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IT’s not just the name that’s changed when it comes to the Blue Mountain’s biggest annual sporting event.
What was the North Face 100 is now Ultra-Trail Australia, and the feast of associated trail running events is bigger than ever.
Taking part in the festival will be two of Lithgow’s health professionals and keen runners Dr Hilton Brown and optometrist Kathryn Costello.
The pair are regular competitors in all running events around the mountains and are looking forward to the challenging Ultra-Trail event.
Additions to the five-day festival include the Pace UTA22, a 21.6km race across the Jamison Valley from Queen Victoria Hospital at Wentworth Falls to Scenic World at Katoomba, and the legburning Scenic World UTA951 time trial up the fabled Furber Steps at Katoomba.
There will also be an expanded UTA Expo celebrating the world of ultra-trail running and adventure.
Other things haven’t changed.
This is still the biggest trail running event in the Southern Hemisphere.
Between May 11 and 15, the Blue Mountains will host thousands of visiting competitors, support crew and spectators.
It will be the biggest trail running party Australia has ever seen,” Ultra-Trail Australia race director Tom Landon-Smith said.
The powerful attraction is running through some of the most spectacular landscapes the World Heritage Blue Mountains has to offer.
These include Narrow Neck, the Megalong Valley, Six Foot Track, Kedumba Pass, Furber Steps Kings Tableland, Golden Stairs, Tarros Ladder, cliff top tracks, Federal Pass and the Jamison Valley.
The 100km event has about 4300 metres of total climbs and descents.
UTA is now so popular that the main feature, the 100km race, is already sold out, as is the 50km race, with about 1500 runners in each.
Runners are coming from more than 20 nations.
Some of them will be the elite of the world’s trail running fraternity, attracted because the event is also part of the prestigious Ultra-Trail World Tour.