Extreme runners flock to outback Australia for West Macs monster trail running festival

Nineteen ultra-marathon runners have gathered in the red centre for the annual West Macs monster trail running festival.

Transcript

00:00 A moment of calm.

00:04 Competitors taking a deep breath before tackling one of Australia's roughest and toughest

00:09 trail runs.

00:15 This is the Sonder Monster, the longest event in this weekend's Westmax Monster Trail

00:20 Running Festival in Central Australia.

00:23 I like how hard it is, I like to suffer, I like to push myself to the limit to see if

00:28 it's going to break me.

00:29 It's 231km of treacherous track.

00:33 Competitors climbing the steep slopes of Mount Sonder, before weaving their way back through

00:38 the West Macdonald Ranges, passing iconic sights and beautiful vistas, before returning

00:44 to Alice Springs.

00:45 It's just epic, it's just absolutely the most beautiful, rugged terrain.

00:49 People normally take two weeks to walk the world famous Larapinta Trail.

00:53 These runners will be gunning to complete it in just two days.

00:57 And they'll be chasing the record set last year by local runner and event organiser Simon

01:02 Duke.

01:03 A blistering 39 hours, 56 minutes and 26 seconds.

01:09 Pushing their bodies and minds to the limit.

01:12 Maybe lay down on the dirt a couple of times if I start to fade off a bit.

01:17 At times to the point of hallucination.

01:19 I start to see buildings that aren't there, I start to see people that aren't there.

01:23 Everyone I speak to just has horror stories, so I kind of just stopped asking.

01:29 This isn't the only race taking place this weekend.

01:32 Hundreds more will hit the trails for the 5, 25, 65 and 128km events.

01:40 It's something that now the whole town is getting around and also that Australia nationally

01:45 in terms of trail running knows about.

01:47 The ultimate challenge in a landscape like no other.

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