The Bibbulmun Track
As their website says, the Bibbulmun Track is one of the worlds great long distance walk trails. It is 1,000 km long, from Kalamunda in the Perth hills district to Albany on Western Australia’s south coast.
The Bibbulmun Track is only for walkers (or sometimes runners), so there are no trail bikes, mountain bikes, or cars to worry about when you’re out there.
Head over to their website for more detailed information (Home | Bibbulmun Track).
People hike and camp on the Bibbulmun Track, and there are basic campsites with wooden huts and water tanks at various intervals along the way.
The Feral Pig 100-Mile Ultra
The Feral Pig 100-Mile Ultra is on the northern-most section of the Bibbulmun Track. It starts near Albany Highway at North Bannister and heads north to Kalamunda, turning around there and finishing at the Mundaring Hills Forest Discovery Centre.
Ultra Series WA
Ultra Series WA is the organiser of the Feral Pig Ultra and other terrific events like the Light Horse Ultra, Herdy’s Frontyard and others.
Check out their website at Ultra Series WA.
This Feral Pig 100 Mile Ultra course profile is from Ultra Series WA.
It looks like it’s skimmed a bit off the elevation because the leg-by-leg breakdown in the event manual has an elevation gain of 4,059 m and a loss of 4,191.
Elevation Challenges
If you look closely at the elevation profile, you should see some sections that present challenges. Competitors in 2020 found the going especially tough after about 110 km. Of course, that is perfectly understandable after that distance. The elevation profile shows difficult up and down areas from there until the finish.
If things go well, or just reasonably well, I’ll be doing the last sections in the dark of night as well. By that stage, I could be getting a bit tired, so that’ll make things interesting.
Pacers
Pacers are allowed on the last three sections of the Feral Pig 100 Mile Ultra. The first is 50 km, and then there are two 18 km stages from Mundaring to Kalamunda and return to finish.
So I’m looking forward to some company on the last two sections – strangely, I can’t seem to get much interest in the 50 km section at this point.
Midnight Start
Oh, and the race starts at midnight. So, there’s a lot to look forward to – go out to the middle of the bush, in the middle of the night, and start running – why not, eh?
That’s a brief rundown of the Bibbulmun Track course for the Feral Pig 100 Mile Ultra – I hope that gives you a better idea of the challenge ahead.
The related video has some footage of the Mundaring to Kalamunda section to give you an idea of the terrain. Until next time
just keep going