Rapid Ascent

Medium course flyover time... Race 1 of the Trail Running Series sees us travelling to Blackwood (VIC) on 31st May. The Medium Course offers some challenging running in that’s “just right” in the Goldilocks zone for many runners. Medium course runners do a similar route to the Long but miss the large climb in the middle! Starting at the recreation reserve, you’ll commence going uphill on a 4WD track and around the edge of the Garden of St Erth native garden. From here there’s plenty of beautiful, flowing running on flat terrain beside the Lerderderg River and back along some weaving aqueduct trails cut in during the gold rush. Coming back past the Garden of St Erth, you’re following the Whipstick Trail through lush undergrowth and weaving gullies before a fast downhill finish back to the Recreation Reserve. Back in time for a latte in the sun! Oh... And if you want something longer or shorter, remember there’s a Short Course (8km) and a Long Course (22km) option too. ENTRIES OPEN NOW (Link in bio). #Trailrunningseries

Besides podiums and record breakers, we want to personally acknowledge some incredible "under the radar" achievements from the 2026 Margaret River Ultra. Please ring your virtual cow bells for: 👉 Sandra WHARERAU, for completing ALL NINE 80km solo MRUs since 2018! 👉 Stephane BENAYOUN, for completing 8 consecutive 80km MRUs since 2019. 👉 Terry BAKOWSKI, for slashing 2 hrs 19 mins from her 80km time in one year (14:16:11 in 2025 to 11:56:13 in 2026) 👉 Britt STOKES for improving her 42km time by OVER 2 HOURS! (7:03:28 in 2024 to 4:57:29 in 2026). 👉 Mitch EAGLE for gradually reducing his time from >12 hours in the 80km in 2024 to SUB 10 in 2026 (2024: 12:21:27; 2025: 11:47:3; 2026: 9:51:35). 👉 Ned VAUGHAN for not just reducing his 80km time by over 90 mins, but also stepping up to the GRAND SLAM in 2026! 👉 Carina HEMMERS for showing that consistency pays off. She did 80km solo in 2022 in time of 15:15:18... has been doing a heap of running since (including Run Bib in 2025)... and finished the 2026 event in 13:36:10 – 1 hr 39 faster! 👉 Amy GANNAWAY, Emily ROBERTS, Kate FORREST, Georgia SEED, Hayley STABBACK, Niamh RAYNE, Rachel CURRELL, Stacey ROUT and Thomas DRAVITZKI for all stepping up from previously doing the 42km to the 80km solo this year! 👉 Matt NEVES, Adam LUEHMAN, Lara LOUW for being repeat "offenders" in the Grand Slam! Well done legends (if you have them on Insta, please tag them in to share the love!) The (statistically minded) Rapid Ascent Team

What. A. Weekend! The Margaret River Ultra always delivers world-class running, eye-bulging vistas and salt-of-the-earth runners. But 2026 dialled all of of those things up to "11". THANK YOU to all the incredible runners, supporters, volunteers, sponsors and vendors who made this event possible. We're still riding high on the hog and hope you all are too. Until next year... Recover well and bask in the post-run glory. You've earned it! The Rapid Ascent Team Video thanks to Mat at ImageryOne. P.S. If you don't want to wait a full 12 months for your next fix of life-affirming trails (why would you?!) check out our other trail events with similar formats and atmospheres to MRU: Surf Coast Century: 👉 .au Run Bibbulmun Track Stage Race: 👉 .au Run Tasmania Stage Race: 👉 .au

Only a smidge over 2 weeks until RACE 1 of the 2026 Trail Running series in BLACKWOOD! Time to start the mental rehearsal, beginning with the LONG COURSE flyover (stay tuned for the Medium and Short courses too). If you’re more of a reader, here’s a description: LONG COURSE: BLACKWOOD Length: 22km. Elevation gain: 570m ascent Water Pts: 6.5km and 14.5km pts Starting at the recreation reserve, runners commence uphill on a 4WD track and around the edge of the Garden of St Erth native garden. From there there’s plenty of beautiful, flowing running on flat terrain beside the Lerderderg River and aqueduct trails. Things get serious again at the 7.5km pt as long course runners commence a solid climb, before a fast steep descend back to the aquaduct. Long sections of single track with a few smaller undulations bring runners back to the Recreation Reserve for the Finish. DETAILS AND ENTRIES: 👉 link in bio #trailrunningseries

If you're considering Gravel Muster or coming to Run Larapinta, there's a flight sale to Alice as we speak. LINK IN BIO >

Margaret River Ultra 78km - 1st Female, 8th overall (8:13) This race was always going to be a challenge for this mountain goat with a super runnable fast start followed by a back half full of soft sand running.  I had studied the previous times and set myself a goal of 7:45-8 hours. Unfortunately I came down with a cold overnight Wednesday so things did not look promising. I did my best to rest and get some sleep, however I had to travel to Perth on Thursday and drive down to Margaret River on Friday so that was easier said than done.  Despite being sick I was always going to start and hopefully finish as this was my final race for the @rapidascent triple crown.  Thankfully I felt a bit better by Friday evening and I was able to start at a good pace Saturday morning. Albeit powered by snot rockets 😪😂 Sorry everyone around me! I was holding my goal splits for the first 30km, feeling good and sitting in second place. However, once we hit the sand my pace really blew out and I fell right off my goal timings. The silver lining was that the leading lady also appeared to be slowing in the sand and I was able to catch her and move into 1st place at the 46km aid station.  Thereafter it was pretty much a sandy sufferfest of looking over my shoulder while pushing hard to maintain the narrow lead. Huge congrats to Kara for such a strong run in what I believe was her trail ultra debut 👏 Thanks so much to @nattygow who gave me a lift to the start line and also crewed me throughout the race. She definitely saved me the 78 seconds I won by. MVP for sure 🙏 I highly recommend this event as the scenery was stunning and the organisation and atmosphere were top tier. Just make sure you get very familiar with soft sand running ;) Congratulations to all who ran and special shoutout to @benleeson21 for his blinding fast CR! 🔥 @lasportivaaustralia @bogongequipment @suuntoaustralia @tailwindnutritionau #trailrunning #margaretriverultra #beachrunning #ultrarunning #margaretriver

ETHAN STIRRAT 🤯 2nd in 80km, 4th in 42km and NEW Grand Slam record by over 2 hours… And he’s doing it all for charity! Mate, leave some success for the rest of us 😂 In all seriousness, the back-to-back runs Ethan Stirrat delivered at Margaret River Ultra was the arguably the most impressive performance of the entire weekend – maybe the event’s history! (And that’s saying something considering @benleeson21 destroyed the 80km record by ~20 minutes; The @oggingsquad girls obliterated the relay record; and the the winner of the 42km, @lisamannix , is the mother to 4 young kids!) Ethan didn’t just run 122km of soft sand and tough terrain (80km Sat and 42km Sun)... He did it at elite paces that put him the pointy end of BOTH events (against top athletes who had trained, tapered and fuelled for only ONE 🤯) It’s not surprising he took out the Grand Slam (the name we give for the double-header) record by 2 hours and 16 minutes!! Ethan is doing all this to raise awareness for his charity, @hurttohelp_ , which provides crucial financial aid to individuals and families affected by medical issues, accidents, natural disasters, domestic violence, and other crises. Did we mention Ethan is a doctor too.... We give up 😂 #margaretriverultra

Not just any ultra… @howardparkwines is a fittingly stunning finishing venue for the mind-meltingly beautiful (and leg-meltingly challenging) course at Margs. Take us back! #margaretriverultra

Winners are grinners 🤩 Margaret River Ultra 2026 #margaretriverultra

Ultra Trail Margaret River 2026 was a blast! Thanks for the amazing organisation! 🙏💪

Margaret River Ultra 26

The camera man has to move quick when records are SMASHED like this one was. Huge congratulations to @benleeson21 - top runner, top human. FULL RESULTS IN BIO: #margaretriverultra