We catch up with the former track and cross-country runner who has set herself a mountainous goal in the Alps this month
Two years after earning her first international mountain running vest and just 18 months after stepping up to ultra-distance events, Kate Avery’s victory in the recent Ultra Trail Australia 50 (UTA 50) – a 50km UTMB World Series Event with over 2200m of elevation gain – was yet another example of her exceptional range and talent.
The 32-year-old is a former NCAA cross country champion and multiple European Cross Country Championships medallist for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She also excelled on the track, winning European age group medals over 3000m and 5000m and finishing fourth over 10,000m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
In 2022 she had already started to make a name for herself on the trail and mountain running scene, finishing 10th in the uphill-only event and 11th in the up and down race at the European Off-Road Running Championships in Spain on her international mountain running debut in July of that year. She was then selected for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand and finished 20th (uphill-only) and 26th (up and down race), winning team silver in both events.
Avery relocated from England to Australia with her husband and former British Athletics physiotherapist Lachy Bromley in January 2023. She won the Two Bays Trail Run (28km) within weeks of her arrival before running her first 50km event at the Tarawera Ultramarathon in New Zealand, where she finished third.
Avery has never been afraid to take risks. She is certainly no stranger to change, either, and victory in the UTA 50 underlined her transition from mountain runner to longer trails.
The Orsieres-Champex-Chamonix (OCC) – described as the ultimate challenge for mid-distance ultra-runners and the ‘50km category final’ for the UTMB World Series (55km/3400m+) – is her goal race for 2024 on Thursday August 29, but after her experience last year (“It kicked my ass,” she says), she’s leaving no stone unturned.
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“There aren’t many trail races that have the elevation of Chamonix, so it’s about being best prepared,” says Avery. “Doing the UTA 50 [in New South Wales’ Blue Mountains] was pretty good prep. Obviously it’s great to win, but I was more pleased with how I felt. I just felt good…
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