Cairns Port Douglas Trail Ultra Race Directors Report
Wow 🤩 What an event! The feedback has been fantastic, we can’t thank you enough for your supporting the inaugural Cairns Port Douglas Trail Ultra 2022.
The rain stopped just in time for the race to begin and event the sun managed to show its face by the time we reached the finish line in Port Douglas. The race was filled with everything from smiles to tears and loads of fun. Running an event for the first time in Tropical North Queensland required permission from three councils, Queensland National Parks Wildlife Services (QNPWS), State Forests, Department of Transport and Main Roads, and Special Event Police with a Traffic Management Plan. We arranged 150+ transfers for Entrants plus one Uber for Finishers Bags for our entrants, utilising four different transport companies to provide the service for our entrants. It was a logistical challenge that required us to bring in a team from Brisbane Trail Ultra, TRAQ Trail Runners Association Queensland, Australian Expatriate Finance and THE EXPATRIATE, supported by Hammer Nutrition Australia and Suunto ANZ to work with local business Adventure Equipment Australia, Josh and Salome Smurf and Smurfette, Om and Brent from Red Earth Runners plus the amazing local volunteers who helped out on the day.
Trail running is all about getting out into the wilderness and away from civilisation. The most beautiful places, quite often are the most difficult to access, we ran an event with the highest level of safely with Track Me Live GPS Trackers meant that we had eyes on the ground with an SOS button ready to go if you were in trouble. We also had AUS-TEK boosters on some of the cars to improve the GPS Trackers and Mobile Coverage in the areas. Our risk assessments of the course with Queensland Ambulance Services and the inaccessibility of the Stoney Creek Area, meant that they made an early decision to call for a helicopter if anyone was seriously injured at the bottom of the gorge. It was decided that it would be too dangerous for the QAS Crew to walk in and rescue you as the closest access by 4WD was over 5km away (4WD Track Douglas Track was owned by Ergon Energy) and Surprise Creek Bridge was not rated for heavy vehicles. With the aid of GPS trackers, we could safely tick off each runner in the CPTU120, CPTU80, and CPTU40 who came through and offered the use of the leftover Did Not Start - GPS Trackers to the CPTU20 to increase the level of safety for these runners at no extra cost. The trackers warned us if a runner had not moved for period of time, and we could also see when they were lost. This combined with 16 Onetime Timing Mats, meant that in the event of an Emergency we knew exactly the location for our emergency response team. We also had a team from First Aid Academy at the checkpoints and Finish Line and out on the course at Clohesy Fig Tree. On top of this, we also had Satellite Phones and VHF Radios to use when the 3G/4G network Failed.
On the course, we had a few issues to attend to. Water Levels had risen for access to WS1 Clohesy Fig Tree 15.7km; the water vehicle could only just make it through the creeks that had risen 6 inches overnight. This area had no comms, and we were told that if the vehicle hadn’t returned in 90 minutes, then to send a search party to find it. A rope was added to the entrance of Stoney Creek Tunnel to access CP2 Kamerunga and the Finish Line for the CPTU40. We were pleased to see that by the time runners were coming through; the water level had dropped. Red Bull Party Vehicle bought the WINGS, ENERGY and the good vibes to the start of the CPTU80, and CPTU20, and we were able to send off runners in twos, 30 seconds apart up the gruelling Smiths Track. This was especially fun as we had a chance to greet all the runners who’d signed up, from locals to runners who’d flown in from across the globe or Australia.
We know that water was taken from our WS3 Flaggy Creek, in a comms dead zone; we had reports from runners that water was low and virtually had run out, but we managed to restock it after we had reports that the water was running low.
A Cassowary chased our lead CPTU120 Male runner Brett Goldfinch from SA along Black Mountain Rd; Brett managed to outrun the giant bird and lived to tell the tale, photographed above, giving a thumbs up! He was also chased by male runners Aaron Smith 16:29:01 and Joe Buck 17:33:29. He backed up the next day for the Ultimate Back Up and won the Male CPTU Concrete Boot. Other nutters who joined Brett the next day were Kevin Durose and Luke Raffles, and Sadly no females came back from the CPTU120 to back up the following day to race for the Concrete Shoe that was made by myself, Adam from Australian Expatriate Finance and Reef Print
The Queen of the event was local Cairns Runner Akane Goode with a time of
18:45:26, followed by Kelly Gabriel who made it under the 24 Hour cut-off for the silver buckle 23:33:35 and in 3rd place was Jaclyn Leak 26:58:52. The course and the humid conditions took the runners by surprise across all of the events.
CPTU80 winner George Murray from, a Kiwi living in Mackay had a stellar performance on the course plus he also won the award for the biggest vomit for the weekend. He hurled a Megatron spew when coming into CP5 Red Earth Runners checkpoint and completed the CPTU80m is an impressive time of 8:26:19, with Evan Kelly 9:33:25. The Females then came in with Tasmanian Runner Jesse Whittle with a time of 10:08:14 she placed 3rd overall followed by Cairns Runner Rowan Wilson 11:12:49 and 11:21:46 Gordonvale, Cairns Regional Runner Gwen Hobbs-Williams.
For the CPTU40 1st Place male was 4:46:17 Leigh Chapman (NSW) followed by 4:54:38 Ross Michell (NSW) and the third place on the podium with 5:02:48 was local Cairns Runner Bryan O’Mahony . The winner of the CPTU-Red Bull Climb Male was Adam Fox, who was entered in the CPTU120 with a time of 37:11.
Montana McAvoy was 4th place overall in both the CPTU40 and CPTU-Red Bull Climb and 1st Female in the CPTU40 and CPTU-Red Bull Climb. The SUPERSTAR LOCAL Female Runner Montana put together a stellar performance, beating quality Athletes 5:41:37 Jessica Schluter Brisbane, 5:45:04 Maddy Brown Townsville and 4th place 5:52:48 Brazilian National Tatiana Marinho who lives on the Gold Coast. Montana returned the next day to “Back Up” at Port Douglas. It is so good to see some amazing local talent.
The CPTU20 was won in an impressive time of 02:03:16 by Thor Andersen. The Danish runner also smashed out the CPTU- Sunnto Climb with a time of
22:08. NSW Runner Daniel Boulton came in next with a time of 2:11:29; Daniel also backed up the following day and took out the CPTU10. A side story to this, race director Shona had to send his bag back to Cairns in an Uber from Port Douglas as it ended up in the wrong Finishers Pile. Third place was 2:25:34 Christopher Hildrew from Bendigo in Victoria.
The CPTU20 female event was won by Susie Jones from
Bamaga in Cape York , storming the field above, she also took out the CPTU-Suunto Climb 30:42. Susies CPTU20 time was 2:45:08 she was chased by local runner Angela Armstrong 2:56:23 and Gold Coast Runner Peta McLauchlan 3:03:47.
We made it through the night, doing our best with the comms and cassowary chasing. 1am our Cairns Port Douglas Trail Ultra Arch was taken down in the gale-forced winds. We were told by our finishers that our finish line in the night looked like a resort as it looked so beautiful on the beach. The locals also loved the solar fairy lights, so much so that they disappeared in the night when our backs were turned! We reverted to a generator when the lights faded or disappeared. At 2 am, the high tide was checked. Race Director Shona decided the high tide route wasn’t required, ample beach was still available for the runners along the beach. The risk of a Crocodile attack was low, even though a few runners played tricks on Shona and told her they spotted a Croc on the beach earlier in the night, giving her a heart attack but later told her they were joking. We managed to kick on into the next day for the CPTU10, where there were a few stiff and heavy legs returning for the CPTU-Back Up Events.
The feedback has been fantastic 🤩 the course was the standout for everyone. The Wet Tropics World Heritage List Area around Kuranda is worth the pain of the climb up Smiths Track. Cairns Port Douglas Trail Ultra it was a return to the grassroots trail running, pure single-track heaven around the Dinden and Barron Gorge National Park. The technicality of the trails tested the runners' skills and proved to be a challenge, and the fast course along Black Mountain Rd and the 4 Mile Beach was a welcomed respite for the 120km and 80km runners. The humid condition was always going to be a massive factor when racing in Tropical North Queensland; we were happy that the high winds kept the temperature down and helped with airflow along the course, and aided with a tailwind for the final 3km to the finish line on the Iconic 4 Mile Beach in Port Douglas. Like any inaugural event and we hope that in 2023 we will have more volunteers to help make the event an even better experience for our entrants. We now have the event data, first-hand knowledge, and on-course experience to aid our planning for 2023. We’ve discovered some exceptional talent, and we are driven to continue to improve year after year. Bring on 2023 and beyond! YUP, in the spirit of ultra trail running, it takes a nut to put on an event of this scale, just like those who race ultras. Geoff Russell from TRAQ awarded Race Director Shona Stephenson the CPTU-Coconut Award.
