KOBER’S RUN AT HOME, RUN AS ONE VIRTUAL RACE

Kate Dzienis • April 29, 2020

Contributed by Jutta Kober, AURA Member

Like a lot of runners, I’ve been enjoying the slightly lighter training load and the focus on base training in this crazy world of dealing with Covid-19 and the associated race cancellations.

Sometime early this year I signed up for the Ultra Series WA Light Horse Ultra which was to take place on the ANZAC Day long weekend. My race was going to be a 6-hour event of running laps of a 2.5km course in Perth’s northern suburbs. The event also includes a 1-hour kids’ race and options of 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours for the adults. Of course, the race got cancelled due to Covid-19.

So, without a goal I went back to base training and running for fun. That was until my coach and ultra running legend Scotty Hawker announced a virtual race to raise much needed funds for mental health organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Acknowledging different levels of self-isolation and lockdown across the world, the race ‘Run at Home Run as One’ promoted running as a way of beating the isolation blues and connecting participants in different parts of the world, all while raising money for Beyond Blue in Australia and Mental Health NZ.

To appeal to a broad range of people, the race format was left open for each participant to decide. The event flyer says “you choose the distance…you choose the donation”.

With this new race goal, I chose to stick with the 6-hour format of the cancelled Light Horse Ultra as part of my own virtual ‘Run at Home Run as One’. I decided on laps of Herdsman Lake in Perth as it’s close to home, pretty and less likely to be busy than other potential locations. Herdsman Lake is a 7 and a bit kilometre loop with varied surface ranging from bitumen to limestone and some dirt in what I call the ‘trail’ section.

My goal was to run 50km in 6 hours, which seemed an achievable goal but ambitious enough to pose a challenge.

I was really looking forward to this ‘race’ more than I had expected. I was ready and eager to push myself, even if I was the only competitor.

On race day morning I woke up at 3:30am, got my gear ready and after a short drive arrived at the start location, a little carpark next to the Herdsman Lake path. My car boot was my aid station as well as the start line. The finish line would be wherever I hit exactly 6 hours race time.

One of my running friends, Peta, had also decided to run at Herdsman Lake and she was just parking her car as I pulled up. We decided to start off in different directions so we would pass each other at times and could wave ‘hello’ every half lap or so.

At 5am we set off on a dark lap around the lake. My partner JC had decided to run with me for the first lap. It was drizzling on and off but otherwise the run was pleasant. It wasn’t cold and I wore my Light Horse event shirt from a few years ago. It seemed appropriate. About half way through the first lap I passed Peta coming the opposite way. Then there was no one else, it was dark and quiet. After the first lap JC said goodbye and I was on my own. I kept running in the dark and quiet, just me and my head torch lighting up the path, other than running into Peta every half lap.

Focusing on each lap as an interim goal I barely noticed the kilometres ticking by. Not long after starting my third lap the sky opened up and I was completely soaked within minutes. The path had quickly become waterlogged and I splashed along passing walkers, now out after their ANZAC Day tribute.

Running in the rain felt invigorating and I happily splashed through the puddles. The rain soon turned into a drizzle that stayed for most of the morning. The sun managed to come through the thick clouds every so often, alternating between drizzle and sun.

I just kept running, focusing on each lap. After my fourth lap and just over three hours into the race I changed direction and was now running anti-clockwise to mix it up a bit.

I expected ‘racing’ without a race to be hard; to be pushing myself without the support and the motivation of a race. I actually found it enjoyable and my mental determination to achieve my goal and to run to my best ability was no different than during a race.

Sometime during my sixth lap my watch told me I had just passed marathon distance. Only 8km to go to my 50km target distance with still one and a half hours of race time left.

At this point I was certain I’d hit my target and was quietly wondering how much beyond 50km I could push myself. My legs felt heavy and sore and keeping at target pace was getting harder and harder. I reached my target of 50km towards the end of lap 7 with around 38 minutes to spare. How much could I push my tired legs for the last half hour?

As I came to my car aid station for the last time, I could see JC waiting for me and ready to run the last part with me. He kept encouraging me along on my tired legs, convinced I could make 55km. We kept running, hit the ‘trail’ section and came out back onto the main path. With 10 minutes still to go my watch showed 54km. I made it to 55.61km as my watch ticked over to 6 hours.

Finished, and very happy with my effort.

Thanks again for Scotty and Liz Hawker for organising this event!

< Older Post

Newer Post >

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.