The Great Volcanic Mountain Challenge and Family Trail Run will be held on Sunday 29 March, 2020.

The annual Great Volcanic Mountain Challenge (GVMC) is a trail run of 11 km with a climb of 520 m. The start is at the Pinnacle Reserve, which is about 12 km from the Visitor Information Centre in Orange. The GVMC route is well marked and follows forest trails initially to the summit of Mount Towac and then on to Young Man Canobolas before finishing on the summit of Mount Canobolas. Participants are rewarded with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, particularly from the summit of Mount Towac. After the run buses take competitors back to the Pinnacle Reserve.

There is also a shorter, 5 km, Family Trail Run. This is designed for families and less able runners. It covers the first 2 km of the of the Great Volcanic run, then branches off to a minor peak before returning to the Pinnacle Reserve. The climb is about 120 m.

The main parking area for these events is at or near the Pinnacle Reserve.

NSW Mountain Running Championships

Athletics NSW has again selected Orange for the NSW Mountain Running Championships for the next 3 years. This will be the 11^th year that Orange has conducted the championships with the exception of 2018 when bush fires closed to course.

The course is challenging and most importantly, it is located in the western Region of NSW which encourage the coastal athletes to travel out and provides a local venue for all the distance runners.

We have seen over the years many Olympic & Commonwealth Games representative athletes come and challenge themselves to the high altitude and tougher uphill course in Orange as part of their endurance training.

As mountain running and trail running have limited venues this has been a long established well conducted event thanks to the Orange Rotary Club and Goldseekers Orienteering Clubs.

The championships act as guide for registered athletes with Athletics NSW to be selected as a member of the NSW Team to compete at the National Mountain Running Championships. There have been many runners competing in the Great Volcanic Challenge just for enjoyment who have been very successful fun runners only to be encourage to register with Athletics NSW to be selected to go and compete overseas in the Australian Mountain Running team.

Many thanks again to the Rotary Club of Orange and the Goldseekers Orienteering club for conducting a very well organised and challenging event.