A WINDY ULTRA IN SCOTLAND DOESN’T DETER LOWE

Kate Dzienis • December 12, 2018

Contributed by Ryan Lowe, AURA member

On Monday, September 10 of this year, myself along with my training partner and team mate Dom Perry departed Sydney en route to the World Sky Running Championships in Kinlochleven, Scotland. Here, I was to run in the Solomon Ben Nevis Ultra, an ultra which covers a distance of 52kms and features a total elevation gain of 4000m, and Dom was racing in the Solomon Ring of Steel.

Before our respective races though we managed to squeeze in a spot of sightseeing. First stop, Edinburgh. We spent a day here walking around the tourist sites and even got a light run in as we explored the Old Town and ran up Arthur’s Seat. We continued the tourist gig as we moved on to Loch Ness before heading to Kinlochleven, the race headquarters.

When we arrived, we decided to get a feel for the environment and work out just what exactly we had gotten ourselves into. So, dressed in shorts and t-shirts, we ascended a nearby 1000m high mountain only to discover that the summit was freezing, with gale force winds to boot…back down in the village, I quickly realised that my race kit was ill-equipped and lacking in the thermal department so I quickly fixed this with the purchase of thermal gloves and a beanie.

Feeling confident with my recent purchases, I felt ready to take on any challenge the weather might throw my way.

But then on Thursday night at 10pm, the day before the race, I was notified of extreme winds and snow on the summit of Ben Nevis. These warnings not only meant that I’d get to break in my thermals, they were alsoinevitably making the passing of the Carn Mor Dearg Arete (CMD) dangerous.

The 52kms ultra, with 4000m of elevation that I had trained so hard for, quickly became a 49kms race with an 1800m elevationgain. I admit that I was disappointed to hear of this change,seeing as I had put so much emphasis on climbing and prioritising elevation throughout each training session, but I can understand that they had to put the runners’ safety first.

Race day! I woke up at 6am to find the rain (which had continued each day of the trip so far) had stopped. Conditions were still windy and cold, but I had high spirits and was pumped up and ready to race.

Since the race starting time had been pushed back to 10am, I had plenty of time to eat, ease into the weather and warm up.

By 9.45am, I had made my way to the start line, and assumed my position in the second row. At 10am on the dot, we were off.

The race started off fast, with a 1km stretch of road that soon turned into trail, and then straight into an 800m climb. The technical grind was inundated with the constant crossing of streams of water from all the rain.

After roughly an hour, I reached the top of the first climb and began the traverse across an awesome valley engulfed by big mountains. I made sure to take the time to look up and absorb the beauty I was immersed in, and to think about the amazing opportunity I had been given to participate in this ultra. It was a truly an incredible setting.

As I approached the first major descent, the trail ended and it became a matter of following a series of flags the fastest way possible. It was a super muddy and slippery mountain, covered in rocks hiding amongst the long grass. Instantly having trouble staying upright, I was flat on my back, but surprisingly I was having the time of my life rolling and sliding around out of control. After sliding down most of the descent, I came to a river crossing after which I ran along a 5kms stretch of river trail. Some sections here allowed for fast and compact running, while throughout others I found myself trenching my way through thigh-deep, boggy mud. This stretch of river trail them led into a single trail through an epic rainforest.

About 25kms in, I reached the first and only check point coming in, in the 40th position. Dom was waiting here for a quick exchange of bottles and with some Hammer Nutrition, and not before too long I was on my way, heading back to the finish line. Knowing that the last 24kms was going to be fairly flat (due to the course change) I decided to pick up the pace and give it my all.

I slowly start picking runners off, and managed to run my way into 31st position in an overall time of 4:36:57.

Stoked with my result and grateful for the opportunity, I found my time in Scotland to be an awesome experience that I hope I can one be a part of again.

Pictured: AURA member Ryan Lowe enjoying his time racing at the Solomon Ben Nevis Ultra. Photograph – Supplied.

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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.