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Route: Great Victorian Rail Trail

Location
Victoria, AU
Distance
130 km
Vertical Gain
700 m
Description

Submitted by Scott Black:

The Great Victorian Rail Trail (formerly Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail) is the second longest rail trail in Australia (after the 161km Brisbane Valley Rail Trail in Queensland), following the route of the former railway line from Tallarook, the Mansfield Railway and Alexandra Railway in north central Victoria, Australia, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The trail surface is partially granitic sand and partly chert (a kind of gravel).

The Great Victorian Rail Trail (formerly Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail) is the second longest rail trail in Australia (after the 161km Brisbane Valley Rail Trail in Queensland), following the route of the former railway line from Tallarook, the Mansfield Railway and Alexandra Railway in north central Victoria, Australia, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The trail surface is partially granitic sand and partly chert (a kind of gravel).[1]Officially opened in June 2012, it stretches for 134 km (83 mi) from Tallarook near Seymour, through Trawool, Yea and Bonnie Doon to Mansfield, with an offshoot to Alexandra from Cathkin.[ Its highlights include the 200-metre (220 yd) Cheviot Tunnel near Yea, views of the Goulburn River, the Heritage listed Trawool Valley and a former rail bridge over Lake Eildon near Bonnie Doon.

The towns passed through by the main rail trail are: Tallarook, Trawool, Kerrisdale, Homewood, Yea, Molesworth, Yarck, Kanumbra, Merton, Bonnie Doon, Maindample, Mansfield.
 

GPS Track
Great-Victorian-Rail-Trail.gpx6.07 MB

FKTs

Comments

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Ross Hopkins
Fri, 05/15/2020 - 08:33pm

Hello, I am going to run/walk this on Monday 18 May and see what happens ... it is a long way!! Well done Scott; fantastic effort. I will start in Mansfield.

Ross Hopkins.

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OscarTheGrouch
Wed, 01/20/2021 - 01:32am

I'm going to ride/hike this as per the guidelines that allow this:

 

"Primarily entail running and hiking. One may use any means of self-propelled travel during a FKT attempt, provided that:

  • At least 50% of time must be running and/or hiking, vs. other sports.
  • Ropes may not be employed for more than 10% of the Elapsed Time, and climbing grades 5.8/5a and harder even without a rope are considered climbing, not running or hiking.
  • Climbing, cycling, paddling, skiing, and other sports are great, and we may establish separate categories for them in the future, but not at this time."

Hi Oscar,

I also want us to introduce a new bike category! (I just did a 5+ hour gravel ride today). Hopefully with more resources we can do that.

In the meantime, I must note the Guideline stipulating "...at least 50% running and/or hiking" is for the establishment of new Routes, not how one does a route. It would be quite unfair to bike all or part of route other people have run.  Strava separates these activities for that reason - one cannot ride for any part and claim it as a run activity.

This looks like an excellent rail trail - have fun on it however you do it!  (While being honest with your mates :-)

 

 

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