By Callum Ludwig
Growing up in Seville, the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail has been a great asset for marathon runner Erchana Murray-Bartlett.
It came in handy for exactly 150 days of marathons in her incredible Tip to Toe campaign, running a marathon every day from Cape York until she reached Port Melbourne.
On Saturday 14 January, she completed Day 148 running from Warburton to Lilydale before completing the amazing feat on Monday 16 January.
Ms Murray-Bartlett said the whole experience has been life-changing.
“I’ve had such an incredible time, it definitely hasn’t been without its lows, when you’re running a marathon every single day there’s a component of it that hurts a lot but it’s funny that my body has adapted at a distance but I think I’m running on fumes now,” she said.
The entire effort is a journey of 6200 kilometres, with Ms Murray-Bartlett taking on a variety of stunning terrain from mountains and valleys to forests and trails to townships that join in to support her along the way.
Ms Murray-Bartlett started her local leg of the journey on Saturday from the COG Bike Cafe at 42 Station Road, Warburton, setting off at 7am to avoid the scorching heat. With stops and taking it slowly factored in, she arrived at her finish near the Lilydale train station at about 11.30am, with a number of locals joining in on foot or on bikes.
Ms Murray-Bartlett said this was the run she’d been most looking forward to.
“I grew up in Seville, went to Seville Primary School and Lilydale High School, it’s my home. I ran on that trail all of my life and even leading up to this to train, it’s gonna feel almost like a finish line of its own because it is just going to be running past my childhood homes and friends houses,” she said.
“I think I’ll have a good crowd of people around me as well, and these are the people I ran with all my life or I competed against growing up. It’s a different feeling when it’s your own hometown, it just hits home differently.”
As part of her superhuman effort, Ms Murray-Bartlett is now officially a Guinness World Record Holder, now holding the record for the most consecutive marathons run by a woman, which she managed on Saturday 3 December 2022, reaching 107, this has of course now extended.
Ms Murray-Bartlett said it was a good feeling hitting the record and is unsure of if there are any records she would like to pursue next.
“I had that number in my head since the start and thought that if I could hit it, I’d be stoked. Since I did, it has actually been quite difficult to get myself up again to keep going, I’ve had to really rely on the cause and the fundraiser to really get through the last 40,” she said.
“There’s a small part of me that thought I would finish this off with the world record for most consecutive ultras, [ultra marathons: any marathon beyond 42.2km]. I was at about 26 when I started this but there is an American lady who has done about 70 so I am stoked I didn’t try and do that!”
The whole trip aimed to raise funds for the Wilderness Society, with a focus on helping save the over 500 Australian animals on the endangered list.
The initial goal of $10 for every kilometre ran, for a total of $62,000, has already been smashed out of the park, currently at over $101,000.
On Friday 13 January, she even received an Honorary Life Membership from the Wilderness Society for her efforts.
Ms Murray-Bartlett said now that she has hit the fundraising target, she no longer has a new goal for money raised.
“If you hit your target, I believe your next goals should always be to aim as high as you can. I don’t have a numbers goal now, but I do hope it will go a lot higher, and I’ve got some high hopes it will,” she said.
The money raised will go towards the Wilderness Society’s efforts in educating communities on acting on the extinction, supporting work to see Australia’s nature protected and advocating towards protecting Australia’s natural ecosystems and the wildlife that call them home.
Ms Murray-Bartlett said she has always loved Australian wildlife, particularly growing up in the Yarra Valley surrounded by wilderness, green places and all the animals that live there.
“As I got older and realised Australia was in the midst of an extinction crisis, I thought it would be worthy to counteract a bad world record, which is Australia being a world leader of biodiversity loss with a good world record.”
“Of the places I’ve run so far, Cape York was interesting, so different to what we have in the Yarra Valley. The mountains in the Blue Ranges were incredible, such vast wilderness and I’m always excited to run through there, even the high plains of Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Mt Feathertop were beautiful as well. I really liked the Great Sandy National Park as well, it was an almost infinite forest. I’ve been to some very special places.”
Anyone interested in donating can do so here: www.gofund.me/3e63795b
