BRISBANE HOSTS FIRST SPARTAN TRAIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Kate Dzienis • August 31, 2021

Race Director’s Report by Brisbane Trail Ultra 2021

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND HOSTS THE FIRST SPARTAN TRAIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT AT THE PRESTIGIOUS BRISBANE TRAIL ULTRA 2021

Spartan Trail World Championship (STWC) is the toughest event in Southeast Queensland, with almost a 50% drop out rate for the BTU100Mi, (45% of male field finishing and 79% of female starters finishing). You don’t race an event like this, you survive it.

The stunning Brisbane Trail Ultra course attracted the attention of the STWC due to the degree of difficulty, beautiful virgin rainforest trails and atmospheric finish line, being at the top of the Kangaroo Cliffs, yes, they must climb those infamous stairs with only 300m to go. The BTU is an Australian standout event that follows in the footsteps of European ultra-trail events by connecting the trails to the villages or cities by finishing along the Brisbane River, and showcasing the Brisbane City Council light show on the bridges and buildings as they finish their final 4km of their grueling adventure challenge. The course blows the mind, tests the body, draws out the tears and the biggest smiles anyone has seen on runners after they have finished their 100 Mile (160km) course.

Records fell across the event with the unprecedented $17,000 of cash prize pool up for grabs, being the most generous Trail Running event in Australia, drawing the cream of the crop to the start line of the BTU100Mile (STWC) BTU110 (AURA National Trail Running Championship), BTU30 ( STWC). This is a massive step in the right direction for elite trail running athletes who sacrifice so much to be at the start and even more to be at the finish line of an event. The biggest prize pool seen at an Australian trail running event attracted Aidon Hobbs (BNE), who is a national steeplechase representative toe the line and out-pace local legend Ben Duffus (BNE), in a time of 2:00:51, breaking the record by 18 minutes, followed by UTA50 winner Tom Brimelow, Victorian Brodie Nankervis (VIC) (national orienteering representative), and Kiwi trail running legend Vajin Armstrong (NZ), who just placed 2nd at UTA100 to race the BTU30 to be part of the prestigious STWC, Vajin risked a trip across the Tasman and made it through before the border bubble blew up. All 5 men broke the course record, (arguably harder as we now have the infamous Kangaroo cliffs to climb) in fact top eight men broke the record and last year’s winner Lachlan Jamieson came in 8th place, taking 3 minutes off his record time, with Hammer Athlete Quinton Gill (313) coming in 6th 2:14:50 ACT Athlete and Team La Sportiva Runner and BTU60 2019 winner, Sam Burridge (302)2:15:50 coming in 7th. The BTU30, STWC women’s field was equally impressive. We saw Cecilia Mattas (336) (UTA100 1st place 2021) breaking the legendary Beth Cardelli 2019 course record. We know that prize money will push athletes and increase the competitiveness of the field, with Spartan Pro Team 2nd runner Monika Holmwood (UTA951 2nd) taking the trip from the ACT to the BTU, with and Dominique Ferguson placing 3rd and Brisbane Locals, Krystal Neumann, Katie Mackenzie (BTU60 2020 2nd place) coming in 4th and 5th.

Athletes in 2020 and 2021 must be so mentally tough, with rolling lockdowns to prepared for. Only the week before the BTU the Gold Coast Marathon was cancelled for the second time in a row due to a snap lockdown. The BTU was lucky, with the timing of the event, as well as being big enough to be a great event, but small enough to be able to manage the runners in waves at the start line, sending off runners 10 at a time, and 30 seconds apart to ensure CovidSafe social distancing. The ultra-trail event is also fortunate as it is spread out over a distance up to 100 Mi with a 36 Hour cut off, with runners also spread across 6 different events and finishing at the finish line for 24 hours, meaning the finish line social distancing can also be maintained, on top of it also being a safer open-air outdoor event, with the majority of it being held in the D’Aguilar National Park, Brisbane Forest Park and along the Brisbane River Parklands.

An impressive field of runners lined up to race with podiums were full of either Interstate or international. The bar has been raised; the barriers smashed. La Sportiva Athlete Matt Crehan (Victorian border gambler) became our first and only runner the break the 20-hour time barrier with 19:53:14, closely followed by local runner Nick Bamford, 20:05:32. Then came Rob Tabuteau in his first 100Mi attempt, with Craig Robinson 4th (NSW) and Ingo Ernst in 5th (ACT). The women event was equally as exciting with Maree Connor (NSW) becoming our first female runner to break the 24-hour barrier in 23:29:50. She was chased by junior young gun, Jacqui Bell (Red Bull Athlete) who took almost 4 hours off her time finishing in a 24:55:09, Carmen Atkinson from the Sunshine Coast was 3rd with a respectable 26:18:51, Carol Robertson, who every year has stepped it up, 2019, 2nd place BTU60, 2020 2nd place BTU110, now in 2021, she has placed 4th BTU100Mi. Sheree Barnes, the Brisbane Trail Runners favourite, coming in with the biggest blister the ultra-world has ever seen at the end of an event, still intact came in 5th. The top 5 women all broke the record for the BTU100Mi, which in 2019 and 2020 only had 3 finishers in total. This is a massive improvement of women at the BTU100Mi, in fact, the women’s field outscored the men for % of finishing 76.9% to 45.8% with 10 finishers from 13 starters in the BTU100Mi event.

There were championships taking place across three events with the BTU110 being the selection event for the AURA Long Course (100km) National Trail Running National Championship. The male and female field was strong, however, La Sportiva athlete Hayley Teale was a late withdrawal due to an injury, it placed 2019 2nd place female (14:15:43), B100 Winner 2020, Jessica Schluter, became the favourite. Jess took almost an hour off her 2019 time to finish in 13:17:45. This is the 2nd time Jess Schulter has won the AURA Long Course National Trail Running Championship which is fantastic to see. She was chased by Jen Mullin (WA)2nd and Hoa Banh (SA) 3rd. The male race to become the AURA Champ was on from the start, the men had something to prove and wanted the win and the bragging rights for the year. It was a pain threshold tester, being classed as one of the toughest events in the Oceanic Region for the 100km distance, you had to hurt to be able to win in this talented field. The lead pack of four guys stayed together until 2020 winner Andrew Dey, who is a road marathon specialist, tapped out, and DNF after 75km. He knew that Mike Carroll, Piotr Babis, and Matthew Dunn has risked two weeks quarantine to make it to the start line, so much more was on the line for them. Then there were three, the three men, all from three different states or territories raced it to the finish line. No records were broken, but they went close to stunning Vlad Shatrovs’ (NSW) 2019-time, Mike Carrol (ACT), finishing in 11:31:46 on an arguably more difficult course, with Piotr Babis (TAS) under 6 minutes behind and Matthew Dunn (VIC) coming in under 12 hours with 11:52:40.

The BTU60 was an exciting event with rising star Matt Gore winning with a blistering time of 5:32:07 with Yun Phua in 2nd and 1st female Reesha Lewis coming in 3rd, only 3 minutes behind 2nd place male, with ACT runner Patricia McKibbin placing 2nd and returning 2020 3rd podium placed Rebecca Idens taking 3rd, now two years running but with a personal best by 30 minutes.

The BTU is a actioned packed weekend, with some short course “Sprints” kicking off with the race within a race, BTU- Red Bull Climb that was taken out by the classy Aiden Hobbs and Cecilia Mattas who both ran the BTU30. In 2021 the BTU introduced two “Sprint” events, the BTU20 and BTU10. The BTU20 has a surprise upset with a local female, Anna Munro taking out line honours, beating all the men and doing the women proud with an impressive time of 1:41:30, she was an outstanding 9 minutes ahead of second-place Rory Kilpatrick (233)1:52:53.

In the BTU10, it was all about who ran the smartest with the front pack getting a little bit excited at the first turn, missing it completely in the rush, and ran an extra 5km, it was a classic trail running F’Up and what makes trail running so exciting, it’s not about how fast you are but also how good you are at reading the course and making sure you follow the course markers. The inaugural BTU10 winners are Daniel Keenan (53)1:00:57 (New Course Record) and Jaimee Trembearth (15)1:05:52 (New Course Record)

The endorphins were running high, the recent snap covid lockdown stress released, and the runners could safely race, relax, connect and enjoy a little bit of trail heaven before the South East Queensland was thrown back into another snap lockdown and the world seemed to change again.

Pictured: AURA’s Matt Crehan taking out the BTU100mi event at the Brisbane Trail 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.