WEEKLY NEWS BRIEF – 10/10/2018

Kate Dzienis • October 10, 2018

Adelaide 6 Day
Sri Chinmoy Ultra
Haunted Pines Ultra
Western Coastal

With a barrage of amazing events held over the last few days, it’s easy to see how busy the ultra community is as we move into the tail end of the year. The Adelaide 6 Day kicked off on Saturday, September 29 and finished on Friday, October 5 and we had an array of AURA members successfully participate – for starters, there’s no need for an introduction to the first place podium finisher, Darren Linney from Paradise, SA who dominated throughout the six days.

He completed a total distance of 800.959kms and according to on-the-ground reports, looked strong throughout the event.

Not to be outdone, there was another spectacular performance on the cards, with Annabel Hepworth from Annandale, NSW securing 1st female/2nd overall with a total of 742.803kms. Yet to be confirmed with results still provisional, but Hepworth unofficially ran the longest distance for a female in a six day event in the world this year.

Second male/3rd overall went to Coromandel Valley’s David Billett (677.945kms) while 3rd male/4th overall was taken by George Alexandropoulos (587.344kms) from North Dandenong, Vic.

Congratulations also goes out to John Timms, who at age 76 was the oldest runner on the course and who provisionally set a new 75-79 male age group 500k national record. He completed a total distance of 504.665kms.

Well done to all those who raced at the Adelaide 6 Day, including Tony Wilms (433.587kms), Steven Houldsworth (421.209kms), Cherie Rothery (353.846kms), Cassie Smith (329.331kms), Douglas Kewley (133:997) and Barry McBride (19.957kms).

Kavan Dedman from Seaview Downs, SA took out 1st place in the 72hr event with a total distance of 181.042kms, and in the 48hr it was Qld’s Stephen Wright who secured 1st place with 255.085kms and Brad Boyle with 3rd male in 161.235kms.

The Sri Chinmoy Trail Ultra 105 was held on Sunday, October 7 in the ACT, and it was another AURA-filled podium finish for our members. Brendan Davies from Woodford, NSW took out 1st place, completing the 105kms distance in 9:38:31, while Mick Thwaites held strong to 2nd after finishing in 11:00:07.

First female went to Pam Muston from Wamboin, NSW who completed the event in 13:44:55.

Over in WA, the Ultra Series WA’s first event for the Forest Series kicked off on Saturday night, with the Halloween themed Haunted Pines Ultra where participants were encouraged to dress in costume and run through a middle-of-nowhere pine forest from 7pm.

A plethora of AURA members dressed for the occasion, where in the men’s 50k Rob Freitag aka Edward Scissorhands took out 1st male/1st overall with 4:48:21 and Alexis Oosterhoff claimed 2nd male 5:48:01.

Sarah Farrell was 1st for the women with a time of 5:09:47, and she was closely followed by 2nd female Beck Hefferon (5:12:00). Congratulations to all those who took on the spooky 50kms, enduring the endless dark, including Emma Luscombe (6:44:36), Frank Chauveau (6:50:20), Mike Gibbon (6:59:32), Tina Jones (7:08:40), and Sue Robertson (7:08:40).

AURA members also participated in the 25k, and the race saw Andrew McLeish take out 1st place with a time of 1:55:25. High fives go to Robert Colligan (2:30:48), Nick Goddard (2:39:48), Jen Millum (2:54:58), Gemma Hamilton (3:09:47), Peter Barry (3:22:56) and Lucia Caravia (3:22:57).

Congratulations also to those who ran in the 12.5k – Joanne Dean, Kate Dzienis, Kerri Klumper, Shon Fry, Louise Wallace, and Gary Wilmot.

Chris Lark from Belmont smashed it and claimed 1st place in his time of 58:16, while Butler’s Glen Smetherham took 2nd, not far behind Lark and chasing him with a total end time of 1:00:36.

The Western Coastal 50k was also held over the weekend, and we would like to congratulate all of those runners who participated.

Next on the calendar for AURA-listed events is the Great Ocean Walk in Vic, Hume & Hovell Ultra in NSW, and Washpool Trails 50k in NSW.

Pictured: Adelaide 6 Day top 3 finishers Annabel Hepworth, Darren Linney, and David Billett. Photograph – Ultra Runners South Australia/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.