More than 200 runners navigate 100km Canberra bush race blindfolded
Over 200 ANU students ran a 42 to 100-kilometre race through the bush, blindfolded and dropped at mystery locations.
Inward Bound happened yesterday: a unique endurance race dating back to 1962 at Australian National University in Canberra. More than 200 runners were blindfolded, led onto blacked-out buses, and driven to secret drop sites.
The runners were unblinded, given maps and a destination, then told to navigate and run there. The fastest teams faced 42 kilometres.
Others ran about 100 kilometres, arriving after almost 20 hours on foot. Teams of four are often first-year students who took up running just this year.
Exhaustion and sleep deprivation cause hallucinations. Some teams hit unbashable bush or unnavigable cliffs and must be pulled out.
The race is run by volunteer directors who balance the runners' drive against ANU's safety requirements.
- More than 200
- Runners
- About 100 kilometres
- Longest distance
- Four runners
- Team size
- 1962
- Tradition began
Why it mattersIt reveals an extreme sport almost no one outside Canberra knows about, built on a tradition of endurance and navigation that started in 1962.
AustraliaOnly possible in Canberra because of its proximity to vast bushland; runners describe it as the hardest thing they may ever do.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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