Two Novices. One Ultra Marathon.

We're Rob and Cat, two friends who have never competed in any long-distance or endurance events. Prior to October, the longest run either of us had ever done was 20km. We're both competitive, always up for crazy ideas, and don't like people telling us we can't do something. So, naturally, when Rob said "Hey we should do this Ultra Marathon in 4 months" and a few people said "There's no way you can finish that", we immediately registered ourselves and got to work.

The event we've signed up for is the Hut 2 Hut Oscar's 100 - regarded as potentially the most challenging 100km event in Australia. It involves trekking to 10 peaks in the Victorian Alpine region, covering 5800m of elevation gain in under 24 hours. There are some incredible pictures and more info on the website here: Hut 2 Hut – Hut 2 Hut

On top of getting our bodies ready to run / trek for 24 hours straight, we've had to start from scratch with all the gear we'll need, learning about race day hydration and fuelling, understanding the most efficient way to climb up and down mountains, how to pace ourselves across the event, how to use hiking poles, the difference between toe socks and regular socks, trail runners and road runners, blister care, getting used to downing nothing but energy gels and carbohydrate drinks, etc etc... The more preparation we've done, the more we've realised we have absolutely no idea what we're doing!

Still - we are brimming with excitement for the event, and quite pleasantly unaware / naive to how challenging it will probably be!

Here's where it gets interesting. We want our friends and family to be part of this crazy thing we're doing, and part of our motivation for getting to the finish line. We're using the race as an opportunity to raise money for charity... with a catch!

You can either choose to make a donation betting for us (you think we'll succeed) or betting against us (you don't think we'll make it to the finish line before the 24hr cutoff time).

If you bet for us - thank you for the largely unwarranted show of faith, and thank you for the donation to charity.

If you bet against us - you have a chance to double your impact. If we fail to complete the event, we will personally match every single donation up to a total of $5,000*. However, if we do complete it, you need to double your pledge!

You can choose to donate to any charity you like, or you can donate to the official event charity, Autism Victoria, via our fundraising page. Other great charities are The Hush Foundation (Hush Foundation | Home) and Big Group Hug (Big Group Hug | Children's Charity Melbourne). Once you've made a donation to your chosen charity, log it below so we can keep track of how much we've raised, and how large the bet against us is!

* T&C if for some unforeseen or uncontrollable reason we are not able to start the race or finish it (ie severe weather, cancellation, Rob says if a tree falls on him etc...) we will not double pledges :)