REDFERN AND HIS 24HR INVITATIONAL

Kate Dzienis • July 31, 2020

Contributed by Stephen Redfern, AURA member

Australian 24hr Track Invitational, AIS Canberra, 24-25 July 2020

Okay, it’s been a few days now since the Australian 24hr Track Invitational down at the AIS Track in Canberra and after needing a few days to process my run, I just wanted to put into a few words how it all unfolded for me, and not having it go to plan.

I managed to achieve 140kms after 14hr of running. It wasn’t exactly what I was after and certainly way down on what I have achieved in the past with my other 24hr track races.

To start with, I had decided to retire from the race after 14hr, having my legs starting to feel very sore from about the 8hr mark and way more than they should have at that point into a race. I continued on to the 12hr halfway point and knew that the legs just were not right.

After remembering once what one of my mentors Martin Fryer said to me about the 12hr mark, I decided to keep running for the next 2 hours up to the 14hr point in the race. My pace had considerably slowed at this point and I was doing everything to just push through the pain and maintain a steady run, but used this 2 hours to really process where I was and how I was feeling.

It was certainly not an easy decision to make, and one I haven’t had to do before, but realised that it was going to be a sensible decision and one I felt I needed to do.

With having an amazing 1st half to 2020, running in the HK4TUC, doing the Quarantine Backyard Ultra, the 360km Iso run around my garage, Creeks to Peaks FKT, along with a few other big runs and lots of training due to being off work for a number of months, I knew that I just had way too many kilometres in the legs and not really having any time off.

My lead into the race felt perfect and also everything else about the run was working the best I have ever had in a 24hr race.

My training was very focused for the last 2 months on the track run, and I was also able to bring in a new race strategy, improving on my nutrition plan as well, with a special thanks to both Rebekah and Gavin Markey from Tailwind Nutrition Australia who are always there fully supporting me in my adventures and racing. Both of which worked perfectly for me on the day. They were certainly great positives that I will take away with me.

But I guess you can sometimes have what you feel is a perfect race, but then you do have to listen to yourself and make the hard decisions for the better and for long term.

It’s taken me a few days to process this, and am still coming to terms with it, but with some great mentors out there and listening to them, I will rest up from this run and re-focus on what I would like to do looking to the rest of the year and build them back up to some new race goals.

Outside of my run, the race produced some amazing results and congratulations to Joasia Zakrzewski and fellow Trailblazers Joe Ward for taking out the race wins and amazing totals, in what was some trying conditions throughout the night, and to Matty and Katie Eckford for putting on a great event in what has been some really difficult times.

The greatest part of track racing is being able to share the experience with such great friend including Simone Hayes and Luca Turrini and also with Nikki Wynd and John Yoon who were running their race virtually down in Victoria.

Lastly, I can’t sign off without a very heartwarming thank you from my beautiful wife Penny, whose support of my running and knowing how to crew for me so perfectly is just amazing. She stood by me in all the conditions of the weekend flawlessly crewing for me as well as being fully supportive of my decision to stop.

Pictured: Stephen Redfern, far right in the red, at the Australian 24hr Track Invitational at the weekend. Photograph – Supplied/Facebook.

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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.