Sea Otter Australia Thule Marathon

Oceania Marathon champion Brent Rees has ridden his way to a win at the inaugural Sea Otter Thule Marathon 90km event in a ripping time of 3:29:30 ahead of Joel Green with Australian Champion James Kelly rounding out the podium in third.

Rees said the race was tight – and fast – from the end of the neutral rollout, with a small group soon forming. Riding tightly with Green and Kelly, Rees stated “it was hard to hold James’ wheel, with his gravity experience”, but managed to create separation around 20km from the end of the race, riding to a win only 30sec ahead of Green.

In the women’s race, again the pace was hot from the start – leaving many wondering if it would be a race of who detonates last. Holly Harris, after a run of bad luck, channeled her inner time-trialler to separate from the remainder of the women’s field on the first lap, and never looked back. 

Em Viotto rode a strong race to finish second, ahead of Monique De Abreu in third.

All riders were quick to praise the course – high on singletrack with enough fireroad for passing and eating and drinking. 

Full results of the Sea Otter Thule Marathon here.

Our ride: taking on the Thule baby marathon (with no regrets)

It’s been a few months since I signed up for the 90km marathon. With crossed fingers and toes for a run of good health (without daycare bugs) my prayers were – sadly – not answered, as a barrage of illnesses hit our household.

The result? 1 week of riding in the past 5 weeks. 

Despite my enthusiasm, even I had to admit that maybe 90km followed by a full day of media responsibilities may be stretching myself a little too thin, so I changed my entry to the 33km event and had no regrets.

Riders lined up, remarking that this was perhaps the strongest race field seen since pre-COVID. A stately-paced neutral rollout had tension running high before the race was officially on – straight up a steep sharp bitumen hill of Glenella rd. 

It was on for young and old as I hit a recent best power while simultaneously careering backwards through the field – ah the joy’s of racing.

Small groups formed on the fireroad before we were treated to an epic descent – full flow, before we headed across the dam and into the more rugged and natural trails. Riding the entire race blind it was super fun to simply lay off the brakes, let the bike go and chase some warp-speed on the descents on fresh trails. One of the best parts of racing bikes!

Alas what goes down must come up, and the pace remained absolutely pinned throughout the full lap.

Crossing the finish line, wheezing and grunting like a tranquilised rhinoceros, I was happily exhausted enough with my effort – mad kudos to riders heading out for a couple more laps!

My take

Honestly, I have raced a lot of marathons in my time, and almost never gone for the shorter distance, and I must say – it was great. The organisation of the Thule Marathon was amazing, with Thule providing support cars, a well marked course and the most important thing – oodles of epic, shralpable trails. So whether you are up for a 30km challenge or a huge 90km day out, make sure that you put the 2026 Thule Marathon on your must-ride list.