2020 AURA ULTRA PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR AWARD VOTING

Alexis Oosterhoff • February 10, 2021

The “AURA Ultra Performance Of The Year Award” is now open for voting by AURA Members. Nominations were received from 1st to 7th of February, and these were shortlisted to the top five nominations as judged by the AURA Committee. The “AURA Ultra Performance Of The Year Award” will be announced on Wednesday 17 February. Voting will close at 11:59pm Tuesday 16 February.

All 5 choices must be made for the form to be valid and submit.

Nomination 1: Annabel Hepworth, Across the Years 10 day performance 2019/2020

Nomination: Annabel Hepworth for her win at the 2019/2020 across the years 10 day race in Arizona USA. This was an amazing performance from an Australian who not only became the 1st female finisher for the race but also was able to win the event outright with her total distance of 1192.156km

Along the way Annabel was able to achieve some amazing milestones at this event with joining the 1000km club. She also achieved during the race a 6 day split of 471.459miles (758km) which was a PR for Annabel and which gave her the best distance over a 6 day distance for the year.

A fantastic achievement and a great ambassador to the sport of multi-day racing for the Australian ultra community.

Nomination 2: Chris Murphy, Big Dog International Last One Standing performance

Nomination: In a year that was turned upside down for most, Chris’s performance at Big’s International in October stood out for so many reasons.

Just two months earlier, Chris was in the last three at the same venue for the Clint Eastwood, pulling out after a freak injury while looking fresh after 27 hours. The challenge to go longer was even greater at Big’s International with a much smaller field that consisted only of the selected Australian team (18).

With Ryan Crawford having to pull out at 30 hours, after a huge few months leading in (including winning at the Clint Eastwood), it didn’t seem that it could go much longer with only Chris and the irrepressible Barry Loveday remaining. What we witnessed for the following 16 hours was nothing short of incredible. Barry was clearly in deteriorating shape but hour after hour, he got out of his chair to facilitate Chris’ continuing. Barry’s part in this, given the LOS format, cannot be overstated. But the camaraderie Chris showed toward Barry throughout this time was admirable and certainly helped Barry immensely, while also maintaining his own condition and form.

The end result, as we know, was that Chris managed to finish the last lap when Barry was finally spent and was timed out. He broke the Australian record of 41 hours (set at The Clint Eastwood in 2019), setting a new mark of 46 hours/laps.

While the numbers are impressive and the format very different from most events, it was the manner in which Chris conducted himself through the last third of the event that stood out. His empathy and concern for Barry, while drawing the very best out himself, was humbling to watch and a credit to Chris’ integrity as well as his ability.

Nomination 3: Michael Hooker, Birdy’s Backyard Ultra performance

Nomination: Michael not only completed a whopping 40 laps (40 hours) of the 6.71k loop, but his average loop time of under 34 minutes over those 40 laps is undeniably the best consistent average over 24 hours on the Backyard Ultra circuit anywhere in the world. His efforts were absolutely world-class.

Nomination 4: Stephanie Auston, Australian Women’s Open record at Gold Coast 50km

Nomination: Australian Representative and previous 6ft Track Marathon winner has shown once again that she is a demon on both mountainous races trail as well as the fast flat stuff. Nailing the GC50 to secure the win as well as the female Australian 50km record in a blistering 3:17:26, placing 3rd overall.

Nomination 5: Stephen Redfern, Hong Kong 4 Trails performance

Nomination: The Hong Kong 4 Trails Ultra Challenge is a 298km ultra across Hong Kong’s 4 long trails with an accumulative elevation of 14,500m. Taking place over Chinese New Year, athletes race the clock to starting at 9am on the first day of CNY to finish before 9pm and #Breaking60 hours.

The 2020 edition was the most competitive yet with a total of 7 finishers under 60 hours and 5 survivors under 72 hours out of the 33 competitors. Stephen Redfern completed the event in 54hours 46mins, the fastest known non Hong Kong runner to finish the event.

Stephen brings a terrific attitude and an infectious passion and love to the sport. He completed this event using his ever-evolving mindset and strong will to be the best he can be!

I believe this event plus all the other runs such as his Garage Ultra, FKTs and more that Stephen completed in 2020 during a tough year, make him a very worthy contender.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

AUTRA News Report 19-02-2025

By Kate Dzienis • February 19, 2025

The latest in race results, covering Cradle Mountain Run, City Run, Oscars 100 Hut 2 Hut and Yaberoo Trail Ultra.

Final 2024 Points Competition Results

By Alexis Oosterhoff • January 30, 2025

Results for the 2024 AUTRA Points Competition have been finalised, and are available on our Points Competition page. Full details of the top 10 (as shared on Facebook during January) are detailed below, and results for all participating AUTRA members can be found in the documents at the above link. It was a real battle throughout the year between our top two finishers, Phil Gore & Kevin "BK" Matthews, with both giving it their it their all at events, and through contributions to the community - volunteering at multiple events, and submitting articles to our monthly newsletter, Ultramag. They finished within 2km of total distance for the year (Phil on 1203.087km, and Kevin on 1205.510km), and it was only Phil's final volunteering effort on 6 Inch Trail Marathon in December that gave him the that very narrow victory. As you'd be aware from previous communications, this marks the end of the Points Competition. With trail running (of all distances) now incorporated into AU T RA's constitution, and after careful consideration of the costs of the competition payouts in it's current form, the committee felt it was time for it's retirement. This marks my seventh and final year of delivering the points competition to membership (2018-2024), after taking on the role from Cheryl Symons. It has brought me great joy in doing so, and I feel like I've had an opportunity to get to know so many of our members through seeing their race (and volunteering) performances over the years! I'm continuing in my role as the AUS/NZL statistician for DUV (from whom we shared the data for the points comp), and you can expect to continue to find your ultra-race result on their site. 1st Place - Phil Gore (WA) - 86 points Phil's achievements this year have included a massive 265.653km (and 2nd place) at the IAU 24h Asia & Oceania Championships, wins at the Red Dirt Backyard Ultra (33 laps), the Australian leg of Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship (96 laps), and the Soochow/Taipei 24h Ultramarathon (270.826km). He also knocked out an easy (!) 72km at the Light Horse Ultra 24h in between supporting his amazing wife Gemma. Those two 24h wins netted Phil new Oceania 24h Open Male records, IAU Level 1 qualifiers, and pushed him to the top of Australia's 24h trophy board (with only the great Yiannis Kouros having run further). Phil topped-up his points by contributing one article to Ultramag, worked as an Event Director at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, and volunteered at a further five events through the year. He finished on 86 points. 2nd Place - Kevin Matthews (WA) - 84 points Finishing in 2nd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Kevin Matthews. He monstered his way through the year with finishes at Australia Day Ultra 100km, Delirious WEST 200mi, 24 laps at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, 190km at Light Horse Ultra 24h, 23 laps at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, and also completed Feral Pig 100 miler, Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km. And to top things off, he contributed five articles to Ultramag, and volunteered at five events. BK ran 1205km in Ultramarathon races this year, all of them AUTRA-listed, and surpassed 100 marathon finishes (including 51 Ultramarathons!) Kevin finished the year on 84 points, a massive 34 points ahead of our 3rd place finisher Sue Robertson. 3rd Place - Sue Robertson (WA) - 50 points Finishing in 3rd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Sue Robertson. Sue completed the Ultra Series 100 miler trilogy of Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST, and rounded out her year with the Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km races. She received 30 points from the racing at AUTRA-listed events, and was awarded a further 20 points by volunteering across eight events and contributing two articles to Ultramag, for a total of 50 points for the year. Thank you Sue! 4th Place - Margie Hadley (WA) - 47 points Finishing in 4th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Margie Hadley . She was the top-female finisher at both the No Time to Die Frontyard Ultra & Wild Dog Backyard Ultra, 2nd at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, ran 182km at the Australian 24h Track Invitational and placed 3rd at Coast to Kosci. Margie received 47 points in the competition 5th Place - Melissa Robertson (NSW) - 44 points Finishing in 5th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Melissa Robertson. Melissa took out 1st place at Irrational SOUTH 200 miler, 2nd place at Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place at Hume & Hovell 100 miler, 3rd place at Rumble in the Jungle and 6th place at Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko 100 miler! She also volunteered at the GNW 50km event, receiving 44 points in the competition! 6th Place - Aaron Young (WA) - 42 points Finishing in 6th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Aaron Young . Aaron finished in 1st place at each of the Ultra Series "Triple Crown" of 200 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), 55 laps at Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship, and rounded his year out with Feral Pig 100 miler. Aaron receives 42 points, just nudging ahead of Maree Connor (who also finished on 42 points) on a count-back 7th Place - Maree Connor (NSW) - 42 points Finishing in 7th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Maree Connor. Maree had an outstanding year, achieving 2nd place with 221km (and an IAU Level 1 qualifier) at the IAU 24th Asian and Oceania Championships, 1st place at the Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place with 67km at the Southern Sydney 6h race, and 1st place with 116km at the Narrabeen Allnighter 12h. Maree also competed at Spartathlon race this year (for which she contributed an article to the September Ultramag on her experience), receiving 42 points in the competition. 8th Place - Darren Linney (SA) - 41 points Finishing in 8th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is SA's Darren Linney . Darren completed 34 laps at No Time to Die BYU, 199km at the Adelaide 24h race, and 814km at the Australian 6 Day race, for a total of 1241km raced and 41 points . 9th Place - Tristan Cameron (WA) - 40 points Finishing in 9th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Tristan Cameron. Tristan completed the Ultra Series Triple Crown of 200 mile races (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), along with Feral Pig 100 miler, for a total of 1154km raced and 40 points. 10th Place - Jen Millum (WA) - 39 points Finishing in 10th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Jen Millum . Jen finished 1st at all three of the Ultra Series Trilogy of 100 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), and was 2nd female with 35 laps at the Wild Dog Backyard Ultra. With a volunteer stint at the Yaberoo Trail Ultra, Jen finished the year with 39 points in the competition. To view the complete list of members who secured points in 2024 click here and then follow through to Points Summary under the 2024 tab. All winners have already been contacted, with cash prizes distributed for 1st - 7th places, and AUTRA Store vouchers sent for 8th, 9th & 10th.