Having had the first Female FKT on the Larapinta trail winning the West Macs Monster in 2021, although held for only a short time, the thought of running an Out and Back on the trail has been in my mind for some 3 years now.
Months of planning, the timing was right this month. Having finished my 3rd WMM in May I felt well prepared, excited and ready for the challenge.
My strategy was to run the trail in around 5 x 65 - 68k sections. At the end of each "section" I would meet my crew, have a 5hr break (including 4hrs sleeping) and repeat. This served me well, resulted in a lot of night running (which I LOVE) and I largely avoided running in the heat of the day(s).
The Larapinta trail has 2 variations in route and I chose to run both. On the section between Fish Hole and Standley Chasm I ran over the High Route on my way out and ran the Low Route on my way back east. On the Ellery Creek stage, I ran through Ellery South (carpark) on my way out and Ellery Creek North route on my way back east.
Logistically I could not have achieved this without the help of the local Alice Springs running community, facilitating an unplanned rest stop because I was moving a lot quicker than I'd planned. I wanted to finish the out and back in under 7 days so I'm thrilled (and somewhat surprised) that I got it done in 5 days, 22hrs, 43mins.
I don't know how long this one will stand, but to say I'm proud of this achievement is an understatement.
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