HEPWORTH ACCEPTS PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR AWARD

Kate Dzienis • January 30, 2019

By Kate Dzienis

Every year, AURA asks its members to nominate an ultra runner who they think is deserving of the Performance of the Year award. Once shortlisted, members are also given the opportunity to vote for the person they believe should win it, and for 2018 the accolade has been handed to none other than Annabel Hepworth from Castlecrag, Sydney.

Based on a particular event for the nominated year, Hepworth humbly accepted her new win due to an astonishing performance in the 2018 Adelaide 6 Day, where she secured 742kms – the longest distance for a female in a six day event in the world for the year.

Earlier in the year, Hepworth had already completed two other six-day circuit events – the Across the Years in Phoenix, Arizona over the 2017/18 new year and 3 Days at the Fair (the six-day option) in New Jersey in May.

She had also finished her fourth Big Red Run where doing the event took her to a lifetime 1000kms of running the Simpson Desert but that hadn’t deterred her from the Adelaide 6 Day.

“In my experience, the endurance and skills of knowing what works for you on a six day are long lasting so I felt as though I was inherently fit enough for Adelaide and that the earlier events were training,” she says.

“On top of that, I’d done a few other shorter events closer to Adelaide, largely out of a sense of adventure although I felt the kilometres on my legs would probably serve me well on Adelaide. These types of event prepare you for the various lack of creature comforts that all build up to add to the difficulty of a multi-day like sleeping somewhere noisy, not necessarily having access to showers, not having anywhere to hide from people, and having to find ways to stay entertained.
“for me, events are the training.”

The 2018 Adelaide 6 Day went incredibly well for Hepworth, and to disclose to all, she wasn’t expecting to top 740kms. She ran it the way she would any other six day event, although had to make a conscious decision to have a crack at sleeping less than the five or six hours a day she had taken on previous events.

“I have an incredibly strong circadian rhythm, so felt there was nothing for me to gain by going out hard to bank a lot of distance in those first 48 hours, although that’s a strategy that some other multi-day runners can use to great success,” she admits.

“The first two days went smoothly for me, I just ran and walked to feel; the third day was hot and a spectacular storm rolled in that night.

“Despite the reality that fatigue slowly creeps over you across the duration, I went into the second half of the race feeling strong and happy for really the whole time.”

Minor blistering was the only real problem she had to keep an eye on, and Hepworth got a chance to see koalas in the trees a few times, but it wasn’t until the final day that it became apparent to her she could possibly get to 700kms.

“I started the last 24 hours on about 600kms, and for once I wasn’t jetlagged or thousands of kilometres away from my husband and daughter, which helped,” she says.

“It wasn’t until that evening when I saw a Facebook post about how I was doing and how it stacked up against the top female performances at the Hungary 6 Day that I started to focus on trying to pass the 700+kms that was achieved by a Swedish woman in Hungary.

“To my surprise, I still had a couple of hours to go when I got to the 721km that Kristina Palten got in Hungary in 2018; I was going to kick back at that point except David Billett asked if I was going to try and creep up Australia’s all-time six-day ladder to a spot behind Dipali Cunningham.

“I had to quickly scramble to find the ladder Jodie Oborne had recently updated as it would never have occurred to me to target a place on that ladder so I just focused and got a fair bit of running in over those last hours.”

Hepworth says being awarded Performance of the Year is an incredible achievement for her, and was elated to have been recognised for her efforts.

“It was thrilling to get recognition from my ultra running peers in Australia for how I did on this race,” she explains.

“I’m hopeful we’ll see continued interest in multi-days and that we can restore Australia’s reputation as a location for a world-class six-day which was how we were viewed in the era when the Colac and Campbelltown races were being held.

“It’s especially rewarding as Australia punches above its weight in the sport.

“Given Mick Thwaites was also nominated for his standout run on the six-day in Hungary, I was delighted that we had two six-day performances nominated for the award.

“I feel sometimes as though even other ultra runners are puzzled as to the appeal of a six-day circuit race so it was exciting to have the resurgence of interest in this type of event reflected in this year’s nominations.”

So where to from here for Hepworth?

This year, or perhaps 2020, she is interested in trying her hand at either a 1000kms or a 10-day race, and is yet undecided which race to target.

But watch this space for Hepworth and the Sri Chimnoy six day in New York as well as the next Adelaide 6 Day.

Pictured (feature): Annabel Hepworth at the 2018 Adelaide 6 Day event. Photograph – Ultra Runners SA.

Pictured (above right): Hepworth, in the red shirt, competing at January’s SA 100k Track Championships. Photograph – Lachlan Miller/Ultra Runners SA.

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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.