LOCATION

Situated in the geographic centre of Australia, the Lambert Research Centre is definitely one for your bucket list. The surrounding region is known as the Red Centre, with Alice Springs seen as the gateway to a myriad of arid deserts featuring rugged  landscapes littered with mountainous peaks.

Alice Springs is an important tourist hub for those keen to explore Australia's Red Centre, and is only a three hour plane flight from Sydney, New South Wales via QANTAS and Virgin airlines. Alice, as it is affectionately known, is home to numerous hotels and Lasseter's Casino, with the town's economy heavily influenced by domestic and international tourism.

Three hours south of Alice Springs is the small town of Kulgera, which will be the event base. From Kulgera, the Lambert Centre is a further 120 kilometres of red dirt driving, heavily recommended to be travelled by 4WD only. 

CLIMATE

Given the remoteness of Kulgera, the town is classified as having a desert climate. With a 509 metre elevation above sea level, night time temperatures can get quite low, with most day time temperatures averaging 30 degree Celsius. The Red Centre experiences a dry heat on a daily basis with a low humidity percentage and erratic rainfall.

With the Compass Club Central to be staged in July, competitors can expect an average minimum temperatures of 7 degrees Celsius and an average maximum temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.

HOW TO GET THERE

Kulgera is 21km from the South Australian-Northern Territory border, or 275 kilometres south of Alice Springs, down the Stuart Highway. There are daily flights into Alice Springs Airport, with all major hire car companies available at both the Airport and the city of Alice Springs itself. It would be advisable to book your hire car early however.

Greyhound Australia also run a bus service to Kulgera, however please check the Greyhound Australia website for departure details. Kulgera railway station is 12 km east of the settlement on the Adelaide–Darwin railway. The Ghan, run by Great Southern Rail between Adelaide and Darwin arrives twice weekly in each direction.
 

The start line of the event is 120 kilometres east of Kulgera along the red dirt Finke Road, so 4WD vehicles would be your best hire car option. Given the remoteness of the Lambert Research Centre, there is no public transport system and no local bus hire to transport competitors to the start line, There will be extremely limited seats from Kulgera to the start line at Halfway Camp Access Road, which also has camping options available should you wish to camp beside the start/finish line.

HALF MARATHON ROUTE
The Lambert Research Centre monument is 13 kilometres off Finke Road, meaning that the half marathon will be completely on this access road. The route will start 2.5 kilometres off Finke Road, meaning runners will travel 10.55 kilometres to the monument, have their photo taken and return the 10.55 kilometres to the finish line.

FULL MARATHON ROUTE
Runners will start on the Halfway Camp Access Road, travelling approximately 2.5 kilometres east, and then a fuerther 4.5 kilometres east on Finke Road, before turning left onto the Lambert Research monument access road for 13 kilometres. Once reaching the monument, runners will have their photo taken and then head back on the same 21 kilometre route to the start/finish line.