WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR THE WOMEN?

Kate Dzienis • May 3, 2019

By Kate Dzienis

This past weekend at the Lighthorse Ultra 12-hour in WA, three female AURA members secured podium finishes for the women’s division, with two of the three defending their titles and one a relatively new runner. Margie Hadley, Jen Millum, and Sophee Gregory took first, second and third ladies’ positions respectively, and showed the guts and determination needed to secure their distances.

Hadley, from Henley Brook, defended her title for the third year running as first female with 123.49kms and third overall. Last year, she took first overall with 127.10kms, and racers – both men and women – heading into the event this year knew she was a contender they had to watch out for. Hadley is vicious in her training, and always steps up to the plate with guts on race day.

But if you know Hadley, then you’ll know what makes her an even more resilient ultra runner is her unpretentious nature.

“I’m happy with defending my title, and making it on the podium is always a great feeling, but my focus was on distance not placing,” she explains.

“I felt okay; not as prepared or in quite as good form as last year though. I haven’t had the lead up that I would have liked with a plantar plate injury to my left foot, but as always my awesome coach, who doubles as my crew, helped motivate me to keep going as well as the other runners, volunteers and supporters.”

Hadley averaged a 5:47/km pace throughout the day and walked away happy with her achievement.

Karnup runner Millum also defended her title with this year’s second female placing (110.47kms), and looked in strong form as she took on 45 laps of the 2.5km loop course at Yellagonga Regional Park.

She too is also known to dominate WA ultra events, and has cracked onto the scene with gutsy performances, including podium finishes at most of her races. Her strategy takes on board the philosophy of positivity to get her through the hard yards.

“Physically my training had been good; I’d increased my weekly mileage considerably and was feeling very comfortable,” she says.

“Forty-eight hours before the event, my house had been vandalised and trashed, but funnily enough whilst cleaning up, all I could focus on was the fact that at least I could still run at Lighthorse – so mentally, I was more than ready.”

For someone relatively new to the sport, Gregory from Nollamara has come into ultra running with her hands swinging and forces up. Her training in the lead up to Lighthorse was consistent and on target, with plenty of cycling and strength work.

Mentally, she hadn’t done a time race before so nerves kicked in early, but it didn’t stop her from securing third place for the ladies with 99.70kms.

“I really struggled in the early hours of the morning (midnight start for the 12-hour participants), and because this was my first night race I figured it was normal to feel fatigue,” she reveals.

“By 4am, I couldn’t go any further safely; I’d taken a fall and had started sleep walking, waking myself up tripping over my own feet. It had also gotten really cold and I had slowed down so much I was freezing.

“Once I had some caffeine though, and the sun came up, I had an incredible second wind; my mood improved, and I could pick up the pace.”

This was Gregory’s point of excitement because as everyone else was slowing down, she felt like she had just started with fresh legs.

Hadley, Millum and Gregory each have their own strengths, their own goals, and their own steps in dealing with the discomfort that comes with endurance running, but either way, they are today and tomorrow inspiring more women to aim high and get into a sport that is life changing.

Pictured (feature image): Margie Hadley on her way to defending her title at the 2019 Lighthorse 12-hour Ultra. Photograph – Lurline Byles.
Pictured (above): Race director Alex Pattinson with Margie Hadley, Jen Millum, Sophee Gregory and race director Shaun Kaesler at the 2019 Lighthorse Ultra. Photograph – Liz Pattinson/Facebook.

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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.