Ultra Trail Australia is Australia’s premier trail running event in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. This year, with some pretty brutal weather forecast, the race organisers were forced to reroute the 50km and 100km races for safety reasons. There’s nothing like last minute changes to put a little extra pressure on the runners to adapt, but one thing that didn’t change was their need to have their mandatory thermals sorted - something that looked like being more important than ever.
It was our second year as a sponsor of the event and supplier of official mandatory race thermals, and this year we used the opportunity to launch our new Ultra range of Tees and Tops which ended up proving to be extremely popular. The Ultra range has been developed with the needs of ultra runners in mind and is made from our newest fabric - Merino+. Rest assured, it’s just as nice to wear even if you’re doing something a little milder than running an ultra and works well for all activities, delivering ultra comfort, and ultra high performance.
As always, it was great to meet so many customers, old and new, at the race expo, and help out people from all over the world with last minute purchases. We all know wearing something new on race day isn’t really recommended, but we had more than a few runners adjust their gear at the last minute due the weather, and run in their new ioMerino straight out of the pack and tell us how incredibly warm and comfortable it was.
Pictures courtesy of Aurora Images
We’ve seen heaps of great pics of people out there in course wearing their io, and if you were one of them, we’d love to see your pics so we can put a collection together! Just shoot them through to customerservice@io-merino.com
As it happens, come race day, Mother Nature was much kinder than expected, and the race went off without a hitch, and without any of the more extreme weather organisers were worried about. So to everyone out there, whether it be running any of the distances or supporting and crewing and cheering along the way, congratulations!
Pictures courtesy of Aurora Images
And remember, if you’ll be running, hiking or doing anything at all outside during the cooler weather, be sure to stay ultra comfortable in any of our high-performance merino layers.
Check out all out UTA blogs here .
For Ultra Trail Mandatory Approved Gear click here
Pictures courtesy of Aurora Images
While Merino is an amazing natural fibre, not all Merino fabrics are created equal. At ioMerino, we make our own fabrics, using only the best quality fibres, and to very specific specifications that make the most of the natural benefits of Merino. All of them are 'Merino rich’. No cheap blends passed off as Merino. No cheaper scratchy fibres or synthetic substitutes to save money. No unethical production. And each fabric is made for a specific purpose. So if you see something with a small amount of elastase or nylon added, you can be sure it absolutely needs to be there to enhance the natural stretch and durability.
It took every bit of our 140 years of experience in the wool industry to perfect our fabrics, but we think you’ll agree the end result was more than worth the effort.
Ethically Made. Ethically Sourced. Perfectly Natural.
Lightweight 170gsm 96% Australian Merino Wool with 4% elastane for extra stretch and comfort. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Lightweight 160gsm 83% Australian Merino Wool blended with 12% nylon blended for extra durability and 5% Elastane for stretch and comfort.
Midweight 265gsm 96% Australian Merino Wool with 4% elastane for extra stretch and comfort. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Made from 45% ultra fine MERINO (Ultra Lightweight 150gsm), 45% natural TENCEL (made from sustainably grown wood fiber), and 10% nylon for extra durability.
Ultra Lightweight 150gsm 100% Australian Merino Wool. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Midweight 280gsm 76% Australian Merino Wool, 15% Elastane and 9% Nylon for extra stretch and compression properties.
Ultra lightweight ribbed 155gsm 100% Australian Merino Wool. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Outer Weight 280gsm Fleece 100% Australian Merino Wool. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Midweight 260gsm 100% Australian Merino Wool. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Midweight 260gsm waffle texture 100% Australian Merino Wool. A MicroMerino® Fabric.
Midweight 255gsm French Terry 100% Australian Merino Wool. A MicroMerino® Fabric.