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Every year, about two weeks out from Ultra-Trail Australia (UTA), I run a briefing session for every athlete I've have racing it. It's on top of the individual race brief we do together beforehand, not instead of it, it's the bit that covers the general questions before they turn into 20 separate conversations. UTA is the biggest weekend of my coaching year, and this is that briefing, written down.
Whether you're lining up for the 11, the 22, the 50 or the 100, most of what catches people out at UTA has nothing to do with fitness. It's logistics, expectations and the stuff nobody tells you until you're standing at the Taros Ladders, wondering why you carried five litres of water for a 10km leg. So let's get into it.
This isn't just a UTA rule, "Nothing new on race day" applies to every event I coach for, but I'll say it here because it matters most in the two weeks before the gun goes. Whatever you've trained in is what you race in. The best runners' shorts on race day are the old crappy ones with holes in them that you've worn on every long run, not the fancy new ones.
You'll start seeing people on the start line saying things like "I didn't realise how much all the mandatory gear weighs." That shouldn't be you. If you've been running with your full kit in training, you already know what it weighs, how it packs, and what you're standing on that line wearing.
This is also the two weeks to relax, not to start racing the race in your head. UTA will ramp up the hype on social media as it gets closer, and the forums will fill up with people asking about mandatory kit, parking and cutoffs. Don't get drawn into it. Race week should be the easiest, most boring two weeks of your whole build.
One of the most common questions I get is some version of "will I get cut off?" For almost everyone I coach, the honest answer is no, and the maths backs that up.
| Distance | Cutoff | Pace required |
|---|---|---|
| 100km | 28hrs | 3.5km/h |
| 50km | 14:30hrs | 3.45km/h |
| 22km | 7:00hrs | 3.14km/h |
| 11km | 4:30hrs | 22.87km/h |
You could walk the 100km cutoff pace. You could genuinely walk the dog at 3.5km/h. Yes, there's technical terrain and a lot of climbing in there. I'm not worried about anyone I coach getting timed out. Put that particular worry down now and spend the energy on something more useful.
The goal for race week is to get to that start line with nothing on your mind except running the distance. Not where you're parking. Not whether your crew know where to be. Not whether your jacket passes the mandatory kit check. All of that gets sorted in the well in advance and at worse, two weeks before. Here's what to work through:
Get your mandatory kit checked early, especially if you're doing the 50 or the 100. There are shops that will check it for you and log it online before race day, so registration doesn't turn into an argument about your waterproof jacket.
Know your check-in day. The 11 checks in on race morning, but the 22, 50, 100 and miler have no late check-in on the day, you need to be there the day before. Check your race distance's exact requirement in the runners' guide and don't leave it to assumption. There are no exceptions
Watch for the weather call. UTA usually confirms mandatory kit variations (like whether you need to carry a fleece the whole way) the day before the race, depending on conditions.
Lock in accommodation and transport now. Work out how you're getting to the start, where you're parking or which bus you're on, and what time you need to be in your start group. All of that is already published, log into your race profile if you're not sure.
Give yourself permission to do nothing else this week. If you've got a stressful meeting or something you can push to the following week, push it.
If you're doing the 50 or the 100, start laying out your checkpoint bags the week before, not the night before you leave. Physically lay them out, open them, and check off what's supposed to be in each one against a checklist. If it says spare socks, make sure there are actually spare socks in there.
A few things I always put in mine:
A checklist in big, bold font, because at 2am with tired eyes and a head torch, you want contrast you can actually read, and a script telling you exactly what to do (usually: get water, get nutrition, get moving).
My own nutrition, plus a spare top and spare socks in each bag, even if I rarely swap them.
My mobile number, in case a bag ever goes missing.
A spare head torch and batteries if I'm racing on a lighter primary torch, with the spare torch turned off properly so it isn't draining flat in the bag.
A small morale item if you want one (a kid's note is lovely, just be ready for the emotional hit that comes with it mid-race).
Think tactically about water too. Note the distance to the next checkpoint on your drop bag or in your head before you leave one. My first UTA, I carried five litres of water out of a checkpoint for a 10km leg and got to the next one with a full bladder still on my back. Ridiculous. Match what you carry to the distance and the weather, not to a worst-case that isn't coming.
If you've got support crew, brief them properly and be genuinely selfish about what you need from them. Their job is to get you what you need and get you moving again, not to have a catch-up. If you've never had a crew before, it's worth knowing that family and partners who haven't crewed an ultra before are often not very good at it, and that's not a criticism. They see you at your worst and they want to look after you, when what you actually need is someone who gets you in, gets you sorted, and gets you back out the door. Be clear with them on that before race day, not at checkpoint one.
UTA starts in coloured waves now, not a mass start (the 22 is the exception, more on that below). Pink group goes first, that's the elite field, and every other group is funnelled through afterwards with breaks between them. UTA has said it can take up to 20 minutes to cross the line after your group's advertised start time, so build that into your expectations.
Whatever your group, get there early and push to the front of it. You cannot start in an earlier group than you're allocated, that's an automatic disqualification (DQ). Within your own group, working your way toward the front makes a real difference to how much traffic you're stuck behind on the first technical sections. Don't get too cold standing around, keep your jacket on until the last minute, and don't overhydrate before the gun, there are never enough toilets at the start of a race this size.
The 22 is a different format. You'll get bussed to the start and dropped into your group from there, and it's a far more relaxed affair, coffee carts and all. The same rule applies though: don't start before your allocated time.
Mostly flowy clifftop trail with one notable descent into the valley down steel stairs, a gradual climb back out, and the classic finish up Furber Steps. There's no real hiking terrain in this one, so the main tactical point is getting through the early bottleneck before the descent. Push a little harder in the first section if you can, then let the queue on the stairs sort itself out.
You head out of Scenic World along Narrow Neck, wide fire trail with some short, sharp climbs, and the temptation early on is always to go out too hard. Don't. The first checkpoint sits just before the ladders down into the valley, which now has two options, the ladders themselves or Duncan's Pass, specifically to spread runners out and ease the bottleneck that used to build here.
From there it's technical single trail with short, punchy climbing, out to Iron Pot Ridge for one of the most photographed sections of the course (you'll hear a didgeridoo playing before you see it), then a genuinely steep, loose descent that rewards committing rather than picking your way down. Six Foot Track is the first point your crew can see you and the first drop bag opportunity, then it's a long, runnable climb back toward Katoomba.
Nellies Glen, around the 50km mark, is personally the section I've always found hardest, a long stretch of stairs when the day's already getting warm. From there into the Aquatic Centre checkpoint is an emotional one for a lot of runners, seeing family for the first time in hours. And then comes one of the toughest mental sections on the whole course: heading back out past Scenic World with 40-odd kilometres still to go, hearing the 50km finish line music and crowd while your own race carries on. That's not your finish line. Remind yourself of that and keep moving.
This is where a genuinely useful course change kicks in. Both the 50 and 100 used to drop down the Giant Stairway and climb back up via Fern Bower, a brutal chunk of stairs that also created a serious bottleneck around the Three Sisters early in the 50km race. That section's gone now, which saves your quads and spreads the field out far better.
From Fairmont to Queen Victoria Hospital is single trail with a lot of up and down through stairs, hard to find a rhythm in, followed by a genuinely unpleasant, muddy stretch of track before the hospital checkpoint itself, which is where the last 22km begins for everyone, whether you started the day doing 22, 50 or 100.
That last 22km is the section with the most climbing on the whole course, but it opens with a good few kilometres of genuinely runnable fire trail, a real opportunity to bank time if your legs allow it. Then comes the steep valley descent that will hurt your quads regardless of which distance you're on, a creek crossing (personal choice whether you keep your feet dry), and a long climb back out on fire trail to an aid station that's become something of a party stop in recent years, music, a fire pit, don't get drawn into staying too long.
From there it's a long hike out, through the old sewage works (there's a timing point here your crew can use to estimate your finish), into dark single trail through Leura Forest for anyone finishing at night, and past Kedumba Cascades. Fuel up properly through this section, because you want that nutrition absorbed and available by the time you hit the Furber Steps. It's broken into sections rather than one continuous climb, but it's still the best part of 900+ stairs in the last kilometre, and it can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes depending on how you're moving. Don't panic if you can't hear the finish line until you're nearly at the top, the acoustics up there are strange. When you can hear it, that's when you find the legs for the sprint finish.
Will I actually get time-cut at UTA? For almost every runner I coach, no. The cutoff paces are genuinely walkable (see the table above), and I wouldn't have you on that start line if I didn't believe you could cover the distance comfortably within time.
What should go in my UTA drop bags? A big-font checklist, your own nutrition, a spare top and socks, a spare head torch and batteries if you're running on a lighter primary torch, and your mobile number in case a bag goes missing. Keep it simple, the checkpoints themselves carry most of what you need.
How do I brief a support crew who's never crewed an ultra before? Be specific and be upfront that it's not a social visit. Tell them exactly where to be, what to bring, and that their job is to get you in, get you what you need, and get you back out moving. Agree on a backup plan too (a flat tyre, a closed road) so a drop bag, not your crew, is always your safety net.
What's changed on the UTA course recently? The biggest change is the removal of the Giant Stairway and Fern Bowerr climb loop for both the 50km and 100km, which used to sit early in the 50 and around the 60km mark of the 100. It's eased a longstanding bottleneck near the Three Sisters and saved a serious chunk of quad-smashing stairs for everyone.
None of this replaces the training. UTA is still a genuinely tough day out on a demanding course, however well it's supported (and it is very well supported). But if you've done the work and you turn up knowing exactly what to expect, from the cutoffs to the ladders to that stretch where you can hear someone else's finish line, you take almost every surprise off the table before you even start.
If you're building toward UTA, The Guzzler, the Great Ocean Trail Ultra or UTK, my trail and ultra training plans are built around exactly this kind of race-specific detail. And if you want someone in your corner from the first week of training through to a briefing like this one before the start line, that's what my online coaching is for.
Do the training, trust the plan, and go and enjoy every step of it. That's why we do this.