Today we’re hearing from a Pilliga local and 2025 Pilliga Ultra participant, Nicole. This was Nicole’s third Pilliga Ultra.
Let’s get into the interview!
Nicole Toyer
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us about your time at Pilliga Ultra this year! To set the scene for our readers, can you please tell us where you call home and your connection to the Pilliga?
My girls and I live in Coonabarabran. We have a beautiful property on the road heading to the Warrumbungle National Park where we run the trails.
My first visit to the Pilliga was to Pilliga Pottery of course. I have been taking my girls and all visitors to the pottery since they were babies, that’s 15 years!
We attended a town meeting about the Santos CSG project in 2014. I was horrified and there began my journey into activism and many trips to the Pilliga Forest. Over the years, we saw the beautiful seasons of the Pilliga, leant more about its diverse and delicate ecology, history and the importance of this region.
This was your third time participating in the Pilliga Ultra, and your second time in the Grand Slam! We were so excited to have more women enter the Grand Slam this year than men – did that change your experience at all from last year?
Yes – my second Grand Slam! I love trail running. I am not a fast runner, my goal is always to enjoy the experience, soak in the healing quality of nature, meet new people, challenge myself and to just finish! I did not look at the list until after the race. I didn’t know there were more women than men. Trail running is a sport where participants of all ages, genders, abilities and experiences run together. Last year, there were just 2 women in the Grand Slam, Bec Cook and I. Although I arrived a good 2 hours after Bec, you all cheered me in, I felt so valued. My only time on a podium, second out of two females.
It is a wonderful, supportive, and safe community of people. I think trail running offers so much to women as we can participate and be successful at any age, there is no pressure out there, just hours of soul restoring nature. I have been trail running for 5 years now, attending events in other towns and regions, over different terrain and landscapes. I have made beautiful new friends covering kilometres laughing, talking, crying, sharing stories and phone numbers. There is so much joy running in nature.
This year you also brought along some of your family to participate – tell us more about that! How did they go, and are they now converts, too?
My 3 daughters have been trail running with me for over 2 years, the Pilliga 20km was an opportunity for them to participate in a longer run, they absolutely loved it. My girls were the youngest in the 20km and certainly devoured the forest on young legs!
It is a beautiful, safe environment for my girls where they can participate in a sport with great diversity and positive exposure. When they leave home as young adults in the world, they have their trail running kit (all second hand as the good environmental citizens we are) go any where in the world to run and restore in nature and meet new people.
Yes they will be back with me next year for sure! Look out, they will be Grand slammers in a few years!
As a local, what does it mean to have an event like the Pilliga Ultra in your area? From both a running community perspective, as well as campaigning to stop the Narrabri Gas project?
This was my third Pilliga Ultra, I am so proud to have done all 3. Having a grassroots trail running event in our local area means so much as don’t need to travel far! I noticed this year, so many more locals participating in the 10km event which is wonderful. I expect next year will be bigger again. This is a beautiful introduction to trail running, I know many will be back next year and perhaps venture on to do other trail running events.
To learn that our area was under threat of CSG mining sparked a lot of community into action. Many continued for years and kept the momentum to save our Forest. With the establishment of the Pilliga Ultra, our community and visitors can touch, smell and feel the forest, igniting or re igniting a drive to help keep the resistance up to Santos. A person can describe what the wild flowers in the Pilliga Forest look like but the runners sweeping through them truly feel the flowers in the forest.
We try to do trail events a little differently – from the remote location to camping, dogs on course, a focus on sustainability and a strong activism element. What moment, or part of the weekend, really stood out to you as something that you really enjoyed or appreciated, that you maybe hadn’t seen at an event before?
For Wild Places put everything in place as per a large event to support and keep us safe but with an entirely different vibe and it is wonderful. Camping, wildlife, dogs, being sustainable, being together delivering the message to leave our forest to be a forest, reminds us that we are all doing what human beings are born to do. Move our limbs, be in nature, be respectful and stay true to our values. That is the gratitude I feel, being part of the Pilliga Ultra.
What advice would you have for someone participating in the Grand Slam next year? Whether it be about preparation, training, gear or mindset – do you happen to have any wisdom to share?
Never say never. There are so few barriers to trail running. Everybody can find a run/hike balance that can suit them. This is not a speed race (for most of us) it is about being out there and giving it a go! There is plenty of trail running mandatory gear available second hand on market place to help with the cost.
If you can do the 50 km, you can do the Grand Slam.
Mindset – yeah it can be really tough in places but that is life overall. Trail running is so incredibly good for mental health, hours in nature often brings the answers and peace. You are a winner showing up to the start line and you will always find a friend out there!