May 2026
I have finished seven 200 milers, the Delirious West 200 miler six time in Western Australia ( https://www.deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) on the Bibbulmun track and the Irrational South in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney once. I’ve never finished outside the top 10 overall in any of the 200 milers I’ve finished with a couple of podiums thrown in good measure, so I know what it takes to be successful at this distance and will try to explain in this post my tips for not just finishing a 200 miler but enjoying it. (Note, I say enjoying it in the broadest sense of the word)
First thing and perhaps the most important is sleep. Sleep is the superpower of endurance runners, those who excel use it to their advantage, those that don’t become what I term ‘zombie runners‘, they move forward but creep (at best) rather than run. I can never understand when runners think it’s better to run long distances without sleeping and wear it like a badge of honour but then end up finishing towards the back of the pack and shuffling in. I’ve seen this at so many finish lines over the years, the eyes are open but there is no one home. Compare this to a runner with a good sleep strategy as they bounce to the finish line full of the joys of spring, similar time but whole different experience.
In my first 200 mile finish I ran just over eighty-three hours, by less than a minute, rookie error, and my mate Rob Donkersloot compared my moving time to the winners, Shane Johnston, who finished nearly a day ahead of me, we both have the same time. The difference was I slept three times and spent way more time at aid stations with my crew feeding me, could I have gone quicker, 100%, but I wanted to finish but also enjoy the experience. If I had limited my sleep and rest time, I would have finished quicker, but it would have been so much harder and at that point it was all about finishing and enjoying it rather than a specific time. My strategy was to start slow, bank sleep, and gradually work my way through the field. It worked perfectly and I finished 9th overall, 6th male, making up places in the latter half of the event fishing up with a ten kilometre sprint with my mate Paul Hopi Hopwood (which I lost.)
For Delirious, as with all 200 milers, I have always had crew, and this has allowed me to sleep when I want. My crew set up my swag, and I just rock up into the aid station area and sleep, simple. With Delirious this has been useful as the first sleep station is around 140 kilometres into the event and I feel just too far for most runners. By the time they get that far they would have been running for nearly thirty hours plus. I tend to set up my first stop at Mandelay car park which is around 110 kilometres from the start, that extra thirty kilometres makes all the difference.
Actually a funny story here, one year I had slept at Mandelay but the crew and I had assumed each other would set an alarm, no one did. I remember waking up and seeing daylight when we had decided to start again later before dawn. It turns out we were virtually last as we had overslept by about two hours. In the end this worked out to my advantage as the extra sleep had reinvigorated me and I skipped past the field while they adopted the zombie shuffle. In a 200 miler we’re talking finishing times in days and hours, so you have time, as long as the sweeper is not to close.
My strategy for a 200 miler is to try and get between two and three hours sleep on the first two nights and then dose up on caffeine tablets to get me to the finish, so normally around six hours sleep total. I find I can normally make it through the final night as your body has adjusted to the sleep deprivation and you can see the end, so to speak. Of course, planning for sleep and actually sleeping are two different things. I’m lucky that as soon as I get in my swag, I’m out, no matter what I’ve eaten, drank or exercised previously. In my favour I’m normally pretty cooked by the time I try to sleep so as long as I avoid too much caffeine sleeping isn’t a problem. I do know of runners who can’t sleep, and they just keep going until they eventually drop on the trail for a dirt nap. In WA this is easier said than done with the trail floor normally alive with ants or other beasties who see you as a meal but when you’re dog tired it doesn’t matter. Personally, I’ve only has one dirt nap, in the Irrational South 200 miler, when I was falling asleep walking and just had to stop, I had no alternative. The four or five minutes was enough, and I was then able to motor to the finish at a good turn of pace. I was with Sarah Niven at the time, and we both got out space blankets and just hit the dirt, good times.
Obviously for the front of the pack runners sleep is a luxury that they may not need, if you can finish a 200 miler in less than sixty hours you can probably get away with a few minutes at aid stations but for most sleep is a necessity. Adopt the right strategy and you’ll always be continually energised, get it wrong or just ignore it, and you’re crawling to the finish line. Sleep is right up there with hydration and nutrition, ignore any of these three factors and you just basically stop, simple.
To sum up sleep, do it early and often.
Next is your feet. These are paramount to 200 miler success, funnily enough, and need to be treated as such. I’m talking pre-race care with strapping and balm, to during the event with constant checking and changing of socks at aid stations. Blisters have ruined many runners’ dreams of finishing ultras or made the whole process so painful they never return. You’ll know before the event what type of feet you have, i.e. do they blister easily or can they go forever, with little attention? I’ve been pretty lucky in the fact I’ve never really suffered with a blister bad enough to warrant discussion. Before any 200 miler I’ll use Du it foot balm and lately I’ve been taping my toes with fixomull.
I change my socks at every aid station, which for Delirious is about fourteen times and each time I check the toes and whenever I can wash my feet. Clean feet mean no sand which means no fraction, and friction is not your feet’s friend. From friction blisters come and we don’t like blisters. As I said earlier I’ve been lucky with blisters but you’ll need to do your own research on the strategy to deal with them if they rear their ugly head. basically, to pop or not to pop? For Delirious we are blessed with Kath Booth who is a feet fetish queen who likes nothing more than treating our feet issues, everybody needs a Kath.
My next tip on completing 200 milers is a subject all real ultra runners care about, nutrition. Yep, that’s right folks the good stuff you get at aid stations and for Delirious West 200 miler this is taken to a Spinal tap eleven. Shain Kaesler, the race director, gives each aid station caption $400 for provisions but most of these captains must then spend the same amount again as the food is gourmet level. I seriously reckon I put on weight running Delirious, I’m being serious. If you really think about it you are probably eating at every aid station, which I reckon it about three to four a day minimum, and then in-between you’re snacking off anything available in your pack. Your taught to eat constantly while running ultra marathons and some ultra-athletes take this to extreme. I remember stories of aid station volunteers kicking runners out after they’d overstayed their welcome reminding them it was a race after all.
Personally, I feel it would be rude not to try and sample something from every aid station along any ultra, after all the volunteers have made such an effort preparing these beautiful gourmet delights, one must at least try them. Even with my crew I always make an effort to find out what’s on the menu and taste something. You’ll find in an ultra your taste buds do develop and food tastes better the longer you run, I’m not sure if this is a scientifically proved fact or just one of my hair-brained theories? I just googled my idea, and it seems as usual I’m talking crap. The taste buds don’t become extra sensitive over time, but they can start to disagree with your food choices if you overload them with sweet treats, which then accounts for the urge for savory alternatives. What you need is a mix of both.
From Townsend Performance Website https://www.townshendperformance.com/post/do-ultra-runners-really-need-gels
Ask a group of ultra runners how they fuel and you’ll get more answers than there are miles in the race. Some live on gels, others graze on potatoes, wraps, bananas and whatever looks appealing at aid stations. The question always comes back around: do you actually need gels to run an ultra? The truth is no – you don’t. But they are still one of the most effective tools available, especially when used alongside real food. Most runners feel and perform at their best when they don’t choose one or the other, but rather use both at the right times. Fueling long distances is mostly about consistency. Most runners need around 40-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour in training and 60-90 grams on race day. Alongside that comes the need for sodium and steady hydration so digestion keeps working. You can hit those numbers with gels, potatoes, bananas, wraps, rice, fruit, or homemade pouches. What matters more than the format is whether you can digest it and keep eating.
Real food plays an important role. In the early hours of a long race, real food often feels grounding. It’s comforting and satisfying, and tends to sit more gently on the stomach than a long run of sugary gels. Real food delivers slower, steadier energy and helps avoid that familiar “sweetness overload” many runners experience late in an ultra. It also provides a mental lift – a feeling of being fed, not just fueled – which can be surprisingly powerful.But real food has its downsides. It’s bulkier, messier and harder to chew when fatigue catches up. Foods that taste great in hour one can feel impossible in hour eight. Digestion slows down as the effort continues, and chewing becomes more of a task than you’d expect.That’s where gels still shine. They’re quick, predictable and require no chewing. They absorb fast, they slot into any pocket, and they work even when your appetite disappears. In the late stages of a race, when terrain gets technical or your brain turns foggy, a gel is often the one thing you can rely on. They’re not perfect – stomachs sometimes need training, and the sweetness can become overwhelming – but they do their job extremely well.
Most runners eventually settle into a rhythm that uses everything: real food early, a mix of real food and gels in the middle, and mostly gels towards the end when chewing feels like too much work. It’s a flexible, forgiving way to fuel. My own approach shifted dramatically thanks to something completely unrelated to running: feeding my children. When my youngest was a baby, I made everything from scratch – purées, soups, mashed vegetables, soft fruit blends – and stored them in reusable baby pouches. Years later, ahead of a long fell run, I opened a cupboard and saw those empty pouches. The idea hit instantly: why wasn’t I using these for my own fuel?I tried it. I filled one pouch with mashed potato, one with sweet potato, and another with a banana-and-honey blend. Out on the run, they were perfect. Soft, gentle on the stomach, easy to swallow and deliciously familiar. They didn’t make my hands sticky, and I could control everything – carbs, salt, texture, flavour. It felt like the perfect midpoint between real food and gels.It also made me realise something else: the way my kids ate – small portions, soft textures, gentle flavours, frequent feeding – was exactly how my body preferred to take on fuel during long runs. We tend to overcomplicate ultra fueling, but the body often responds best to simple, child-like nutrition delivered often and kindly.One thing I wouldn’t recommend, though, is using store-bought baby food pouches. They seem convenient, but they simply aren’t designed for athletes. Baby food is deliberately low in salt – exactly the opposite of what long-distance runners need. It’s low in calories and carbs too, often containing just 8-12 grams of carbohydrate per pouch. The flavours are muted and bland, perfect for toddlers but not for an adult gut that might be screaming for savoury relief. Many mixes are heavy in apple or pear, which can irritate tired stomachs. Homemade pouches give you full control and are far superior for long efforts.They’re also incredibly easy to make. Choose soft foods, mash or blend them with a splash of water, broth or electrolyte drink, and spoon them into a reusable pouch. Working out the carbs is simple: weigh the ingredients, use the carbs-per-100g number from a label or food table, do quick multiplication, and add it up. If you’re making several at once, divide the total carb amount between the number of pouches. It doesn’t need to be exact – just “close enough” to plan your fueling.
Of course, pouches are just one option in the big world of real-food fueling. Ultra runners have long been known for pulling out some wonderfully odd snacks mid-race, and most of them work because they’re simple, soft and easy to digest. Over the years I’ve seen and eaten just about everything out there. Bananas, salted potatoes, sweet potato chunks and fruit purée are all classics. Watermelon and oranges are brilliant on hot days and beloved at aid stations everywhere.There are plenty of portable snacks too: wraps with peanut butter or jam, rice balls or onigiri, soft cereal bars, fig rolls and slices of malt loaf. Savoury options become especially appealing later in a race when sweetness becomes overwhelming – cheese bites, broth, mini sandwiches, little quesadilla wedges, even a cup of ramen from an aid station can turn everything around. And then there are the sweets that somehow always work: dried fruit, jelly babies and homemade flapjacks. All of these foods have made appearances in packs and pockets over the years, and they’ve all carried runners through difficult miles.I learned many of these lessons through lived experience. I still remember a miserable winter long run where I’d packed only gels to “be disciplined.” By hour three, the sweetness was unbearable. Stopping at a stone wall, I opened my vest and found nothing but more gels. I would have traded them all for a cold potato. It taught me that training isn’t just about logged miles – it’s about learning what you truly want to eat when fatigue settles in.A mountain race later on reinforced this. Around mile 30, tired and queasy, I was handed a tiny wrap filled with mashed potato and salt. It grounded me instantly and gave me the strength to climb out of the valley. Another time, during a 50-miler, I watched a runner spoon cold rice pudding into a soft flask. He grinned and said, “Gels are for survival. Rice pudding is for joy.” I tried it the next week and he was right-sometimes joy is the most powerful fuel.And then there was the day I shared half a homemade pouch with a runner who was deep in a calorie crash and couldn’t face another gel. He perked up within minutes. That moment reminded me that ultra fueling isn’t just nutrition. It’s comfort. It’s connection. It’s looking after each other on difficult miles.You don’t need gels to run an ultra – but they’re a useful safety net when chewing becomes impossible or terrain demands fast energy. Real food keeps you comfortable. Gels keep you consistent. Homemade pouches blend both strengths beautifully. The best fueling strategy will always be the one that uses all the tools available and trains your gut to handle them.
Ultra running is an eating event disguised as a race. Feed yourself well, and the miles take care of themselves.
To sum up how you should approach a 200 miler you need to see it as an adventure, not a race. Don’t let finishing times cloud your thought process, you just need to concentrate on getting to the next aid station and then daisy chaining along the course, one aid station at a time, it really is that simple. Finally, one last comment regarding mental preparation, in any ultra you will go through dark times, normally around the witching hours, between two am and five am when your body wants sleep, you just need to realise these dark times are temporary and things do get better, normally when the sun rises. Also these changes in mood happen often throughout the event and you just need to keep moving forward and hang in there, things do get better, eventually, or you reach the finish line, whichever comes first. Don’t underestimate mental toughness though, the longer the event the more mental prowess becomes important, physical prowess can only get you so far, somewhere along the route you will need to dig deep and drag yourself out of the pain cave or just adopt the fetal position in the cave and keep on trucking.
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Tribe and Trail Running shop, Perth WA. ( https://www.tribeandtrail.com.au/ ) Your one stop shop for all things trail in WA. 
Big shout out to fisiocrem , this product is just incredible for tired and aching legs. I use it daily and have noticed a vast improvement in recovery.
Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ ) The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products) can be difficult to digest later in the event. From the website :-
As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority.
In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance.
In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born.
BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work!
BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!
What can I say about HumanTecar, ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !
Fractel ( https://fractel.com.au/ ) have your performance headgear covered. I love the colours and the functionality of these hats, I guarantee there is one model you’ll fall in love with.
Shokz headphones, let you keep in touch with the world around while losing yourself in quality tunes or podcasts. ( https://shokz.com.au/ )
T8 running apparel is the best you can get, second to none. Designed for the ultra humid Hong Kong conditions the owners live in. It is light and does away with any chaffing worries. T8 is the name given to the highest typhoon warning in Honk Kong, storms and typhoons with gusts exceeding 180kph, which explains the branding. ( https://t8.run/)
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