MILLUM FINALLY GETS HER BTU DONE AND DUSTED

Kate Dzienis • July 31, 2021

Contributed by Jen Millum, AURA member & 2nd Female at BTU110km

Brisbane Trail Ultra 110km, 9-11 July 2021, Brisbane Qld

A long while ago I’d heard about BTU and that it was AURA’s National Long Course Trail Championships. I never thought I’d actually do it though, until UTA had been postponed for the third time and I decided to grab the refund. The very same day I got a Facebook advert for BTU and realised it was in the school holidays and in the same state as my family. Perfect. I entered using my refund and booked flights using my credit from the NSW cancelation. All was set for July and I decided to hit the hills big time in my training as I’d heard it was a pretty tough course.

Then a week before our holiday COVID struck and lockdowns were hitting every state, including WA. Border restrictions were ridiculous and by Friday I’d have to quarantine going into and returning from Qld, so I cancelled everything. I was devastated because I was actually going over to visit my family of whom I hadn’t seen in over 4 years and my mental health was at a low point.

Then, on the Monday everything changed! I no longer needed to quarantine going into Queensland, only coming home. Wednesday I was booked onto a flight! As soon as I saw my family my bucket began to fill and I thought I’d ask race director Shona Stephenson to reactivate my entry.

Thursday evening I had confirmation and on Friday early I headed to the finish line, with my sister, to check in.

I was so nervous and excited, I couldn’t actually believe I was there. I decided to check out the last 500m and nearly died when I saw the cliff staircase.

We then decided to drive to the start before we went to our accommodation.

I cannot tell you how excited I was, my poor sister had never crewed or even watched a race before. 3am saw me fill my belly with as much as it would take before we headed out to the start line. I had no race plan. I rarely do. I had no idea of what to expect and for the first time in like forever I was racing with strangers. Elites. Locals who’d trained on the course. I knew no one.

Before I knew it, we were off running into the dark rainforest. I was so scared of losing my way, the markers were hard to see and I made every effort to keep an eye on the light in front of me. It wasn’t long before those lights disappeared and I was alone. My poles were at Checkpoint 2, and I remember thinking, maybe I should’ve carried them from the start. The hills were tough. Morning came and so did Checkpoint 1. No crew were allowed but it was nice to see humans again. I forced a banana down and filled my pack and headed out!

I think it was during this leg that we had to do two loops within another loop, my golly gosh. At the top of Jolly’s Lookout, I couldn’t believe the view! It absolutely took my breath away! I was having so much fun.

Coming into the school I could hear my sister calling my name, I was so relieved to see a familiar face! Later I heard that Ali had been stuck in a traffic jam and decided to goat track it to the checkpoint to get there in time! Unfortunately at this point, I was informed that my Spot tracker hadn’t been working and they needed to get me another. Ten minutes later, I was on my way only to be told the markers had been removed at the café area. I decided to run with these two dudes who were leaving at the same time, just to be safe. Thankfully I’d picked up my poles because our first hill down was one big landslide and they helped me balance.

It wasn’t long before I was alone again and around every corner was a massive mountain. I’d never ever seen trails like this before. It took an entire mindset flip! I went into a meditative state at the base of every hill. Some were so steep that coming down the other side required ropes. But, my determination to conquer ever peak meant they went quicker than I’d ever gone before.

And then suddenly as I came through a forest section I crossed a river. Previously, at every river crossing there had been trail markers clearly placed, but on this occasion I couldn’t see any! I looked for footprints and they were crossing the river and going up the bank. I ran over and along, but then my watch, that had the map loaded onto it, started vibrating. My head was telling me that , that was weird because there was no other path. But then, I decided to stop and pull out my phone and check properly on MapsMe. Sure enough I was off course! I cannot tell you how long it took, but there were 6 other paths I could’ve taken. I tried all of them but still I was off course. I was frustrated and alone and started to cry. I ran back to the last marker for the third time, and walked slowly, looking only at my phone until the arrow pointed right, I looked up and saw a pathway I hadn’t tried. My watch stopped vibrating and I picked up my pace! About 3 km later I came across a BTU marshal and before I could say a word he said ‘ you, are 100% on the right path!’ I nearly burst out crying again! He told me someone had taken the markers down and he was heading there now to fix it.

As I pulled into Checkpoint 5 I could hear my gorgeous sister calling me! I started crying again, I was so relieved. She was so wonderful, gave me some tough love, soup and made me laugh.

I headed off into the bush. At this point I knew I’d see her again in 20km so my mind had flipped into gear and started counting down the kms until I saw her again. The hills were relentless but the trails were beautiful. As darkness hit I could hear the music from checkpoint 6. It spurred me on.

I could hear my sister again and remembered asking a marshal if I could sit down. Oddly I wasn’t allowed to so my stop here was short and sweet. I told Ali that I’d see her at the finish line and for the last time headed out into the bush. I ran with a local runner for a little while but it wasn’t long before I was alone again. It seemed to take forever to get through the bush and out onto the streets. There were police stopping traffic at intersections for me to cross, and there were so many people out enjoying a meal on the sidewalks. The smells sent my hungry belly crazy. I crossed the wharf with a fellow 110km competitor. It was nice to chat to somebody, but I left him once we’d crossed and headed towards the cliff stairs solo. I could smell the finish line. It wasn’t until I was at the top of those stairs that I heard my sis again! I couldn’t believe I had done it!

Runner up National Champion was never ever, ever expected! I was so pleased.

Huge thanks to my sister and my running buddies back in Perth who followed me and helped Ali. Massive thanks too, to Shona and Cora for reactivating my entry and for organising such a fabulous event!

Pictured: Jen Millum from WA racing in the BTU110 at the weekend. Photograph – Supplied/Element Photo & Video Productions.

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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.