Three months after breaking her leg, most people would still be in recovery. But for West Australian-raised Milly Young, the challenge was just beginning. This summer, she took on one of the toughest ultra-endurance events in the world the La Petite Trotte à Léon (PTL) a 300-kilometre race across the towering alpine landscapes of France, Italy, and Switzerland.
The PTL, part of the prestigious Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in Chamonix, is anything but “little,” despite its name translating to Leon’s little walk in honour of Swiss pastry chef Léon Lovey. The course demands runners navigate alpine passes, granite ridges, snowfields, and sheer drops a far cry from the flat sheep farm in Kojonup, 260 kilometres south of Perth, where Milly and her brother Charlie grew up.
Adventure, however, has always been in their blood. “We were always outside at home,” Charlie recalled. “Mum and Dad were always taking us hiking on the Bibbulmun Track, so I guess that passion for the outdoors started early from the farm. As we got older, we wanted to explore a bit more.”
Their leap into ultra-endurance running began in Canada in 2017. “We did a ski season that’s why you get into climbing and things like that, so you can go deeper into the mountains in a safer way,” Charlie explained.
From the rolling paddocks of rural WA to the snow-capped peaks of Europe, the Young siblings have turned a shared childhood love of the outdoors into a pursuit of some of the world’s most extreme challenges proving that resilience, grit, and a taste for adventure can take you far beyond the horizon.
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