President's Report: June 2024

Hello to all our members, I can’t believe I am writing the June President’s Report! Where is this year going? Every time I write I feel like I say “it’s been a whirlwind month” and this month has been no different.

As you are well aware we have just had our 2024 AGM and I extend a warm welcome to the new Committee members on our team and welcome back the returning officers. I am looking forward to doing more big things for our newly named AUTRA! Thank you to all the members that supported us with your votes and have entrusted us for another term. We won’t let you down.

And what about AUTRA! It is so good to finally officially recognise trail running, and to now also be able to support events of all distances and all terrains. We have always thought of trail and ultra together as there as so many trail ultras – but the little guys were missing here at AURA, and these shorter distance races are generally the bread and butter of our bigger picture. We all have to start somewhere before we can run an ultra and we see these grass root events as feeders into ultra running. These events are the ones that gets the juices flowing for the next step. Many of the ultra-events also offer shorter distances too. So it Just. Makes. Sense.

With AUTRA now a reality, we have also brought in a subcommittee for trail running and we welcome this new team to the table. They have a big job ahead and I know they are well and truly up to the task with Chair John Claridge leading the way after he has spent many years trying make this happen.

We announced our new State Rep team this month as well and we have an awesome team that are really enthusiastic to build their state communities, engage with you all, build relationships with race directors and athletes, and support you and AUTRA wherever they can. Please reach out to them in your state and say Hi. We are all working on bringing in new partners to work with us to continue to grow the member benefit offering, so keep your eyes on that page and our socials as there are some great brands coming on board – don’t miss out on these discounts!

We also announced our new Selection Committee this month (so many announcements!) and have a very experienced team in place, including two new selectors from the trail side. We are hoping to send our first AUTRA trail team to an event this October. Applications for members to submit an EOI to represent Australia at the APTRCs (Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships) opened yesterday so check out the website or our Facebook page for the announcement.

The last applications yet to be announced is for the hosting of the 2025 National Championships as we have extended the deadline until 19 July. More news on that next month.

Don’t miss all the upcoming events for July here https://www.aura.asn.au/upcoming-events

And that’s a wrap for June! Halfway through the year and still so much to do!

See you next month,

Simone Hayes - President