Jessica Smith takes women’s record in the backyard ultra

Kate Dzienis • March 31, 2022

Just weeks after taking on the Delirious W.E.S.T 100 miler in mid-February and taking 2^nd Female, Jessica Smith conquered the backyard ultra over the weekend of 18-20 March and claimed her name to be first Australian woman to reach a backyard distance of 275km and 41 completed loops.

With well-known West Aussies names Margaret Hadley and Jen Millum right alongside her as the last three women to battle it out at Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra, Smith bowed out with class and grit as she made the decision to DNF after 41 laps.

Her goal for Herdy’s was to simply make the second sunrise on Sunday morning (the event began on Friday, 18 March at 4pm).

“For these types of events, I don’t like to set a distance target because I think it becomes too easy to quit once that’s been hit,” she said.

“Knowing that the hardest hours are between 1am and 5am, I set the goal of sunrise, knowing that the sun should hopefully be able to perk me up for a few more. To actually get there requires a lot more short term goals and milestones that I then aimed to reach along the way.”

Keen to learn what Smith’s training was like? She shares her strategies.

“For me, the training for a backyard ultra is all about time on feet. As much as possible, I tried to do double days and back-to-back long days,” she explained.

“Because of work and study commitments, I did find it hard to fit the training in, but I firmly believe that if you want it bad enough, you’ll find the time. For me this would often be 4am runs before a 12 hour shift on a mine site, followed by 1-2 hours of study in the evening.”

Some of her stats for those who love numbers:

Fastest Lap: Lap 1 (43:58)
Slowest Lap: Lap 41 (57:07)
Avg Lap Time: 51 minutes
Avg Lap Pace: 7.30/km
Calories Burnt: 19,029

It’s interesting to note that Smith used a number of different strategies throughout the race, but in the end, all were some sort of variation of a walk/run.

“Over the course of the race, I tried a 4/1, 4/2, 2/2, 3/2…for one lap, I tried running the sunny sections and walking the shade, but I found it didn’t really work for me,” she said.

“I like the structure of timed laps. I also found it really helpful to jump on with different groups doing different strategies, seeing if I liked it and trying it out for a few laps. The variety absolutely helped!

“When my crew told me that both Margie and Jen had decided to DNF, I just remember looking at them both and saying to myself that I had really and truly better give that sunrise goal a good crack! At this point, there was still about 15 hours away, so the thought process switched to okay – how do we get there. What do I need to do mentally and physically to make that happen.

“I was very fortunate to have a fellow runner in Chris Martin who had the exact same goal as me – make the second sunrise. We worked together through the night, picking each other up when the other was down and just supporting and motivating each other to see the sunrise. That 6am lap was pretty special.

“Coincidentally, it was also the record lap.”

After 41 laps, what was Smith’s deciding factor to DNF?

“In my head, I’d quit and un-quit so many times between laps 39 and 41. Lap 42 started, I walked the first 200m and it took 5 minutes. I wasn’t able to actually run and the legs had finally just said enough. I took a big deep breath and made the decision to turn around back to the start and ring the cow bell.

“It’s hard to put into words what that felt like. Happy it was over, proud of what I’d achieved, and just really looking forward to sitting down and not having to get up!”

Recovery has been going well for Smith, who was focusing on eating and hydrating as soon as she finished. She went for a recovery walk a day later to test how the body had pulled up, and she was happy to report that despite some general swelling and soreness, nothing was broken, fractured – no injuries.

There’s nothing on the cards at this stage for Smith, however with the Lighthorse Ultra coming up in late April, she may look into entering that.

“For now, it’s just rest, recover, and enjoy the moments!”

Pictured: Chris Martin with his 3rd Male boot trophy and Jessica Smith with her 1st Female golden boot. Image – Supplied/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.