THE STORY

The Deep Creek Backyard Ultra didn’t begin with a map, or a loop, or even a plan.

For years, the Elephant Trail Race had carved its story into the slopes of Mount Cairncross — a story of grit, community, and the kind of wild beauty that stays with you long after the race is done. Every July, runners arrived from across Australia to test themselves on its brutal climbs and sweeping ridgelines. And every year, as the event grew, so did our love for this forest.

Cairncross State Forest became more than a venue. It became home. We learned its moods — the way the morning light filters through the canopy, the way the air cools as you drop into the creek lines, the way the mountain seems to breathe with you when you’re deep into a long run. We learned its dangers too, and its gifts. Over eight years of shaping and reshaping the Elephant Trail Race course, we discovered hidden pockets of trail, forgotten fire roads, and quiet singletrack, that only reveal themselves when you spend enough time listening to the land.

And that’s where the idea for the Deep Creek Backyard Ultra was born.
- Not from ambition.
- Not from expansion.
- But from love — a love for this place, and a desire to share more of it.

We wanted to create something different. Something intimate. Something that would  let runners experience the forest not in one long push, but in a rhythm — hour after hour, loop after loop, watching the landscape change with the light, the weather, and their own state of mind. The Backyard Ultra format was the perfect canvas: simple, pure, and deeply human.

So, we went exploring.

We walked old logging trails swallowed by ferns. We followed creek beds that whispered their way through the undergrowth. We traced the edges that wrapped around the Elephant Trail Race hub like an embrace. Piece by piece, we stitched together a loop that felt honest — runnable,
beautiful, challenging, and true to the spirit of Cairncross.

The first version wasn’t perfect. Neither was the second. But that’s the magic of a course born from passion: it evolves.

Just as the Elephant Trail Race has changed over the years — removing unsafe sections, adding technical singletrack, refining distances, and always striving to improve the runner experience — the Deep Creek loop has been shaped by every test run, every training day, every conversation
with runners who know what it means to go deep.

- We softened the harshest climbs.
- We opened the flow in the middle kilometres.
- We stabilised creek crossings and refined the technical sections, so they challenge without punishing.
- We made sure the loop could be run in the heat of the day, the cold of the night, and the foggy stillness of dawn.
- What emerged is a course that feels alive.

A loop that welcomes you in the first hour, tests you in the tenth, and reveals its true character somewhere around the twentieth. A loop that rewards patience, resilience, and heart. A loop that carries the DNA of the Elephant Trail Race — its toughness, its beauty, its soul — but tells its
own story.

Deep Creek Backyard Ultra is more than a new event.

- It is a continuation of a legacy.
- A tribute to a forest that has given us so much.
- A chance for runners to experience Cairncross State Forest in a way that is raw, personal, and
unforgettable.

And just like the Elephant Trail Race, it will continue to grow. Continue to evolve. Continue to honour the land and the people who run upon it. Because this place deserves nothing less.