Olivia Hulbert spends her working days working on Whitehaven’s rehabilitation as an Environmental Advisor and in her spare time runs hundreds of kilometres in the beautiful outback of Gunnedah training for Ultra Trail running events.
Gunnedah is where Olivia fell in love with trail running.
“When I lived in Newcastle after finishing school, I had a kelpie and soon realised walking wasn’t enough exercise for him, so I got back into running.
“I found my love for it again, doing a few half and full marathons.
“I moved to Gunnedah in 2022 and found a good trail running community. I didn’t expect to fall in love with the trails, but I did! The group was training for a 100-kilometre race – the Ultra Trail (UTMB) Kosciusko 2022. So, I thought let’s give it a crack.”
Olivia said she honestly had no idea what she was in for.
“My longest run before it was 30-kilometres, nowhere near adequate training but I got it done. After that I decided to take it a bit more seriously…
“In 2023 I completed some 50 and 100-kilometre races and I was training for my first 100-mile race the Tarawera Ultra-Trail in New Zeeland in February 2024. I finished in the top ten females which I was stoked about!
“Turns out I am like a diesel tractor; I can run really slow for a long period of time!”
With her first 100-mile under her belt, Olivia turned her attention to making it to the ultimate trail run, the UTMB World Series event in France. The race takes runners around Mont-Blanc through Italy, Switzerland and France accumulating up to10,000-metres in elevation.
To automatically qualify, runners must have finished 1st, 2nd, or 3rd or achieved a high enough race score in any of the distances at the 50 UTMB run events around the world throughout the year. But there is another chance, the lottery.
“Runners enter virtual stones into the lottery from previous events. I was lucky enough to get drawn out, so I went to France last year!
“It was the most incredible experience. The scenery was insane, and the vibe of the event is next level. They call it the Super Bowl of trail running,” laughed Olivia.
The UTMB in France was in August and since then Olivia has competed in the UTMB Ultra Trail Kosciusko event for a third time, this time taking on the 100-mile distance and finishing fourth female.
That race was her most challenging so far.
“The weather conditions were relentless. I was summiting Mount Kosciuszko and an electrical storm came over and they ordered everyone off the mountain to go and find shelter. Where on earth do you find that at the top of Australia?
“We were running through a storm for about 13 kilometres with hail. Once the hail stopped it looked like it had snowed there was that much. I was covered in welts, and it was at the point where my phone was calling emergency services in my pocket because of the weather! It was brutal!”
Olivia’s placing at Kosciusko meant she automatically qualified to head to France again in August.
“I am just so excited! Running is my happy place and to do it on the incredible Mont-Blanc track is unreal.”
Olivia has used her running to raise money too, supporting Movember the last two years with Whitehaven.
“My mentality around running is that one day I might not be able to so I want to do as much as I can now. Since I love it so much, I might as well use it as a means to raise money.
“Whitehaven has been great at supporting my passion so it’s nice to be able to return the favour and raise some much-needed funds for our health initiatives.
“My running is normal to me, but most people think it’s crazy so they’re willing to donate against that effort,” laughed Olivia.
