The Great North Walk is a 270 km long walking track between Newcastle and Sydney, completed in 1988.
The whole track is well marked through a fairly populated area of Australia.
Great North Walk Website
A note on Self-Supported and Unsupported FKTs
Unsupported FKTs: Are not possible on this route due to 2 major river crossings that require motorized transport. The FKT Guidelines state: Use of motorized transport can never be considered unsupported
Self-Supported FKT: Are possible on this route if completed in line with the following:
- Hawkesbury River crossing: Achieved by private water taxi OR public ferry via Little Wobby variation
- Sydney Harbour crossing: Achieved by private water taxi OR public ferry
The use of a car at either crossing will be considered a Supported FKT.
Little Wobby Variation for Self-Supported FKTs
This section passes over land owned by the Department of Sport and Recreation the ‘Broken Bay Sport and Recreation Centre’. They have an easy system in place to get permission to walk on their land to avoid impact on their camps. Just a quick phone call and they will email you a letter (which you carry). Phone (02) 4349 0600 and ask for permission.
For supported FKTs, use Patonga to ensure consistent FKT attempts.
Comments
Chris Wilder came close, with a time of 2d3h29m (supported), 28-30 April 2018.
http://www.movescount.com/moves/move214664889
Trip report:Â Â https://runfatdoc.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/gnw250/
Notes
An epic adventure. Had a goal time of 60 hours and no thoughts of the FKT so to go within a few hours of that time was incredible for me. Joe Ward (current FKT holder) and many others as pacers and support crew. Looking forward to going back for another shot in the coming years.
Good stuff!
I will be attempting the gnw 276 in a supported fashion heading from Newcastle to Sydney. I’ll be starting 6am Friday the 19th. I will be catching a boat for patonga to Brooklyn and due to high chance of coming into Sydney early in the morning with no water taxies or ferry’s I will most likely drive the last water section from woolwich to circular quay.Â
On 1st September 2020 I completed the GNW in an unsupported, hiking (and sleeping!) fashion. It took me 5 days 23 hours.
I don't think this is a particularly competitive time in this style (3 days might be), but wanted to give this type of trip a go.
I believe with the 20% rule (an unsupported FKT needs to be within 20% of the supported/self-supported FKT?) you'd need to go sub-50 hours unsupported. I've love to see someone take a shot at this!
There is no 20% rule.Â
Great work on your attempt.
Did you record your hike and have evidence (GPX file)?
Unsupported trumps supported any day.
Jase
Fastest Known Time
Region Editor - AUS/NZ/JAPAN
Insta - jasetrim
Strava - Jase Trimmer
Sorry, I only just saw this reply!
No GPX file, I didn't own a GPS watch at the time. I think I have timestamped photos for start/finish and a few points inbetween, not sure if that's enough.
Anyway, I'm hoping to redo my attempt with a lot more training (and much less sleeping) sometime in the next few years, which I'll submit properly.
Cheers
Â
Here's my FKT report
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SOlRa6K0vpR28vGz5Ap_eNyKBoiXNIrF/view?…
You'll need a couple of beers to get through this one it's a bit long, but enjoy. ?
Melissa Robertson and Julie Brock will make an attempt on the current female supported time on 12/02/21 - good luck to the both of you.
Hi guys,
Just wanted to understand the difference between supported and unsupported for the GNW. I live in the UK but looking to do this when I next come homeÂ
Thanks,
Danny
Supported - You just need to get from A to B. You can have a team that give you everything you need and can run alongside you during your effort.
Unsupported - carry everything you need including food, allowed to source water from natural sources (like creeks) along the way. No support from others.
Hey all -
Is time spent in a car (as Grant Brisbin did) or on a ferry, included in the time? Or is this excluded and minused from the total trip?
I'm trying to understand how to do this unsupported. As a car seems supported, but waiting overnight for a ferry adds a lot of time... Can a FKT be counted by stopping and starting the time at each ferry location, waiting for the next one to arrive etc?
Thanks
The clock starts when you start and it only stops when you reach the finish. Any time spent in a car or a ferry or sleeping is included in your total time.Â
Hope this helps.
Was wondering if the FKT is any direction ? Or is it FKT from North to South and seperate FKT from South to North  ?Â
You can go either direction. Go whichever way is faster!
Looking at doing an unsupported attempt sometime this year, and am wondering about the Patonga to Brooklyn water crossing. Apparently there used to be a ferry, but it is no longer, and so most people recommend a private water taxi. Would this still be considered unsupported?
This is an interesting one.
Obviously getting a friend to drive you over in a boat (which is not available to the public) = supported.
Going by the book, taking publicly available transport for the water crossings would probably make it self-supported. However given that motorized water crossings are a fundamental part of the route with no unsupported alternative (swimming/kayaking would be unwise/possibly illegal), I'd think in this context it should be considered unsupported.
I think it's an important distinction to make, otherwise you could do food caches the whole way which would be very different to carrying 250k worth of food.
I’ve just seen this comment - has this ever been clarified as to whether an unsupported attempt is possible on the GNW?
Callan Gates completed the North to South route, starting on 2.6.22 and finished 5.6.22 - 3 days, 3 hours. No GPX file submitted.
Only a faster time would be recorded as we don't keep a 'leaderboard' of athletes times. However, given Callan is raising funds for Leukemia, his efforts and of his support crew are worthy of comment. Callans mother-in-law passed from Leukemia -Â please follow the link for an interview
https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/1533297901044129792?s=20&t=NoQ8…
Thanks Jase, appreciate the support and very much respect the guys and girls that have taken on the GNW250 what an epic trail it is.. 💪👊
Wondering if it can be clarified whether Unsupported is possible on this course? Is using a water taxi at Patonga and Ferry at Woolwich still considered unsupported or self-supported? I sent an email enquiry and was told it would be self-supported
The ferry from Brooklyn to Patonga no longer runs. Water taxi from Brooklyn to Patonga would cost about $100. Next best is ferry from Brooklyn to Little Wobby. Alternatively, it would be by train from Brooklyn to Wondabyne. Time for a route variation maybe?
Ok nevermind, figured out the alternative, train from Brooklyn to Woy Woy, then Uber to Patonga for about $35.
Hi everyone.Â
New member and was wondering what the times were for this trail unassisted?Â
Myself and a friend are training to do this train in a couple month unassisted estimating 4 days to complete. Would love to know some details of recommended gear from others who have done it and times set
In planning to do this route unsupported and reading all of the above comments, I think new rules need to be set for the unsupported route.
The water crossing is a fundamental and unavoidable part of this route. Whilst typically taking a water taxi or ferry (no longer available) to Patonga would be ideal, this seems impractical and costly for most attempting this route. To ensure an even playing field for all, I propose that the unsupported route utilises the public ferry from Brooklyn to Little Wobby and that an alternate trail is taken from Little Wobby to then link back up with the GNW. This link up was reccomended by GNW founder Garry McDougall in the facebook group named "Great North Walk - Sydney to Newcastle" (28/2/24). Should someone utilise the ferry, their effort on this route will still count as unsupported. The proposed alternate is 9km with 407m of ascent to link back to the GNW. The existing section of the GNW from Patonga to the same point is 9.73km with 360m of ascent.
Original route from Patonga:Â https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.4/151.2181/-33.5267&pubLink=qAGwoTr0TmYERHH4McCdwqRt&trackId=c02cacb4-ad66-48e4-9fef-92cc5c79127c
Â
Proposed alternate route from Little Wobby:Â https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.4/151.2181/-33.5267&pubLink=lRMX5L6JFSw0YMj1WxbGECOi&trackId=666a01e3-66b9-459a-998e-14053e72f723
Â
Would love any thoughts or suggestions on this idea.
FKT Editors Note
After consultation with the FKT community and editor, and in line with the FKT Guidelines description now updated to say the following:
A note on Self-Supported and Unsupported FKTs
Unsupported FKTs: Are not possible on this route due to 2 major river crossings that require motorized transport. The FKT Guidelines state: Use of motorized transport can never be considered unsupported
Self-Supported FKT: Are possible on this route if completed in line with the following:
The use of a car at either crossing will be considered a Supported FKT.
Any questions on the above can be directed to keelan.birch1997@gmail.com
I also encourage anyone who has completed the route self-supported to submit their FKT.
On the Little Wobby Variation for self-supported FKTsÂ
This section passes over land owned by the Department of Sport and Recreation the ‘Broken Bay Sport and Recreation Centre’. They have an easy system in place to get permission to walk on their land. to avoid impact on their camps. Just a quick phone call and they will email you a letter (which you carry). Phone (02) 4349 0600 and ask for permission.