BREAKING THE AUSTRALIAN 6HR RECORD: A RETURN TO ULTRA RACING

Kate Dzienis • October 30, 2023

Contributed by Kirstin Bull, AURA member (St Kilda, Vic)

COBURG 24HR CARNIVAL, COBURG (VIC), 15-16 APRIL 2023

It’s been six months since I broke the 6-hour Australian record on the track in Coburg in Melbourne. As I reflect on this race, I thought I would share some thoughts on my road back to racing competitively.

A little background for you. I found my niche in ultra running after dabbling in some ultra trail running events over the years and then entering my first 100km road race on the Gold Coast in 2015. This race was the Australian 100km Championship. I felt privileged to run with some very experienced runners and learnt a lot about my body and ultra running that day. My inexperience with fuelling and nutrition in warm conditions was evident with cramps, fatigue, and the realisation that I couldn’t run until I refuelled properly. This lesson was tough, yet valuable. Thankfully, despite thinking my race was over at one point, I finished with a B qualifier and was told I was eligible to apply for the Australian 100km team. Later that year I flew to the Netherlands for the World 100km Championship. It was a dream come true to represent my country in something I loved so much. In my first International 100km road race I finished eighth in a time of 7:39:28, running 47 minutes faster than the Australian champs earlier that year. I was delighted with my improvement, and I couldn’t believe I had broken the Australian record. Earlier that morning I had written the record on my forearm for inspiration, never dreaming I would come close. The following year, I returned to race a second 100km championship in the Australian colours. This time in the beachside town of Los Alcazares, Spain. I shocked myself (and my coach and family) by winning the world 100km championship and breaking my own Australian record by another five minutes, with the new national record now standing at 7:34:25.

These two years were a huge peak in my running as I had always seen myself as a recreational, middle of the pack runner. Post winning the 100km champs I regularly found myself thinking ‘Did that really happen?’ Back to the reality of life, work, and recovery soon after the race, I made the decision to step away from racing to start a family. Despite my peak fitness, I knew I wasn’t getting any younger and I didn’t want to ‘miss the boat’. Unfortunately, I was very naïve in thinking I would be taking a short break from racing. Getting pregnant was far from easy for me. The IVF path had so many highs and lows. I thought training for a 100km race was hard, but this topped the list. Three and a half years of medical appointments, hormone injections and eight failed cycles took its toll. It was a different endurance event in my life. One I didn’t ask for. Thankfully, my stubbornness, persistence and resilience finally led my partner Virginia, and I to welcome our beautiful twins, Jasper and Zoe into the world. I don’t think anyone could have ever prepared me for what was to come and how much raising children changes your life. My life was turned upside down and is chaotic and crazy at times, yet I am forever grateful for the opportunity to raise children.

Now back to racing. This extended break meant my fitness had completely fallen away. It was not a surprise, yet time was needed to rebuild without getting injured. Fast forward to the start line of the Coburg six hour race this year. I entered this event to see if I still had my endurance. Was it still there? Did I still have the ability that I had in my thirties to hold pace for 70km, 80km, 90km? I knew I had made a decent return to running with some positive results from the previous year. Personal bests in some cross-country races and breaking 2hrs 50minutes in the 2022 Melbourne Marathon indicated that pregnancy, running after twins, living off much less, interrupted sleep and getting older had not affected me in the short term. Despite this, I still questioned my endurance and resilience. I was back working, juggling childcare bugs, and trying to squeeze in the long runs. I made the decision to find out.

As the gun sounded to commence the six-hour track race, I felt nervous and scared. What lie ahead was unknown. I ran in the dark with the other competitors and one male friend Dominic, who I had been coaching for the same event. It was raining on and off and the track was relatively quiet despite the Australian 24-hour championship in progress. It had rained very heavy overnight, and these 24 runners had been exposed to extremely difficult conditions. I used this as my inspiration. If they can run in rain for so long, what’s a few hours? With one wet foot in front of the other I began my quest to run as far as I could in six hours. I had never run further than 10,000m on the track and had never ran a timed race before. An unusual concept. I was grateful that my coach Tim Crosbie was trackside supporting me. We had spent a lot of training together. The early cold mornings, Tim on the bike and me running of course. I felt fortunate to have such a great friend and coach. Tim’s instructions early were to find the pace and rhythm. At times he would advise me to slow down and don’t race (the other competitors) and then later in the race he advised me to speed up and surge along the front straight as my pace was drifting. For most of the race I felt some loss of control in terms of data. Although I knew what 4:30min/km pace felt like, I was used to relying on my watch to provide with me fairly accurate splits. This time I had to rely on the track timing system and Tim’s feedback.

With pacing support, came nutrition support. My partner Virginia was crewing for me. I also had amazing trackside support from friends from my running group (the Crosbie Crew) who came and watched throughout the morning. I had a nutrition plan that I mostly stuck to and didn’t need any toilet stops (always a runners fear in a race). Running laps of a track is not my preferred type of race, so the support was welcomed. To race well I knew I had to distract myself from thinking about running in circles. I listened to two podcasts and some music, but before long this started to annoy me. The fatigue had set in around the 50km mark. I felt somewhat irritable but knew I need to still stay focused on the pace. More fuel was needed, and I had a good tough talk to myself. It was only 30km to go. Yes, only 30km! That was still a long way. It became a mind game. I’m sure many of you have experienced this before. Your body is telling you to stop, you have a fight in your mind, with your head wanting to push on. The fight was real this time, I had experience it before. Reassuringly I reminded myself that I had trained my mental strength during several training sessions. Those dark, cold mornings where I’d had minimal sleep, tired legs and was required to run a long tempo run or 40+ kilometre long run reminded me. Yet the fear I had was I didn’t know how strong my mind had become after such a long break from racing.

Late in the race I focused on my goals. I wanted to achieve two goals; break the Australian record and run 80km or as close as possible. Aiming high has always been my philosophy in running. You never know what you can achieve until you try. With every lap of the track, I knew I was close to both goals. With only a few laps of the race to go I tried to accelerate, feeling my left quad about to cramp, I pulled back and focused on controlling the pace. One foot in front of the other. My legs were cooked.

As the gun finally sounded, I was told I had broken the Australian record, running 79.916km. However, I was told by my crew to keep running as I would break the 50-mile record. The officials had marked the 50-mile distance on the track. It was another two laps. I was so fatigued that I didn’t argue. But I did question if I had more in me? Two laps later I finished at the 50-mile mark. Happy to finish was an understatement. I was elated to break the Australian six-hour record, despite not quite reaching 80km. I later found out that a record can’t be broken outside the specified race time, which was fine. That missing 84m of the 80km goal hurts at times and I laugh about it at other times, that is racing. You win some, you lose some.

On reflection days later, I was reassured to know that my endurance is still well and truly present. I ran this race off a much lower base of weekly mileage than my previous 100km races. It has taught me as a coach and as an athlete, that I don’t need to chase kilometres, but rather listen to what my body can cope with at the time. Balancing training and racing with family, work life and risk of injury is extremely important. I can’t finish without the answering the question of what’s next. A race that has been on the bucket list for as long as I can remember is the Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa. I’ve been told it’s the pinnacle of ultra running for many runners and I am very much looking forward to racing this one. My final thoughts are don’t let life get in the way of what you want to achieve. I am very fortunate to have such a supportive partner, coach, training partners, family, and friends. If you can find some great training partners, it makes all the difference.

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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.