COVID-19 CLASSIC, A 50KM PERSONAL TIME TRIAL

Kate Dzienis • June 30, 2020

Contributed by Andy Heyden, AURA member

Having trained hard for the London Marathon for the first three months of the year, I was in great form back in March when we entered the ‘new normal’ world of social distancing and all events cancelled or postponed. I was so looking forward to a family trip to London and another go at the London Marathon, 14 years after my last and 25 years after my first.

After the initial disappointment I was determined to use my running to keep up my focus and mental health. I wasn’t going to let the training peak go to waste either so I ran a solo marathon around my local suburb of St Ives in Sydney and still broke my PB by 90 seconds, lowering my best to just over 2hrs 35mins.

It was one of those race days when I just clicked into rhythm and felt awesome. I held back for 30km, still felt great at 35km and after averaging a 3:41 pace consistently, ran the last 2kms in 3.30 and 3.26.

Huge thanks to mate and coach Gary Mullins for the training plan and support on the day.

In the days after the marathon my legs felt great and I had to hold back to rest and not get back running too far, too soon. I started planning my next goal, thinking I could better my 50km and 100km PBs in this shape. Based on my performance, the Australian 50km record (male over 45) was within reach so I focused on that. But with no races any time soon, how could I make it happen?

A few phone calls later and I knew what was needed. Thanks to Jodie Oborne for her positive support. An official course measurer, a fair amount of paperwork to get my local street loop certified and a few time keepers and witnesses to be available on the day. Game on. The plan was to run the same 1.25km I had used for my marathon, walking distance from my house. I had to hold a 3:43 pace having held 3:41 for the marathon and felt fresh at the end.

I settled on trying the record attempt eight weeks later, having read a few articles on how soon you can be back up after a marathon. It was ambitious but I wanted something to keep me focused while we awaited ‘normality’ to resume.

Once again I turned to Gary Mullins for his thoughts and feedback and he set out a plan of what I should do over the next 6 to 8 weeks. I’d need a few easy weeks to recover then build the kilometres back up for four weeks before a two-week taper.

The signs were good, soon I felt fresher again and ready to have a go.

The challenge was fairly clear, using the 1.25km looped local street course as for my marathon. I’d run a similar pace and coach Gary would accompany me on a bike. We had an official lap counter and witnesses. The record would be official if I could make the target time.

Pre-race day and I was all set. The only problem was that I just wasn’t feeling perfect, I’d had a stressful week of work and felt a bit drained. I hoped it was just nerves but had a headache the previous day and felt flat.

I was up at 6am and felt okay, not sick, so was going to give it a crack as planned. Given it was my own ‘race’ I checked the street course. I needed to clear a fresh dump of autumn leaves from a huge Liquid Amber tree on one of the corners and then I set up my drinks table on a friend’s front lawn.
Off we went, and I built into race pace on the first few laps and started clicking into gear at 3:42 per km pace. It felt okay but not as easy as it did on marathon day.

Eight weeks earlier I went through the first few kms at 3.37 pace and was holding back. This time I was having to push to hold 3.42.
I took a gel every 25mins and the time passed reasonably fast but it just wasn’t as smooth and my head felt a bit foggy. I pushed through and maintained race pace up to the halfway point at 25km. Gary gave me some company on the bike and a few mates joined too.

My legs were okay but just not as fresh as I would have liked – I hoped for a second wind and pushed on. My pace was slipping and I was losing momentum. I tried to win the mental battle and tick off the laps still hoping I could summon some extra strength. Thirty kilometres down, but my pace was slipping to 3:44 and then to 3:50.

My family and a few friends had gathered to cheer me on but it was starting to hurt. My hamstring was tightening and the record was slipping out of reach. Back in April I was chatting to dog walkers and smiling at the kids. This time I had nothing to give.

It was time to re-assess, my mind was saying ‘pull out and stop’ but there was still a PB to be claimed and I don’t like giving up.

I pushed on and focused on getting through 40km, then 42km. I had another gel at 45km and finally could start counting down the laps. My pace had continued slipping, now it was hard to hold 4min kilometres. The short hill on the course had been of no concern during my marathon but this time it was sapping my energy and killing my pace on each lap.

It was getting ugly and I wanted stop and at this point it came down to mental toughness. I pushed through and finally had just one lap to go. I gritted it out and crossed the toilet paper finish line held up by my two daughters.

It wasn’t the result I wanted, I didn’t even get close to the Australian age group record but it was a new 90 second PB at 3hrs 15mins to add to my marathon PB.

In hindsight it was clearly greedy trying to back up eight weeks after the marathon and expect to nail another effort without peaking perfectly. National records don’t come easy and don’t deserved to be claimed in an ‘after-thought’ race.

At least the run brought me back to earth and reminded me I am 46 years old and human. I wish I could have ‘bottled’ how well I had felt on my April marathon day but those perfect days don’t come around often and that’s what makes them even more special.

I’m glad I had a go, I enjoyed the experience and inspired a few of the locals who watched on. You don’t know until you try.

Huge thanks again to the guys that helped me make it happen. Thanks to AURA president Ewan Horsburgh for coming down to watch given he lives close by and thanks to Paul Hannell for the course measurement and ‘race’ directing. It was great sharing the journey with good mate and coach Gary Mullins too and hey another PB at 46 years young.

Pictured: Andy Heyden (left) running in his 50km personal time trial. 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.