Lake Macquarie Kokoda Challenge

The Kokoda Challenge returns to Lake Macquarie in 2025!

Setting off in the hills of Cooranbong, teams can choose to traverse the 18, 30 or 48km course through the stunning Olney State Forest and Watagans National Park.

Lake Macquarie Kokoda Challenge 2025 Dates, Location & Times

Setting off in the hills of the quaint town of Cooranbong, your team can choose to traverse the 18, 30 or 48km course through the stunning Olney State Forest and Watagans National Park.

Why these distances, you ask? Well, 18 + 30 + 48 = 96km, the distance of the actual Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. Find out more on the history of the Kokoda Trail.

While most competitors choose to hike the courses, our events attract many trail runners. Given the steep elevation, most of these teams will hike the inclines and trail run down the mountains and flat sections of the tracks. Others will run the entire way and compete for the illustrious winners’ medals and school cups named after Kokoda Veterans.

But the Kokoda Challenge is not about winning. It’s not about beating your personal best or charging ahead of your team—this will get you disqualified! The Kokoda Challenge is about making it to the finish line with your entire team—that’s the most important thing! You’re only as fast as your slowest team member, leaving no one behind.

That’s precisely what our Diggers did in 1942 during the Kokoda Campaign in Papua New Guinea, and that is the meaning of the ‘Kokoda Spirit’—courage, endurance, mateship, and sacrifice.

48km Lake Macquarie Kokoda Challenge

Picture this: It’s pitch black, and all you can see is the small space in front of you illuminated by your head torch. Your teammates are walking beside you; all you can hear is the crunch of their boots against the leaves and vegetation underfoot. The temperature has dropped, but you’re still warm from climbing mountains all day and night. You’re exhausted and start welling up emotionally as you see the lights from the finish line up ahead.

You’ve made it. You’ve been hiking since 7:30 am, and after walking for 48 kilometres, you have finally reached the end with your team. You are overwhelmed with achievement, relief, joy, and physical depletion. You’ve pushed yourself far beyond what you thought you were capable of, and you have never felt such an enormous outpouring of emotion.

The Kokoda Challenge is an adventure like no other. It’s not about achieving your personal best time; it’s about ensuring your team stays together at all times and that you make it to the end with all your teammates.

This is what our Australian soldiers did back in 1942 along the Kokoda Track, which is what the event emulates. Our Diggers endured a hell like no other during WWII, and every step you take will pay homage to the hardships they faced. It’s about respecting those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Through this event, you’ll also raise critical funds for youth programs run in the local community. These programs aim to help kids establish the life skills needed to reach their full potential. It is an extremely rewarding opportunity to make an impact on the lives of Australian youth.

Whether you intend to trail run or hike, you will require a support crew who are necessary to provide you with food and encouragement along the way. You don’t need to be a fitness fanatic to complete this event, all you need is the right people beside you and the right attitude as it largely is a mental battle. It will be hard, but it will be worth it when you’re awarded your dog tag at the finish line and feel no challenge is too big.

30km Lake Macquarie Kokoda Challenge

This will be our second year bringing The Kokoda Challenge to Lake Macquarie! For those new to our community, let us give you an idea of our events.

As the name suggests, we started The Kokoda Challenge to pay homage to the sacrifices made by our WWII Veterans during their time in New Guinea on the Kokoda Track. It is an incredible story of bravery and perseverance. We want to educate more Australians about the history of Kokoda by offering an experience that gives you an insight into what it was like for our Diggers on the track in 1942.

Not only that, but this is also a transformative experience for all those who set foot on the track. You will be mentally and physically tested by stretching far beyond what you thought possible while climbing steep mountains and hiking or running for up to 12 hours, possibly even into the night.

Wandering through whimsical forests that range from lush ferns to quintessential Australian bush, this course is diverse and packed with elevation to ensure your team is well and truly challenged. You will experience the full spectrum of emotions, sometimes laughing and chatting with your teammates, while other times, you’ll all fall silent while you focus on scaling some of the more challenging sections of the course.

While the 30km Kokoda Challenge attracts many trail runners, teams in this event are predominantly hikers. But you don’t need to be an athlete to register. Most teams that take part are everyday Australians who want to prove to themselves that they can do anything they set their mind to.

18km Lake Macquarie Kokoda Challenge

The 18km event is the perfect entry into The Kokoda Challenge community. You may be an adventure seeker who spends your weekends exploring different trails, and now you’re ready for something that will test your limits, or maybe you are new to hiking and want to push yourself to try something new!

Through this event, you will not only explore the simply stunning Olney State Forest and Watagans National Park but also gain a deeper bond with your teammates, help kids in your local community through fundraising, and gain a deeper understanding and respect of the sacrifices made by our Aussie Diggers who fought to protect our country during WWII.

So what’s involved? The first step is getting a team of 2, 3, or 4 people (or five if you’re a school team, including four students and one teacher). If you’re struggling to find teammates, join our Kokoda Challenge Community Group on Facebook to connect with like-minded hikers looking for a team!

Then you’ll need to register! From here, you will kickstart your fundraising by sharing your page through social media and getting creative with ways to raise funds to help kids in our community. Next, you’ll want to train! Grab the crew and scope out some great trails nearby that offer a high elevation, as our Kokoda Challenge events have a reputation for being far from flat!

Once you’ve got all your equipment, trained and fundraised, it’s game time! Your team will set off from the quaint town of Cooranbong into the stunning hills of the Hunter Valley. You’ll march up hills and persevere through whatever weather is thrown your way. It will undoubtedly be tough, but it will all be worth it when you are flooded with incredible achievement and make it to the finish line beside your team.

Competitors must be at least nine years old to participate; generally, our oldest competitor is around 80 – we have all ages in between! Whether you’re a young family of trail runners or an older group of avid hikers, our events attract a huge audience, all with one thing in common: determination and grit to make it to the Kokoda Challenge finish line.

The Kokoda Challenge is, as the name suggests, indeed a challenge! We believe that change doesn’t come from your comfort zone, so if you want to push yourself mentally and physically, you must be willing to take on what the mind tells you is too tough.

Through this event, you will prove to yourself that you are capable of more, raise funds for local youth programs, and honour our Veterans in a very special way.