The GPT100 medical, first aid and safety support program

Let's be honest: one hundred miles through Gariwerd is not a fun run. Long climbs, rocky ridgelines, cliff edges, nights that bite and days that cook – that’s exactly why you signed up.

Our job is to make sure that when things go sideways at kilometre 112 at 3am, help is close and the people around you know exactly what to do. Here’s what sits behind you.

built to a standard, backed by a plan

GPT100 is a World Trail Majors race and we treat it like one. Our medical and safety program is shaped by the international guidance for remote ultra-endurance events and built around this course. First aid meets Victorian Department of Health requirements at advanced level, and after three years of real presentations, real evacuations and real medical records from the trail, this isn’t a template. It’s a plan that has been to Jimmy Creek at 5am.

A medical team that moves with the race

Our event medical team is with you the whole way: a doctor and critical care nurse backed by nurses, a paramedic and first aid officers. They work from medical bases at Halls Gap, Jimmy Creek and Dunkeld that move with the race, with posts at the aid stations and a mobile field hospital. The doctor is rostered for where the data says the hurt arrives. The medical line is printed on your bib, right next to your race manager's number. Use it.

Safety offers at every aid station and a response unit on the trail

Two qualified safety officers are on shift at every open aid station, with pairs at the hazard points between stations. Each holds remote first aid qualifications or similar and is trail ready. They can get to you, rather than wait for you, and cliff hazard safety marshals stand at the exposed sections. Our mobile extraction team rolls behind the field. These are hardened wilderness operators with a stretcher, response kit, Starlink and satellite communications. And at the very back, the course safety sweepers ensure nobody is left on the trail. Nobody.

we know where you are

Every runner carries a GPS tracker and every aid station has a timing gate pushing live splits, so Event HQ, the medical team and your crew can watch the field move in real time. Every station, road crossing and access point has a ‘what3words’ address and a worked extraction plan, so if something goes wrong we already know which vehicle, which crew and which road.

STAYING IN TOUCH WHERE PHONES can’t

Mobile coverage in the Grampians is patchy, so we bring our own: Starlink at the event village, every aid station and every medical base. A Telstra phone is mandatory gear because Telstra has the best of what little signal exists out there, and pacers are encouraged on the miler because a second set of eyes in the dark is the best safety device ever invented.

planned with people who know this country

None of this is dreamt up in an office. The program is built with the region's emergency management team: Ambulance Victoria, CFA, Victoria Police, VICSES, Parks Victoria, and medical services and local council. Road crossings run under a traffic management plan with accredited traffic controllers backed by course marshals (the best variety of humans).

Daily analysis, daily decisions, daily actions – done by a team

At 10am each day, our team does a deep analysis of all risk variables paying particular attention to weather. We translate this into a daily promise to communicate with all participants at 12 noon. These are insights you can rely on, gleaned by pros using pro tools. We watch for heat, storm and fire conditions the whole way through and the decision to modify, hold or stop a race is never one person's call. It takes a safety quorum of three senior leaders, and the contingency routes are mapped before anyone leaves Mt Zero.

Your part in it

Miler entrants are vetted against qualification criteria before a bib goes anywhere near them. Mandatory gear, including a snake bandage, is checked at registration and again on course. Download the offline map, carry the printed one, wear your tracker and follow the markings. Hurt or in trouble? Stop, stay put and call the medical line on your bib. We will come to you.

Find your epic. We have your back.