BEHIND-THE-SCENES FROM FLOODED WORLD BACKYARD ULTRA CHAMPIONSHIPS: RD REPORT BY PETER CLARKE

Kate Dzienis • October 29, 2022

Contributed by Peter Clarke, Race Director

WORLD BACKYARD ULTRA CHAMPIONSHIPS – AUSTRALIA SATELLITE EVENT, MIRRIM WURNIT FARM (Vic), 15-18 October 2022

On the evening of October 13, Deep Creek (after which the Mirrim Wurnit Farm is named) burst its banks. The Macedon Ranges had more rain in that 48 hours than it had had in any 2-3 day period the past 50 years. The water level climbed up above the farm fences, and about 25% of our planned course for the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship was under water.

We were in trouble.

The race was to start at 11pm on Saturday night (7am time at Bigs Backyard in Tennessee, USA). That time was not going to change for us. The clock was ticking.

The course had already been revised owing to the torrential downpours a few weeks earlier, leading to waterlogged grass and mud making sections of the course a boggy mess. We had trimmed the course down to being basically loops of the one part we were still confident would be runnable.

During Friday, October 14 (the day before the start) we considered alternative venues and spent time on the phone to local councils. But the logistics of hosting a four day event with all that came with it in terms of the needs of runners, crews and coordinators, made that a near impossible problem to solve in 24 hours.

None of the choices were clear cut. We were searching for the least worst option. The idea of a perfect event was long gone.
We doubled down on finding a way to make it work on the farm, even though it seemed like we were out of options. The only hope seemed to be that we had about 36 hours until the start, and the rain had subsided.

We reluctantly informed runners that we were in trouble but reassured them we would find a solution (yikes!). We had to start preparing for the worst (cancellation) whilst trying to solve multiple problems. All the runners were very supportive, but nervous. They had invested a massive amount, in some cases years, of energy in making the team and the start line. Many had flown in from interstate and had already had their camping plans messed up by flooding all over rural Victoria.

That was a stressful night.

Flooding captured on camera that affected the course of this year’s event

The main message I got from runners though was that they wanted to run. They were prepared for compromise. Our WhatsApp group had been successful in preparing them for compromise but we still didn’t have an answer. They told us they were prepared to run up and down the driveway, or around and around a hay bale – but point blank, they wanted to run.

By the evening of Friday, October 14 the creek had receded and the course was no longer under water, but large sections were waterlogged. We doubled down on our main, and pretty much only, option of going ahead with the course as planned, and accepting the fact that it would be quite messy, but at least it could work. And would hopefully improve further.

The ace up our sleeve became obvious late on the Friday. A section of the road on which the farm is situated was also flooded by Deep Creek. It was more than a metre deep, and impassable, and the council closed about 4kms of road right alongside the property. We had almost 4kms of dry dirt road, closed to traffic, right next to our start line! About 20 metres from out corral!
On Saturday morning, George Mihalakellis and I went out on that road and measured a new course. A simple out and back on the closed road.

We announced to all runners that we would run the first 10 hours (Saturday overnight) on the closed road, with a plan to switch to our planned course the following morning after assessing the state of it.

In the end, the road stayed closed for the whole event. We could have switched to our farm course on Monday or Tuesday, but while the road was closed it made sense to stay on it. We liaised with the runners mainly via their crews during the event to keep them informed. We really did not want to spring changes on them during the event, and in the end I think we got it right.

The Australian team: 7 West Australians, 5 Victorians, 2 Queenslanders and a Tasmanian

The story of the race itself is best told by the runners but suffice to say that 11 of our 15 athletes logged PBs.

Team Australia came third in the world out of 37 countries, behind the USA and Belgium, and the Australian backyard ultra record was smashed by 17 hours. Several performances ranked amongst the top 20 all time backyard ultra totals.

And around the camp fire new friends were made, a true team spirit prevailed and we were all collectively amazed by what the team accomplished.

An unforgettable 100+ hour Saturday!

Pictured: John Yoon out on loop 9 at the 2022 World Backyard Ultra Championships, on the closed off road that was used as an alternative for the event. Photograph – Dead Cow Gully.

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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.