CREHAN RECAPS HIS CRADLE VICTORY

Kate Dzienis • February 28, 2021

Contributed by Matt Crehan, 1st Male Cradle Mountain Run and AURA member

Cradle Mountain Run 80km, 6 February 2021, Cradle Mountain Tas

Last February saw the 41st edition of Australia’s oldest ultra marathon, the Cradle Mountain Run. A running event that traverses the entire length of Tasmania’s iconic Overland Track, from Cradle Mountain to Lake Saint Claire, approximately 80km. As a group of around 60 runners gathered at the pre-dawn start line, a sense of nervous excitement hung in the air. Overall, I think people were relieved to be racing again after Covid-19 put a spanner in the works of everyone’s race calendar. But there was also a real apprehension of what lay ahead, with 90mm of rain falling the previous night. For the second year running, it was going to be a wet one!

This was my third time running in the event, although fourth time over the course, having hiked it a few years back. I remember thinking at the time that it seemed crazy people could cover a week-long hike in a single day, but now I guess I am one of those crazy people.

I first ran it in 2019, treating it much more of a running adventure than a race. I took my time and soaked it all in, stopping for roughly one million photos. I had so much fun that I was back again in 2020, this time deciding to try and be a little more competitive with it. Still appreciating the landscapes and taking a few photos, but with a more focused mindset. A successful campaign then led to me lining up again in 2021, which really shows the pull that race has on those that have run it before.

And for good reason – the course is spectacular! I was a little weary of signing up for this year, not sure if interstate travel was going to be possible by February. This sentiment was probably shared by many, as reflected in the largely Tasmanian cohort for this year’s event. However, I do have to commend the Cradle Mountain Run Committee for having a very generous refund policy in the case of a withdrawal.

So, on a cool February morning we all lined up on the boardwalk outside Waldheim cabins. A thin ribbon of boardwalk through the Button Grass plains, the Pandanis growing along the creek line reminding us how unique this landscape is. With no room to overtake in the first kilometres, participants self-seeded and I found myself up the front. This suited me okay as I was keen to run a quick time, and also keen to not get held up on the early climbs. I had put down 8:15 as my predicted time, hoping to improve a little on last year.

Leading in to the race I felt that training was going well, and I was confident that I could hit that time, or at least give it a crack. But the weather forecast, and the previous night’s deluge certainly put a big chink in that armour. Regardless of this, I took off pretty quick as dawn broke, with local runner Damon Whish-Wilson hot on my heals. Last year Damon and I ran together for the first 20-30 km, and this year would prove to be the same. We were running pretty much stride for stride up and over Marion’s lookout, the first and biggest climb of the day.

The boardwalk and rocky track towards the start teased us with the possibility of keeping our feet dry, but before long it was time to embrace the wet as much of the track was basically a river bed. As we got up on the plateau and past Cradle Mountain to our right, we were greeted to a magnificent sunrise. The clouds parting enough to light up Barn Bluff to the west. Damon took the lead around here, and I was happy to tuck in behind him, stopping for the occasional photo but not letting him get too far out of sight. We stayed together all the way to Pelion, the first cut off point around 30km in. I hadn’t really been paying attention to my watch up to this point, just focused on keeping up with Damon, when he mentioned that we had run that section pretty quick, and it turned out to be around 3 hours. Quicker than I had anticipated but I was feeling good so when Damon stopped to refill his bottle in a creek just after the checkpoint, I pushed on ahead.

I find the section after Pelion quite difficult. It is undulating and the tree roots make getting into a rhythm rather difficult. However, running through the sections of cool temperate rainforest really makes up for any low points physically, as it feels a bit like you are running through a dream. The only downside of experiencing the course in this format is not deviating down any of the side trips, which were highlights of my hike years earlier. But I told myself I’d come back again for that soon. At around 40km, with the help of the descent down past Mt Pelion East, I started to feel good again. I decided to take advantage of this, popped a caffeinated gel and came into the Windy Ridge campsite (52km) in a little over 5 hours.

One of the great things about the overland track is the diversity of terrain. When hiking it seems that each day is different, and when running it, the landscape changes every couple of hours. As I approached Narcissus, on the top of Lake Saint Claire, the forest became dryer, dominated by tall Eucalypts rather than southern rainforest species. Still feeling good, I thought I’d set myself the arbitrary goal of trying to get through that final checkpoint in under six hours. Anticipating it around every corner, I narrowly missed this target and went through in 6:01. Close enough I thought. I went straight through without stopping for anything other than to swipe my timing card, despite it being the only aid station on the course.

I’ll admit after being this ahead of my original time goal, thoughts of Andy Kromar’s incredible 1996 course record of 7:25, started floating through my head. Trying to do maths on the run three quarters of the way through a technical ultra is never a good idea, and while I may have thought it was in reach for a split second, a couple of kilometres on the windy technical terrain alongside the lake quickly threw that out the window. I tried moving as quickly as I could, but I find this section really hard to keep up momentum. There are lots of roots underfoot and the trail changing direction every few metres. My goals quickly changed to trying to duck under 8 hours. This seemed a lot more feasible, although definitely not a given with the pace I was moving. I was also beginning to worry others in the race might be moving better than I was and coming up on me any minute.

After 17kms of winding trail through the beautiful Nothofagus forest, I finally popped out onto the gravel paths leading to the Last Saint Claire visitor centre. I could taste the finish! With a big grin on my face I managed to come across the line first in a time of 7:49. So stoked! Stoked as well to see my training partner Matt Dunn come across the line in second, on his first time on the Overland. Damon rounded out the men’s podium, with Amy Lampretch taking out the female race, followed by previous winner Emma Flittner, and La Sportiva athlete Gill Fowler.

Well done to everyone who completed the course on the day, in what were quite wet and trying conditions. Thanks to the Cradle Mountain Run committee for once again putting on such an amazing event, and thanks to Bogong Equipment and La Sportiva Australia for helping me get there. Look forward to lining up again next year!

Pictured: 2021 Cradle Mountain Run winners Matthew Crehan and Amy Lamprecht. Photograph – Cradle Mountain Run website/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.