AN AUSSIE AT THE UK’S CHILTERN RIDGE ULTRA

Kate Dzienis • May 28, 2022

Contributed by Clifford Jones, AURA member (Palm Cove, Qld)

CHILTERN RIDGE ULTRA 50KM, Chiltern Hills (England), 7 May 2022

I WAS VISITING THE UK FOR PERSONAL FAMILY REASONS AND WANTING TO MAKE THE MOST OF MY TRIP, so looked for an ultra event around the weekend of 7 May as this would be in the middle of the break.

A quick review of the UK ultra scene identified the Chiltern Ridge Ultra 50km Trail as a good event to participate in. Located in the Chilterns, rolling countryside to the North West of London, the event was booked as soon as I had flights and accommodation confirmed.

My A Race for this year was the Noosa 80km, taking place 5 weeks beforehand. My coach looked at my plans with the weary gaze of someone who knows his student suffers from FOMO and we tried to formulate a plan. In the end, my only goal was to complete the event, which in retrospect was just as well!

And so it was, on the morning of 7 May, I arrived at the start line. The promised pleasant morning had turned into a cold, drizzly spring morning that only people who’ve lived in the UK fully understand.

Layers were the order of the day. Running shirt, thermal top and rain proof jacket were worn, with running vest over the top. Sun visor was worn in the hope it might eventually perk up. Sunglasses were dismissed and left in the car. Oh ye of little faith, you lived here for long enough, you should have remembered what May was like…

Clifford Jones at the Chiltern Ridge Ultra 50km Trail in the UK. Photograph – Clifford Jones.

The start was delayed due to a queue for the loo. How very English! Culturally accustomed to queuing, you don’t start until everyone is ready!

The race started in the beautiful English countryside. The Tuscan hills it was not, but the scenery was still worthy of the effort. The terrain was a mix of farmers’ fields with a sprinkling of sheep, lambs and cows as well as the occasional horse. One of the delightful things about England is ancient rights of way and whilst farmers loathe them, they allow runners, walkers and people out for the day access to areas you’d not expect to be able to access. The course also took in areas of natural beauty and historic areas under the control of the National Trust.

A particular novelty was running across two golf courses…I had to wait for a tee shot on one crossing. Didn’t want to exit the event with a golf ball to the noggin’.

There were 4 main checkpoints with 3 of them being village halls. This meant there were proper toilet facilities available. Each checkpoint was manned by lovely crew and a great feature was that a chalk board with the distance you’d run, how far to the next check point it was and the distance to the end. Well equipped with water, nutrition and nibbles, these would be essential.

You would have noticed that I hadn’t spoken about how my race went…I have problems with nutrition and on this particular day I was to experience the worst of this. I was fine and running well within myself to about 25km when nausea appeared, similar to the Noosa event. Unfortunately this time I eventually was sick, so that was a first for me! Not something I wish to repeat and definitely needs to be addressed.

I am never going to place in these events, my aim is to simply push and learn about myself, but being sick does not help with whatever race pace you had. However slow I am, I more than make up for it in being stubborn and so I worked a strategy to get to the end, with a combination of running and walking, setting goals as I went.

I strolled into the finish chute within the cut-off, collected my medal and whilst not happy with the time, happy that I completed my first overseas event. And as they say, what doesn’t kill you does make you stronger.

Pictured (feature): Clifford Jones at his Noosa race earlier in the year. 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.