2022 AURA ULTRA PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR AWARD VOTING

Ewan Horsburgh • March 29, 2023

The “AURA Ultra Performance Of The Year Award” is now open for voting by AURA Members. Nominations were received by AURA Members from by the 24th – 29th March, 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 Tuesday 4th April. Voting will commence on Friday 31st March and close at 11:59pm Tuesday 4th April.

All 5 choices must be made for the form to be valid, please submit numbered 1-5 with 1 being your first choice and 5 your last.

Nomination 1: Greg Wilson – Australian 24 Hour Track Invitational

Greg has had an amazing year competing in the Age Group of M70.

This year we believe that Greg’s performance at 24 Hour Track Invitational in July was an outstanding run with multiple Age Group records broken during his 24 Hour race where Greg achieved a total distance of 170.395km.

Greg managed to break no fewer than 6 Australian Age Group records whilst competing at the 24 Hour race.

The records that Greg had set were for the 100km, 50mile, 100mile, 6hr, 12hr and also the 24hr. Many of these records had stood for 15+ years, which goes to show just what an amazing performance this was.

Congratulations on a stellar year!

Nomination 2: Cassie Cohen – IAU Asian & Oceania 24 Hour Championships – Bengaluru

In July 2022, Cassie was part of the Australian 24 Hour team representing her country at the IAU Asian/Oceania 24 Hour Championships

Not only did Cassie take home the individual silver medal at the Asian Champs in what was considered very difficult conditions, with 214.590km and finishing only 2km behind the winner, but also help as a team to take home the Female Gold Medal at the championships.

Cassie put on a hard fought race for the entire 24 hours with almost no time off the track, whilst showing complete composure in her running.

Also to note, Cassie broke three W25 AG records for the 100mile, 200km and 24hr with what became the best distance of an Australian female for 2022. A very worthy candidate and Australian representative.

Nomination 3: Phil Gore – Big Dog’s Backyard World Championship

In October 2022, Phil toed the line at Big Dog’s Backyard World Championship, becoming the last Australian standing.

Phil Gore covered a staggering 509.656K in 76H. This was not only a World Class performance, but showed that he could push way beyond the 54H/362K that he achieved only a few months earlier at Birdy’s Backyard Ultra.

Also to note with Phil having had another great year, placing 1st in the AURA points comp for 2022, along with winning the Australian 24 hour Track Invitational running 250.762km for 1st place (these both are also deserving of recognition).

Nomination 4: Stephen Redfern – Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 3100mile – New York

Stephen Redfern’s 2728 mile performance at the race has been nominated multiple times for good reason.

Stephen is worthy of this award because of the persistence and grit he demonstrated over such an extraordinarily long duration of this event. After being sidelined for days because of very serious foot blistering and nerve damage, he returned to the course despite having lost almost a week at a critical juncture of the race. He continued to stand on the start line every day of the 52 day event, even when he was not allowed to run, so that he could say he was still there for the race and to support the other runners. He could have easily quit and gone home once pulled from the race that week. He played the hand he was dealt which is at the heart of any standout performance. Stephen’s performance inspired an incredible amount of people for his dedication to the race, the distance and to the challenge.

He didn’t come First, nor Second…he did it for himself, not for the glory, and brought a lot of awareness to the Australian ultra running community about this particular race. He made it clear that it was a mental, and spiritual, ability he had to maintain throughout – not just physical. It was the mindfulness and internal challenge he needed to overcome to make it to the end of day 52.

Nomination 5: Allicia Heron – Sri Chinmoy 48 hour

Allicia Heron has had a great 12 months but her standout performance for 2022 was her run at the Sri Chinmoy 48 hours, where she became the National Champion with a distance of 329.392kms, which also secured her the W35 age group record.

She also achieved her 24 hour qualifier of 204.9km in this event which saw her selected for the Asian Champs. Impressive to then go on and continue running for another 24 hours!

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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.