. With the creek bubbling beside you to the right, settle into your stride and push over a few final climbs before you swing left and encounter the race village spread out before you. Run past the spectators and to the event site for refuelling on your way to the second loop.

Heading west from the race village you’ll exit the event centre before turning left and up a small climb. You will now cross over Mitchells Way and continue on until you eventually turn right onto Black Flat Creek Trail. You will now begin the 600m vertical ascent to the summit of the mountain. Dual tyre tracks interspersed with wildflowers and spring grasses dot much of the climb in the lower elevations.

Your view of the summit is quickly obscured by the ridge lines in the foreground that you inevitably must pass over. After around 6km of steady climbing next to the bubbling creek to your left, your route takes a sharp hairpin to the right and you’re met with a serious incline. This will continue with switchbacks and false flats for the next several kilometres as you climb sharply out of the valleys and begin to see the sprawling farmland below you to the north. You will intersect and turn a sharp left onto Mitchells Way fire trail and, depending on the time of day, you may encounter other runners who are descending to the finish line of the 22km course, or other runners in the 50 mile event finishing off their 50km loop, at this point.

From here, it’s a serious climb to the top. You will catch the occasional glimpse of the mountain summit off to your right at times, and it’s not long before you can see it all before you as you pop out on to a short section of sealed road before the infamous powerline ascent.  This is exposed, wickedly steep and full of breathtaking views.  If it’s hot, you’ll feel it here, and if it’s cold, you’re completely exposed on the northern flank of the mountain.

Before you know it, you’ll hit the summit stretch and pop out on to the summit itself at the Summit Aid Station at 59km. You then plunge steeply off the western side and down the Snow Gum track to the Federal Falls crossover and loop.  Here you will descend sharply on flowing single track before looping around and climbing, sometimes on technical ground, back towards the Federal Falls Campground. After completing this section, you’ll enjoy 3km of open graded dirt road on the run into the Towac Way Aid Station at 65km. From here, you get breathtaking views to the south as you descend easily for a while, before a hard right hand turn takes you on to the Wombat trail.

Get ready to climb sharply for several kilometres at this point, until you intersect with Gum Ridge trail and begin the long descent towards home. Enjoy the fire trail as it drops you down to the pine forest and then get your single track legs on once more as you take on the flowing Galinbundinya trails towards Boree. At the 77km point, you’ll run through the Boree Aid Station and farewell the single track for the final time.

From here, you face graded dirt roads and occasional fire trails as you set your sights on the race village.  You’ll circumnavigate the southern boundary of the farm, before turning left on to Mitchells Way. As you swing left into the fields and head north past the olive grove on your left, your second loop is now complete.

Your third and final loop starts by leaving the relative safety of the lowland fields as you head south. You will glimpse the summit of Gaanha-bula Mount Canobolas over your left shoulder, towering a full 600 vertical metres above you, but still a full sixteen kilometres away from you at this point. To your right is an olive grove before you turn right out of the property and on to your first fire trail. 

The next four kilometres sees you climbing and descending very steadily on smooth and predictable fire trail and before long you’ll pass through the Boree Road Aid Station. It’s not long before a very minor merge to the left sees you farewell the ease of the fire trail and embrace the flow of the manicured single track on the Galinbundinya trail. While not yet climbing steeply, you’ll notice an increased intensity as you focus on your pace and footfalls amidst the towering pines and the inviting flow of Boree creek.

The next four to five kilometres will showcase some of the most picturesque pockets of this loop. An almost ‘Middle-Earthian’ landscape awaits you as the sinewing path leads you deeper into the pine forest with your footfalls descending into silence on the pine-needle laden trails. You cross the creek several times, but the last of these occurs at the 90km point and will see you climbing somewhat more intensely, again on firetrail, as you begin your ascent in earnest. 

Before you know it you will be working hard, climbing on ever steepening fire trails before you crest a clearing at 1,300 metres in altitude with the mountain summit now in clear view to your left, and the sprawling plains of the western slopes to your right, as far as the eye can see. As you navigate this alpine ridgeline, you’ll notice that the pine forest has given way to Australian alpine bushland, with wallabies and snow gums dotting the landscape. 

At this point you are running at an altitude that is a full 250 metres higher than Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and more than 100 metres higher than any point of the Black Range on the Six Foot Track. But there’s no time for complacency as there is still work to do. As you reach the 97km point you’ll arrive at the Federal Falls carpark. 

A hard right and up the Snowgum Track sees you combine a big effort with serious gradients in your push to the summit. In less than two kilometres, you’ll take yourself to the glorious summit of Gaanha-bula Mount Canobolas for the third and final time.

As you crest the summit with legs burning and your heart rate reminding you of how far you’ve come, enjoy the party atmosphere of the Summit Aid Station. You can comfort yourself with the knowledge that from here all the climbing is now behind you. Indeed, hang on as you start the descent as the double black diamond Powerline Descent reminds you that it is time to proceed with care. Having navigated this wickedly steep descent, you’re now ready to lengthen your stride on manicured fire road and see just how fast you can run downhill.

As you leave the naturally forested summit, you’ll descend into recently cleared pine forest plantation with breathtaking views over the northern plains, and, with three kilometres to go, as you round a sweeping right hand bend, you’ll see the finish line arch and transition zone spread out below, willing you home. As you continue to hold speed, you’ll come at last to a flattening fire trail, swing left into the finishing chute past the camping zone and event hub and complete the final loop of the Lonely Mountain Ultra Fitness Perfection 104K.

You went there, and you’re back again…