MCCONNELL’S FIRST MILER – AND HE WINS IT

Kate Dzienis • October 31, 2018

Contributed by Andrew McConnell, AURA member/Hume & Hovell Ultra 100 Miler Winner

I ran 100 miles on Saturday, October 13 at the Hume & Hovell Ultra, and before I continue, I believe it was in my last two or three race reports that I said each time it had been the hardest race I had ever done, that I’d been in more pain than ever before. That trend had to end eventually, and it did when I raced the CCC in Italy-Switzerland-France six weeks prior.

That was a 100km race with about a million metres of elevation gain; it was not as painful as previous ultras I had run this year, and the thing about that was the lack of pain also meant the lack of a story. It turns out the more pain, the better the story, and because that race more or less went to plan, I really couldn’t think of anything interesting to say about it!

So I went into Hume & Hovell on the weekend scared as hell. I was attempting to run 40km further than I ever had before; I was likely going to spend at least three or four more hours running than ever before, and everything I had read about 100mile races made me think I was about to enter the depths of hell. I was scared by the amount of pain I thought I might need to endure, but thinking rationally I knew I was ready.

It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision to run a 100mile race, far from it.

At the end of 2015, soon after I had started running, I decided that what I would enjoy the most, and would perform best in, would be long 100+ races. I’m pretty sure the rationale behind this doesn’t make logical sense: I’ve always been slow, hopeless at sprinting, not much better at middle distances, therefore I must be good at long distances. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t necessarily apply, physiologically, but I stuck with that belief. I didn’t want to dive straight in to 100km or longer races though, I wanted to gradually work up to longer and longer distances, and never be racing with the primary goal to finish, but always to feel ready to compete.

So in 2016 I focused on shorter distances, and ran six races between 40km and 50km. My last race of the year was my best performance, so decided I was ready to increase the distance in 2017. In that year I ran six races between 50km and 120km. I still felt like I had a lot to learn about the 100km distance, so ran another three races of that length this year, before deciding I was ready to step up to 100miles.

And that was my preparation for the Hume & Hovell 100 miler. I’m not going to go into detail about the race itself, except to say it was not the most painful race I’ve done, but was undoubtedly the most satisfying. The race itself was reasonably straight-forward, and I can now say the axiom seems to be true – a 100mile race is really an eating competition with a bit of running in between. I started running slowly, slowed down as little as possible, ate as much as I could as often as I could, tried not to fall over, and 19 and a half hours later I crossed the finish line in first place. When my world started to go dark, literally and metaphorically, my usual mantras weren’t working, but a new one came to me – “This is my only opportunity to win my first miler”.

Thanks coach Gary and Run Crew for helping me be ready for this and believing in my post CCC recovery!

Lastly and most importantly I want to thank all my support crew. I don’t think it had occurred to me before this race exactly how self-indulgent something like this is. I spent an entire day doing nothing but eating and running. And at the end I got to feel the immense high of not running any more. But to enable me to do that, five large and one small person travelled for hours and then spent an entire day driving, feeding me, changing my shoes, socks, clothes, encouraging me, and providing the motivation to reach the finish line. I’m not good at expressing gratitude so I’ll take the opportunity here – thanks Annie, Rose, Alex, and Stella.

Extra thanks to brother Doug for pacing me for 20km in the dark (his second longest run ever) just hours after crushing his own 22km race (his longest run ever). And special mention to girlfriend Dominique for her support just hours after beating all the boys in the 50km race (her longest run ever).

Huge thanks to the organisers and volunteers that put on such a great event at the Hume & Hovell Ultra.

Pictured: Andrew McConnell racing at this year’s Hume & Hovell Ultra 100 Miler.

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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.