{"id":4916,"date":"2026-05-05T04:48:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/4916\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T04:48:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:48:05","slug":"clare-reilly-becomes-first-person-to-complete-1000km-munda-biddi-trail-in-a-wheelchair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/4916\/","title":{"rendered":"Clare Reilly becomes first person to complete 1,000km Munda Biddi trail in a wheelchair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clare Reilly is no stranger to the outdoors.<\/p>\n

“My background is outdoor ed, so that’s my experience and knowledge,” she said.<\/p>\n

But there was only so much preparation the multiple sclerosis advocate could do ahead of her most recent challenge: being the first person to take on the Munda Biddi in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

The 1,067-kilometre trail stretches from Mundaring, about 34 kilometres east of Perth, to Western Australia’s southernmost point, before terminating in the coastal city of Albany.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Clare and Jay Reilly ride through one of the trail’s vast coastal landscapes. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n

Along the way, the trail snakes through dense forest, granite outcrops, steep mountains and soft dunes, with the autumn weather offering up a wide range of conditions.<\/p>\n

“The track was rough, and I actually hadn’t even thought about it before we started, so I had no expectations,” Ms Reilly said.<\/p>\n

“I just knew that it was a bike trail and because it was a bike trail, it had to be designed for wheels.”\"A<\/p>\n

The trail passes through untouched forest. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n

A machine for the job<\/p>\n

Ms Reilly, her team and an American-made power-assisted wheelchair set off on their adventure in early April.<\/p>\n

“It’s sort of like an adaptive bike\/wheelchair, so it’s definitely not your classic wheelchair that people know,” she said.<\/p>\n

Though designed to go off-road, it was perhaps not made for the steep and uneven terrain of Australian bushland, according to Ms Reilly’s husband, Jay Reilly.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Clare Reilly’s husband, Jay, and friend, Ross Richards, inspect the underside of the wheelchair. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n

“We had no idea what the track was like,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We were only going off word of mouth \u2014 we heard ‘pea gravel’, we heard ‘narrow’, we didn’t hear ‘rutted, sloping, four-wheel drive tracks that would throw the rig off balance’.<\/p>\n

“Every day was a new learning experience.”\"A<\/p>\n

Clare Reilly was supported by a team of people, including parents Frank and Sue Wall, second and third from the right. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n

But despite the challenges, Jay was happy to support his wife’s adventure.<\/p>\n

“I’m pretty adventurous and I will just happily go along with anything that she wants to do adventure-wise,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Doing adventurous things outdoors \u2014 we’re no stranger to doing that sort of stuff.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Clare and Jay share a background in outdoor education. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n

On a mission to raise awareness<\/p>\n

Since launching her podcast MS Understood six years ago, Ms Reilly has shared the stories of nearly 100 people experiencing multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n

She will soon be the author of a book and the star of a documentary about her recent feat, with proceeds going to her fundraiser Wheelchair Meets Wilderness.<\/p>\n

The money raised \u2014 so far just more than $15,000 of the $100,000 goal \u2014 will go towards the University of Tasmania’s flagship program for MS research at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Not all the obstacles on the trail were predictable. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n

The podcaster, advocate \u2014 and now, record setter \u2014 wants people to know that multiple sclerosis is “completely different for everyone”.<\/p>\n

“I know a woman at the moment who’s at Everest base camp waiting to climb Everest who has MS, and her symptoms are mostly cognitive, so a lot of fatigue and forgetfulness and that sort of thing,” she said.<\/p>\n

For Ms Reilly, the symptoms are mostly physical with her right side particularly affected.<\/p>\n

“Which is very annoying because I’m right-handed,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Clare Reilly ducks under a fallen tree branch. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n

The effect on her balance and strength landed her in a wheelchair a couple of years ago, but Ms Reilly was undeterred.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want people to look at me with sympathy,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m out here doing the Munda Biddi trail in a wheelchair and my family’s come along, and it’s been an incredibly exhausting adventure, but amazing.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Frank and Sue Wall played a supportive role through the journey, ferrying the riders between their accessible accommodation and the trail each day. (Supplied: Cowboy Hat Films)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clare Reilly is no stranger to the outdoors. “My background is outdoor ed, so that’s my experience and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,3893,6222,6218,6219,464,6220,6221],"class_list":{"0":"post-4916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-disability","11":"tag-ms-wa","12":"tag-multiple-sclerosis","13":"tag-munda-biddi","14":"tag-wa-news","15":"tag-wheelchair","16":"tag-wheelchair-meets-wilderness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}