GETTING HER LOOSE GOOSE ON

Kate Dzienis • July 26, 2018

Contributed by Sue Robertson, AURA member

My first full year of ultra running and what a year it has been! Starting with the new Yaberoo Trail Ultra of 50kms last July, it was closely followed by the Feral Pig for the 50 miler. This was my first miler, and I’d come in a little undertrained with a niggle in my right foot, but it came good just beforehand. It was the hottest day of the coming summer. I ran with Peter Jones and Caroline Fisher from the start, but we were quickly reduced to a walk due, and sadly we had to leave Caroline at the second aid station due to heat stroke. It took Peter and I close to 18 hours to finish, and it was our longest run to date.

Peter had already said he was doing the 100kms Australia Day Ultra in Australind, WA and after a little thought, I decided I was the closest I would ever be to being able to do the infamous 100kms so I signed up about two weeks after Feral.

ADU was another awesome event, and Peter and I ran/walked the first 50kms, sticking with the pacing we had chosen, and feeling good. The wheels fell off a little after 60kms, and I was walking more than I was running. Peter finished just gradually ahead of me. I was so happy when my friend Allison joined me as a pacer from the 75kms mark, and encouraged me to shuffle a bit more.

It was a special finish when I was the last one on course, and had a human arch of volunteers to bring me through the finish and race organisers Shaun Kaesler and Ron McGlinn were there to give me a big hug along. I was speechless and teary, and then handed the trophy for the longest day.

Prior to the ADU, my daughter Bianca Harding and I had decided it would be awesome to do an event together, so we decided to sign up for Wild Goose Chase Running Festival at the end of June. It was a multi day event, and at this stage we chose to sign up for the 106kms on the Saturday, and opted for the glamping package as we had to stay overnight.

A few weeks after the 100kms in January, I picked up running again and also some more stair work. Unfortunately, I ended up with a stress fracture of my second metatarsal, so was only able to cycle and swim for six weeks, and then I picked up walking.

Because of this, Bianca and I changed the event we were going to do to the Loose Goose multiday which featured an 18kms, 45kms and a 22.5kms over three days. Sadly, during this time my dad fell seriously ill and passed away, and so Bianca and I dedicated the Wild Goose experience to him.

Bianca and I arrived in plenty of time on the Friday to check out our glamping tent, have lunch and settle in and meet some of the other runners. Our friend Lynette arrived, and we all were on the start line for the first day, the 18kms hill climb.

As most of the runners shot off into the distance, Bianca and I were with Shirley and Lynette. Such beautiful scenery, along with some challenging climbs, lots of laughter and chatting, we completed day one in around 3.30 hours. I had my poles, and Bianca had picked up her first stick pole, named Boris, which got her through the many kilometers we covered.

A lovely evening by the campfire with good conversation, yummy dinner, and new and old friends, we all settled off to bed early, as most had an early start the next day.

We didn’t sleep though. We heard the 106kms runners head off at 6am, and then we had breakfast and got ready for our 8am start. It was going to be a long day, but a good one. We hiked a lot, and ran odd bits when we could; I was definitely happier to hike, and Bianca stayed with me. We enjoyed the aid station, aptly named Big G Street as it was after the big climb of the Big G, and all the crew there dressed in Sesame St characters. They looked after us before settling us on our way once more. Once we had done the first loops of 22.5kms, we went through the village, given a lift to our spirits by the crew and some friends there and we set off out again. We were ecstatic to come in over the finish line just over nine hours to cover the course, but all intact, and bonus, my foot was okay.

Much to my surprise my legs did actually work on Sunday morning. We weren’t quite back of the pack, as there were some girls training for the Oxfam walk, and they were walking, but we did hike quite a lot this day. It was great to see some of the front runners doing the 53kms when they came around past us, we could cheer them on. The hills were bigger today, or so they seemed, and I was even more grateful for the poles.

What an amazing day, we had stayed upright, we had stayed together, we had an awesome time cheering on other runners, and we had enjoyed every minute out there, even the hills. As we ran round the back of the village into the chute, you couldn’t help but get emotional, we joined hands as we crossed the finish, we had done it.

There was Shaun again, with our medal, and as he gave it to me, said this one is for your dad. We are blessed to have such amazing people who have given us such amazing events to run in, so much support, so much friendship, and goals to strive for that we never thought possible to achieve. This one was very special to run it with my daughter.

After all the podium presentations had been done, Shaun was announcing the Ultra Series Points winners. I had been luckier earlier in the season to have been on the top of the ladies leader board after three races, but there were still three more races to go at that stage, and I was only doing one of them. I was alongside some truly awesome ladies, who give this sport everything, and are the nicest and most encouraging to everyone. I was truly ecstatic to receive the plaque for third place, and an added bonus of prize money. I felt so privileged to be on that podium, such great ladies and such comradery amongst us all.

We’ll be back, and I think Bianca has the bug now too.

Pictured (feature): Sue Robertson and her daughter Bianca at Wild Goose Chase. Photograph – Shannon Dale.

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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.