By Coco Veldkamp, Charlotte Wilkes and Eden Hynninen
The hill has an elevation gain of 266 metres. Photo: Supplied / Emily Black
The hill has an elevation gain of 266 metres.
- Two men have competed in an ultramarathon for almost 90 hours at Pyalong in central Victoria.
- Piotr Babis won the race after almost 400 kilometres of running.
- Organisers hope the ultramarathon will grow, with 150 people already signed up for next year.
Blaine Bourke began to question what he was doing as darkness fell across the 89th hour of an ultramarathon in central Victoria.
"Towards that last night I started going a little bit loopy," Bourke said.
Blaine Burke says he was becoming delirious while racing due to sleep deprivation. Photo: Supplied / Alex Cleary
"My dad did a checklist, like 'Do you have your tracker, timing chip, do you have your head torch?' and I said, 'Yeah, but what am I doing here?'
"He said, 'You're racing!'"
Bourke said he did not last long after that.
"The biggest thing is the mental confusion of what you have to do," he said.
Contestants complete a 4.2-kilometre circuit up and down a hill every hour until just one runner remains. Photo: Supplied / Emily Black
The event - Harry's King of the Hill, held at Pyalong in central Victoria, is a gruelling endurance test.
Runners complete a 4.2-kilometre circuit with a 266-metre elevation gain every hour, continuing until only one person remains.
Runners who fail to finish a lap within the hour are eliminated.
The race began at 9am on Saturday and ended just after 2am on Wednesday.
About 150 competitors took part, with some lasting hours and others lasting days.
Bourke ran nearly 400 kilometres over 90 hours, finishing second behind this year's winner, Piotr Babis.
Athletes from around Australia took their chances tackling the circuit. Photo: Supplied / Alex Cleary
He said he was proud of his efforts and was happy the event had put ultra running on the map.
"They had amazing coverage and amazing payouts for the winner," he said.
"It's going in a direction that ultramarathon running has never been before."
'A beautiful thing'
One of the event directors, Alex Cleary, said the competition was designed to showcase the mental toughness of its participants.
Piotr Barbis won after competing for 90 hours. Photo: Supplied / Alex Cleary
"It's the most crazy things watching people push themselves to the limit," he said.
"That moment where you go one more [lap], that is the essence of what we are trying to showcase."
"[We see people] wanting to quit, wanting to give up, and it's such a good moment, it's such a beautiful thing.
"We would literally make no money on this every year just so we could give athletes the recognition they deserve, because if you look at Australian ultra, there's no recognisable names, there's no one who's making good money from it, and right here today we got to give some $25,000," he said.
Last year was the first King of the Hill competition. Organisers said the event had already grown significantly.
With 150 athletes already signed up for next year's event, the climb to the top looks set to get even tougher.
Competitors are assigned a rest and refuel station to access between laps of the circuit. Photo: Supplied / Alex Cleary
- ABC
