Seemingly endless sandy dunes and sprawling rocky gibber plains are one of the last places you’d want to be caught with nothing but your own two feet to get you out.
From vehicle breakdowns to dehydration, far too many have fallen victim to the harsh terrain of the Munga-Thirri Simpson Desert over the years.
But across two days in June each year, the breathtaking but inhospitable landscape 20 kilometres from Birdsville is crawling with more than 100 people keen to test their limits in one of Australia’s most remote running events.
The Simpson Desert Ultra (SDU) is a trail-running event unlike any other, where runners tackle distances from 25km to 100km across a diverse and often difficult range of Wangkangurru Yarluyandi country.
All in a day’s work
The 100km event can take 24 hours to complete, with some runners choosing to start their journey on Saturday afternoon and traverse the desert beneath a full moon overnight.
French runner Akim Boughriet had to think about why he travelled more than 2,000km from Tasmania to tackle the 100km challenge.
“That’s a good question. I’m probably a bit crazy,” Mr Boughriet said.
“I’ve always wanted to run in an ultra, and I was surprised that there is no other event like it in Australia, especially in a non-competitive way.
“That’s exactly what I was looking for, and everyone is great here, all the participants, the crew, and the scenery is beautiful.”
New Zealander Libby Bell, who works as a podiatrist in Longreach, finished SDU’s “dawn and dusk” event, where participants run 25km on Saturday night and 25km on Sunday morning.
“The hardest part was waking up and knowing I had to do it all over again,” Ms Bell said.
“I don’t think many people can say they’ve been out to the Simpson Desert and trekked 50km through it.
“I just think it’s so unique, and I’m grateful that I can.”
A full moon, and a hot day
The starting times for the Simpson Desert Ultra are self-seeded, with 100km runners able to start any time from Saturday afternoon, and 25km runners starting from dawn the next day.
This means there is a chance that all finishers will cross the line around the same time on Sunday afternoon.
Thirteen-year-old Clay Bertram from Port Lincoln in South Australia took advantage of the staggered start times and set off on his 25km event alongside his dad, Michael, who had also run 25km the night before.
“I was going good at the start, second to last dune the heat got me a little bit so I slowed down and tipped a lot of water over my head and got through to the end,” Clay said.
“Dad’s done it the last three years, and this year he did the dusk and dawn so I thought I’ll do the dawn with him as a bit of fun.
Temperatures reached more than 30 degrees Celsius in the desert, as participants ran, skipped, danced, and stumbled over the finish line, their heavy breathing drowned out by the sounds of cheering and the ringing of a cowbell.
It was music to race director Jenna Brook’s ears, who said it had been a great weekend.
“We’ve had hot weather, but no rain, no floods, no pandemic,” the Birdsville local said.
Ms Brook and her team of dedicated volunteers are in their third year of holding the remote desert event, and the reason why is close to her heart.
“It basically stems from my desire to provide a platform for people to experience this place on foot,” Ms Brook said.
“It’s very rare that people get to do that out here, and I know that being out under the big wide outback skies and challenging yourself in this type of terrain is so unique.
“I think it just allows for a lot of reflection and the ability to go places people didn’t think they could go, so that for me is a big driving factor in it.”
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