SUNDAY 8TH MARCH 2026

COURSE CHANGE NOTIFICATION:

Due to a closed bridge on the original course (temporary but in place during 2026 event period), we have been forced to change the course of this 14km run for this year.

RUNNERS WILL NOW RUN EAST along the aqueduct (instead of west towards Millgrove).

The replacement route (for 2026 only) offers the same general experience as the original course (big forest, tree fern walls, cruisey double track gravel running along the FLAT aqueduct (you still have a short climb up Martyrs Rd to get to it!). It remains an out and back.

There will be an aid station at the 6.5km mark.

Upon bombing back down Martyrs Road, Runners will now turn RUNNER RIGHT (west) to complete the final loop back to the finish (i.e. you do not go over the swing bridge - you run west along Dammans Rd trails, crossing over the road bridge at the Golf Course, and run the trail behind the main street back to the finish).

14km
(Didn’t See)
MILL GROVE RUN

AID STATION: 6.5km (at turn around)
ASCENT: 350m (approx)
CUT OFF: 1.5hrs @ halfway, no cut off at finish, expected last finisher 3hrs
RECORDS (ORIGINAL COURSE):
MENS // 55:46 // Sam Quirk
WOMENS // 1:03:11 // Simone Brick

So this run is a fun, fast and flowy one, put on for those who don't want to murder their legs on the Donna Double. Like the Donna Double and the Redwood Rush, it leaves the Footy Oval, meanders alongside the Yarra River and then punches you up the Southern Hemisphere's steepest residential street (others claim it, too, but whatever you Kiwis and Taswegians). A little steep trail after that you pull off RIGHT onto the flat O'Shannassay Aqueduct and stride out towards EAST (NOT west as you usually would on this course!).

You will run along the aqueduct, fast and flowy and very sexy in fern green, with big views over the Upper Yarra Valley - enough to make you want to move here. You will cross over a dirt road at around 4.6km and shortly thereafter - another kilometre - crossed CAREFULLY over Donna Buang Rd.

CAUTION NOTE: this road crossing will be manned, but TRAFFIC WILL NOT BE STOPPED. Runners are to GIVE WAY TO TRAFFIC and follow any marshal directions. PLEASE BE CAREFUL AT THIS CROSSING AS ROADS ARE STILL OPEN.

After crossing Donna Buang Road, you will run a further 1 km to the aid station and turn around point. Sup some soothing Tailwind Nutrition, grab a lollie, and scoot back the way you came! Yep this is an out-and-back, but it's a nice cruisey one with a great view that reminds us of Italian valleys full of wine. Only we're not in Italy. And there's no wineries. It's pretty. Go run it.

The Sawmill Grove run is super pretty, with big walls of ferns, and super fast. Unless you do what I did and fall into that old aqueduct (used to supply Melbourne’s water) beside the runners there. It's deep. And hard to get out of. Don't try it. Just run to the view.