Majors Creek Recreation Reserve
Up the Escarpment
Race Directors: Cecily Reid, Kaz Gill, Matt Rodier
Course Setters: Kelvin Meng, Chloe Woodburn, Ryan Stocks
Organising Committee: 2025 Committee
This year’s Endpoint would have been a familiar site for IB Veterans, also serving as the Endpoint for the 2006 and 2012 editions of the race. In a reversal of the 2022 race, a total of 332 runners across 85 teams were dropped at various points near the coast, and had to run inland towards Majors Creek, with many teams opting to take the infamous Corn Trail as their ascent of choice.
In perhaps a complete upset of the regular IB order, Griffin Hall came out on top this year for the first time! A total of 77 teams finished the race, more than the total number of teams in any previous Inward Bound.
You can relive all of the action on Inward Bound Live, with pre-race coverage on IB-TV! The course maps can be downloaded here. GPX tracks can be downloaded here.
Division 1 – Barkshed Road
Barking up the Wrong Tree?
Division 1 were back to being dropped in the daytime this year, with a 7pm drop giving them just enough time to scout in daylight before the darkness set in.
All teams correctly opted to head west from dropsite, but immediately Wright Division 1 split off from the rest of the group, heading south to be the only team heading via Nelligen. Everything other team opted to cross the Clyde at Shallow Crossing, with Ursula 1 heading south immediately to cross Kings Highway at Highway Crossing 3 and the other teams taking the westernmost crossing.
By midnight Griffin 1 had a sizable lead over the second team, B&G 1, who in turn were significantly ahead of the rest of the main pack. However, after arriving at the Bottom of Corn Trail checkpoint at 3:30am, only half an hour behind Griffin, B&G made a costly mistake, missing the turnoff onto the trail and spending almost 2 hours offside. They would return to the checkpoint and begin their ascent only a few minutes ahead of the pack of Johns, Wamburun, Unilodge and Fenner 1. Meanwhile Bruce 1 had opted to avoid the Corn Trail and committed to heading to the southern reaches of the map, ending up behind Wright 1 on that path.
Griffin 1 stormed ahead to be the first team at Endpoint, arriving at 9:14am. While close at times, B&G would maintain their lead over the rest of the pack to arrive in second over 3.5 hours later, and Lodge managed to hold out in front of Johns to take out 3rd.
Division 2 – Backhouses Road
With your back to the coast…
Like Division 1, Division 2 was also dropped north of Kings Highway, just west of Shallow Crossing. Unlike Division 1, Division 2 was dropped at 8pm, after sunset, leading to more confusion at drop site with teams heading both north and south out of drop (and both Bruce and Fenner 2 doubling back to the drop site a couple hours in).
Those heading south may have been lucky enough to encounter a Division 1 team well on their way (and with soggy feet) near the Shallow Crossing ford. Teams split between all three reasonable highway crossings, with a couple of southbound teams almost missing a turnoff towards Highway Crossing 3 (and B&G 2 getting excruciatingly close to the exclusion zone just outside Nelligen).
Division 2 also featured some Div X teams, and while all teams apart from Wright 2 decided to take the Corn Trail, the Div X team ‘INWARD BOETS’ made the enterprising and successful decision to bush bash from Misty Mountain Road to the Corn Trail. Unfortunately, this would still place them in the middle of a pack of Div 2 teams halfway up their Corn Trail ascent, but it was nonetheless exciting to watch. Ursula 2 shared the fate of B&G 1 in missing the Corn Trail turnoff, losing 3 hours (and likely being the reason they ultimately DNF’d).
While Div X team ‘Old Fenner’ and Griffin 2 were the first to emerge from the Corn Trail and kept that lead through to the end of the race, Wright 2 made good time through the Gollaribee Firetrail checkpoint and rejoined the other teams for the Endpoint approach in second place. A late surge from Burgmann 2 would see them ultimately arrive in second place, but Wright 2 would hold off Johns 2 by 11 minutes to arrive in third.
Division 3 – Mines Road
A Surprise Visit
Division 3 must have been surprised when, just 40 minutes after their 9pm drop, Griffin 1 breezed past heading west, and then backtracked through their drop to leave through the south. A huge mass of teams soon left drop hot on Griffin 1’s heels, with only Yukeembruk 3 striking their own path on the western route (and ultimately arriving at Highway Crossing 1 just behind Yukeembruk 3 and ahead of the rest of the remaining Division 3 teams.
Unfortunately, despite their early lead, Yukeembruk 3 would be yet another Corn Trail overshooting victim, wasting 2 hours travelling down No Name Mountain Rd, and placing them squarely in the middle of the pack of Division 3 teams heading up the trail. Like Bruce 1, B&G also headed towards the south part of the course, whether intentionally or by accident. By dawn, Fenner 3 would be in the lead cresting the Corn Trail, followed by Bruce 3 and Griffin 3. These positions would remain until the endpoint of the race, with Burgmann a close 4th just 12 minutes behind Griffin.
Division 4 – Maulbrooks Rd
Chaos on the Slopes of Wandera Mountain
With arguably the trickest dropsite to pick, Division 4’s 11pm drop would see teams heading north, south, east and west from a surprisingly difficult to identify intersection on the eastern slopes of Wandera Mountain. While the course setters hoped for a split between north and south route choices out of the dropsite, the only teams heading that direction appeared to be lost, with Johns, Bruce, Ursula and Burgmann 4 all heading into a loop of roads northwest of dropsite with no exit. Meanwhile, Wright 4 started by beelining it east from dropsite down a road on a broad spur.
Come 1am and four out of the five teams had resolved their position, returning to dropsite and heading out again: Burgmann and Ursula 4 to the north, and Johns and Wright 4 (as well as the other division 4 teams) to the south. The only exception was Bruce 4, who would commit to their path and make a slow but eventually successful bush bash up to Heffernas Road. Unfortunately, the time spent on this bush bash would ultimate prove too much, leading to an eventual DNF.
Apart from Ursula 4, who chose to take the Corn Trail, all remaining teams chose various paths converging on the Gollaribee Firetrail, with Griffin and B&G 4 in a tight footrace closely followed by Wamburun 4. However, B&G 4 would get the better of Griffin on the technical Shoebridge Track, gaining almost an hour over perhaps an 8km walking track. Meanwhile, Wamburun 4 would cede a large portion of their lead by visiting the checkpoint at the top of the fire trail, ending up in the middle of the pack descending Shoebridge Track.
Ultimately, apart from Johns 4 who headed north out of Gollaribee Firetrail, all teams chose the lower route via the Shoebridge Track and Araluen with a steep climb in the last kilometres before endpoint up Majors Creek Mountain Road. Nonetheless, B&G would storm into first place, followed shortly behind by Griffin and Fenner, and Yukeembruk 6 minutes behind in fourth.
Division 5 – Bolaro Mountain Road
Running from Runnyford
Division 5 – an expanded division, with a healthy number of additional Div X teams – were dropped just a kilometre down the road from the Division 6 dropsite in 2022, in possibly a familiar sight to the IB-obsessed who navigated this road on Google Street View. All teams initially headed west (the correct direction) from drop, apart from Yukeembruk 5 who took a 2 hour misadventure down the Gully Road loop.
The first real split would happen just over the Buckenbowra river, with most teams heading south to the Gollaribee Firetrail but one Div X team (SexyDivXy) heading north towards the Corn Trail. There would not be much further divergence until much later, with Ursula 5 at the front of the Gollaribee pack taking the lesser-trod Shoebridge Track alternative while Griffin, Unilodge and the Div X team ‘Trail Boys’ close behind heading north to the checkpoint.
Ursula’s decision would ultimately be rewarded, with their 10 minutes lead at the Shoebridge Track holding (and in fact doubling) over the remainder of the endpoint approach; they would go on to win the division by 23 minutes, followed by UniLodge and Bruce. Ursula 5 also won the Doherty-Banks Navigation Award for their efforts.
Division 6 – Misty Mountain Road
A Corn Trail Race
The final Div X division saw 16 different teams dropped at a sharp bend in the road on the side of Misty Mountain. All teams would soon correctly head south from drop towards the Bottom of Corn Trail checkpoint, with most teams arriving in a tight pack around 4am, two hours after being dropped.
The Corn Trail entrance would here claim its final victims, with Div X team ‘Peter 23’ and B&G 6 both seemingly missing the turnoff (along with possibly a few more Div X teams who headed south with B&G 3). Notably, while Peter 23 would simply head back the way they came on No Name Mountain Road, B&G 6 would take a wilder route up a hill parallel to the Corn Trail, before miraculously rejoining the Corn Trail behind the rest of the Division 6 but amidst a bunch of Division 1, 2 and 3 teams. Unfortunately, their amazing recovery would go in vain as they would later cross the river too early and end up climbing the eastern slopes of the trail in the opposite direction of INWARD BOETS, ending up with a DNF on Misty Mountain Road just a couple of kilometres northwest of drop point.
Returning to the Corn Trail race, Burgmann 6 would summit the trail first at around 8am, followed closely by Ursula 6, the Div X team ‘XXXX’, Bruce 6, Wright 6 and Yukeembruk 6. Ultimately, Burgmann’s 10 minute lead coming out of the Corn Trail would be enough for them to stave off the rest of the competition, with Bruce and Ursula 6 arriving second and third in that order 32 and 39 minutes behind respectively.
Division 7 – Monga Mountain Road
One Map or Two?
Dropped on a bend in the road at the top of the escarpment just a couple of kilometres from Kings Highway, Division 7 runners who picked drop might have felt there was little navigational choice: simply head south of Monga to avoid an inconvenient exclusion zone obstructing the direct path to endpoint, and then run down a long and direct endpoint approach. However, the course setters hid a secret second option over the boundary between the Course South and Course North maps, head along back roads parallel to Kings Highway through Northangera, then rejoin the other route to the south in Reidsdale, avoiding all of the elevation of the first route.
However, in practice only a couple of teams (Unilodge and Yukeembruk 7) committed to the northern option, with Ursula and Burgmann reaching the merge point of the two routes ahead of Unilodge, who arrived at the junction roughly at the same time as Wamburun 7. Ursula and Burgmann would be first and second into endpoint. The competition for third would be more fierce; while Wamburun 7 would pull ahead of Unilodge along the main stretch into Endpoint, Unilodge, Johns and Wright would be hot on their tails. Unfortunately, both Unilodge and Wamburun would go somewhat astray in the trickier and less distinct track, allowing Wright 7 to seize the day and pip Johns 7 (and the recovered Wamburun 7) to the post by just 5 minutes.
Results
The results of the 2025 edition of Inward Bound were as follows:
* Penalty applied by Race Referees
This led to a grand points total for each college as follows:
A special congratulations to the Doherty-Banks Navigation Award Winners, Ursula Division 5; the Bill Packard Memorial Trophy Winners, Griffin Hall Division 1; and the Overall Winners, Griffin Hall!