KENNEDY SETS GOAL AT BUNBURY TRACK ULTRA

Kate Dzienis • August 28, 2021

Contributed by David Kennedy

24h Track Ultra, 14-15 August 2021, Bunbury WA

On the weekend I managed to run 202.202K at the Bunbury Track Ultra. It was amazing to have Sharon and Justin Scholz find themselves at the start line during their bike ride around Australia. These guys have been at all but one of my previous seven 24-hour races in 4 different countries and 3 different states. Race director Ron Mcglinn podiumed in the first race where I hit 100K in Bunbury back in 2007 as did Nathan Fawkes and with Rick Cooke and Mick Francis in attendance it was almost a family reunion.

He’s how it went down:

Leading into the race I hadn’t done regular long runs in about 4 years so the last 12 weeks I had to get stuck in and managed to do about 12 long runs including back to back WTF recons, Kep Ultra, Goldfields 50K and a solo 50K out near the 6 Inch course. Other neglected training had to be picked up with some regular strength work, stretching and fast walking making a long-awaited comeback. Come race day I was well tapered and looking forward to running around and around. I had set the goal of 200K, well below my PB but achievable if the body held together.

About 2 hours in my ankle which I had rolled 10 days before started to play up and I wondered if this might mean an early finish to my race. I knew the ankle wasn’t a serious injury, but the timing was very unfortunate. From 2- 8 hours I was just trying to tick off the Ks, wait for the weather to get cooler and survive without any caffeine assistance. Around 8 hours or 7pm I had my first home made iced coffee and started to feel better. I was able to spend an hour walk/running with Hannah who had just started her 12 hour. At one stage I checked the rankings and found myself 8K behind Connor Quinn with 80 compared to his 88K. It looked like I would need to work pretty hard from here on in to get the victory. With my music on and No Doze in my veins I gradually started to eat into the lead.

Unfortunately, Connor’s knee wasn’t happy and he was forced to call it quits at 134. Tom Grunnil who had also been in front earlier had pulled out too which left me out in front all by myself with no other runners likely to break 170K. It was tempting to offload the pressure and take an easy win but 200 was the goal and it was very much within reach. I had needed 8K/hour from 4 hours in and I was steadily trying to make enough ground that I might be able to walk the last hour. This was both a margin of error and laziness mixed with the desire not to vomit which is usually more easily achieved with a long cool down. Around 17 hours my shin started to rebel which was my old Tahoe injury coming back. I haven’t run more than 134K since then and even that was LOS format so really just a bunch of 6K runs. I really didn’t want to aggravate it too much but by experimenting with foot placement I realised that it was fine if I got up on my toes more.

This meant running faster so to compensate I took my walk breaks more often. I settled into a walk 200m nutrition break, run 1K, walk 200m, run 1K pattern that seemed to be working well. With the sun rising the weather got quite cold but it was still pretty close to ideal and only really warmed up during the final hour. As the last hour approached, I decided to finish one more cycle although this would take me into the last hour the extra running might push me past my 202 6th best performance from Coburg 2014.

However, as I tried running again the shin decided it had had enough and it was a battle to walk fast enough to scrape together the 200 during the last 70 minutes. After a bit of rest, it settled down and my walking pace accelerated but a couple of brief running trials were unsuccessful. Overall, a success and despite finishing walking I had got as much out of my body as it would allow without breaking it again.

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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.