The Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge is the original, run every July since 2004 and now the centrepiece of a national series. Its headline 96km course sends teams over the hinterland's notorious "Big 5" mountains and more than 4,000 metres of climbing, from the start at Mudgeeraba to the finish at Nerang Velodrome. Teams get 39 hours to complete it, a nod to the 39th Battalion who first defended the Kokoda Track in 1942, with the 96km distance matching the length of the track itself.

Shorter 30km and 48km options cover the same brutal terrain of fire trails, creek crossings and relentless hills. This is a team event, not a race. Squads of three to five stay together the whole way and cross the line as one, with the slowest member setting the pace. Registration fees cover the event; the money teams raise goes to the Kokoda Youth Foundation's programs for young people.

Training is non-negotiable. The mix of distance, elevation and sheer hours on the feet makes this one of the hardest single-weekend events in the country, and plenty who finish it come back to do it all again the next year.