Having run on most of the Mornington Peninsula Walk trails before, I was always curious about whether it was possible to link them all together in one long run. Then I heard about the FKT and knew I had to give it a crack. It was a somewhat spontaneous decision to do it this summer though and plans only solidified a couple of days beforehand.
Reading through the rules, I was happy to discover that I could start anywhere on the route and choose the direction I preferred. I decided to start where the trail crossed Hughes rd at Koonya Beach as this was the closest spot to my parents’ place and meant we didn’t have to get up any earlier than necessary.
Supported by my partner Jono, and my mum (Elizabeth) and dad (Edward), I set off just after 6am in an anti-clockwise direction towards Cape Schanck. I went this way first as I wanted to get some of the tougher beach running sections out of the way before it got too hot – running that section at the end would be pretty brutal. It also meant there was easier access to support later in the day when I would need it more.
I enjoyed the golden hour views and beach running through Blairgowrie and Rye, before meeting the crew at St Andrews Beach for quick pit stop to swap out bottles. Not having brought all my gear and nutrition from Canberra, I was hydrating on diluted Powerade. I’d also forgotten to bring more than two flasks to Melbourne so was using Powerade bottles on every second stop so the crew could top up drinks between the stops. Turns out flasks are a lot more fit-for-purpose (no sloshing!) but the bottles did the job.
After a long stretch of beach running (fortunately with fairly hard sand), I managed to find the path off Gunnamatta beach towards Cape Schanck. I’ve done this track many times but still sometimes struggle to find the turn off. If you’re trying this for the first time I’d recommend downloading offline maps as there’s no reception in this section. I enjoyed the treelined single track and amazing views up to Cape Schanck, where Jono was waiting with new flasks and gels. I took the opportunity to empty the sand out of my shoes. I was happy with my progress - I’d run the first 22kms in 2:30 and knew that I’d covered some of the toughest sections of the course.
I set off on the Two Bays Trail, along with what seemed like hundreds of trail runners who were in training for the Two Bays Trail Run in a couple of weeks. It was great to see so many people out on the trails, but there were a few hairy sections where I almost ran into people coming around blind corners. The trail is beautiful through this section – featuring lots of lush forest and bushland through Greens Bush. I was on constant look out for snakes but surprisingly didn’t come across any (maybe because there were so many people on the trail). Eventually (after 15.5kms) I made it to Hyslops Rd, where the crew were waiting for the next pit stop. Because of the longer break, they’d all had a chance to get a bit of sleep and were ready with watermelon and supplies.
I continued on towards the suburban section of the trail towards Arthur’s Seat, stopping for another quick pit stop to grab a high fashion legionnaires hat before the climb. I enjoyed a bit of hiking up the hill and got in some fuel as I went. Just before the top, I was saying “hi” to a passing hiker and face planted after tripping on a tree root. After assessing the damage, I dusted myself off and continued to the top, before heading down the steep rocky trail to Latrobe Parade and onto Dromana Park, where the crew were waiting for me. I had some bread twist and watermelon for lunch and changed into some road shoes since the toughest trails were behind me. I had run 49kms in around 5:35, so was happily on track for the FKT but didn’t want to get complacent.
After what felt like 5 minutes of trying to cross the highway in peak summer traffic, I eventually made my way to the Bay Trail and navigated through an endless series of campgrounds in Dromana, Rosebud (where I ran the familiar parkrun route), Capel Sound and Tootgarook. I chose to ignore all the signs that said ‘walking pace only – 4kms’! This section is very flat and easy to follow, which made for some quicker kilometres and it was nice to start to feel like the end was in sight. I found the crew at a shady spot in Rye, a bit before the intended meeting spot as they’d struggled to find a parking spot at the pier. It occurred to me that this was one of the downsides of attempting this FKT in summer (almost everyone who has done it previously has tackled it in winter) – the car traffic and foot traffic in these sections was pretty chaotic at times with holiday-goers everywhere you looked.
I continued towards Blairgowrie and discovered some sections of the Bay Trail that I never knew existed. Unfortunately the trail was very poorly maintained in this section and kept disappearing into dense bushland so I had to either run on the beach or do very short sections on the road. It got better as I continued towards Camerons Bight, passed Tideways Beach and onto Sorrento. After a quick pitstop at the Sorrento ferry terminal, I continued on towards Portsea on the hilly paved path, battling some very frustrating foot traffic as I tried to get through the town section. Then it was onto the Point Nepean Quarantine station, where Jono joined me for a 10k out and back section to the tip of Point Nepean. It was fun to have some company and he helped me to keep the pace up. We ran along the gravel Coles track and then on the road to Fort Nepean. The track at the end is still closed so we did an out and back on the steps to make up the difference and enjoyed seeing an echidna in this section.
We made it back to the Quarantine station (~87kms) around the 10-hour mark, which meant I had around 2hrs 50 to run the last 10-11kms. This felt very doable, but I didn’t want to get complacent as I knew the last section involved beach running and sand dunes.
I continued on alone through Wilsons Folly and London Bridge, before running along the soft sand on Portsea Back Beach for what felt like a long time. I managed to find the turn off to the trail, which involved climbing a very eroded sand dune before joining up with the path and continuing towards the road that leads to Sorrento Back Beach, where I found the crew one last time. They were happily eating ice creams that had been delivered by my sister Emily - I was a bit jealous, but was promised an icy pole at the finish, which was only 3-4kms away.
The final few kilometres were very familiar territory as I run this route pretty regularly. It’s beautiful single track but is very sandy in parts and I found myself tackling an uphill sand dune at the 95km mark. I knew I was close though and pushed on past Diamond Bay towards the final single track back to Koonya. Finally, I spotted the crew and they cheered as I sprinted across the carpark to reach the point where I’d started 11 hours 30 minutes earlier. I’d beaten the previous supported FKT by 1 hour 37 minutes, and the previous unsupported time (which incredibly was faster) by 1 hour 20 minutes (I had to beat the unsupported time for it to count).
Overall, it was a very fun day out on some fantastic trails. I was very lucky to be supported by Jono, Mum and Dad. Their positive spirits and enthusiasm kept me going all day and it was awesome to be able to share the experience with them.
I hope others will consider giving this route (and FKT) a go – please feel free to reach out with any questions if you’re interested.