WEEKLY NEWS REPORT 1-09-2020

Kate Dzienis • September 1, 2020

Salming Bibra Lake RunningWorks Festival, WA
IAU 6hr Virtual Global Solidarity Run, Nationwide
Bright Running Festival, Vic
Kuranda to Port Douglas Ultra, Qld
Antsy for Anstey, SA

Salming Bibra Lake RunningWorks Festival

Stunning weather in Perth accompanied Sunday’s Salming Bibra Lake RunningWorks Festival in Bibra Lake, WA – and the fact it was a fast and flat course made it the perfect environment to score some massive course records.

First to the podium finishers though in the 50km distance which saw, for the women, AURA’s Margie Hadley from Henley Brook secure herself a course record and take 1st Female with a time of 3:52:39. Barbara Fieberg, also an AURA member, from Boulder held on for 2nd Female after completing the distance in 4:33:35. Tina Milambo took 3rd with 5:27:49.

In the men’s 50km event, Wayne Spies took 1st Male and a new course record with 3:11:11; AURA’s Joshua Kuhn from South Bunbury took 2nd Male with a speedy 3:34:35; and Carl Harrison took 3rd with 3:39:03.

Congratulations also to AURA’s Alexis Oosterhoff who completed his 50km with a finish time of 5:29:08.

In the marathon event, top spots for the women went to Kathryn Watt who took 1st Female (2:52:40) and AURA’s very own Jacqueline Kellerman from Burns Beach who claimed 2nd with a finish over the line at 2:56:38. The 3rd Female spot went to Julia Kets (2:59:38).

For the men, it was Thomas Bruins in 1st (2:25:34), Vlad Ixel 2nd (2:31:10) and Keeton Hardwick 3rd (2:37:33).

Well done to all our AURA members who competed in the marathon, including Jon Pendse (2:51:58) and Rob Collins (4hr pacer, 3:58:30).

IAU 6hr Virtual Global Solidarity Run

An AURA team of 9 Aussie women and 9 Aussie men participated in the weekend’s worldwide IAU 6hr Virtual Global Solidarity Run, whereby all runners could decide when to start running across Saturday and Sunday (29-30 August), and where.

Starting with our runners who participated on Saturday, Patrick O’Leary ran from 7:10am and in total covered 55.12kms in his 6 hours along a ‘figure 8’ road course in Victoria Park, Ballarat, Vic.

Joseph Ward was happy with his average pace of 4:30min/km for the 6 hours where he completed 79.67kms. Starting at 6:30am, he ran at the Narrabeen Academy of Sports Athletics Track in NSW, and while participating, thoroughly enjoyed consuming 8 bananas.

Also on Saturday from 5:45am, Heather Hawkins finished up with 56.61kms along a 4km circuit at Centennial Park in Sydney, NSW creating a letter ‘O’ on her GPS map in honour of all women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Onto our Sunday 6 hour participants! Stephen Redfern ran at the Barden Ridge Athletics Track (NSW) from 5am where he achieved a measured distance of 74.113km and secured it as a PB.

Matthew Eckford contributed his 6 hours along the Brisbane City river area in Qld doing a variety of loops, out and backs, and bridge crossovers from 7am and did some parts together with Cassie Smith, Barry Loveday and Dan Symonds as well as John Pearson and Mick Thwaites (not officially participating, but both AURA members). Eckford checked off 60.67kms, whilst Smith’s watch unfortunately died at 5:52 however by then she had clocked 32.04km.

Julia Mackay-Koelen ran her first 20kms in a trail race in the hills of Perth, WA and then kept running with her spare time, finishing with 25.60kms.

Due to Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, Vic Donna Urquhart ran 400 x 100m loops of her house.

Amelia Griffith, also faced with Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, Vic could only participate in one hour of the event so she completed 11.01kms around Princes Park from 8:20am.

Harmony Waite started her 6 hour journey at the trail head of the Kep Track in Bellevue, WA and just kept going east towards her eastern comrades. She successfully finished with a 51km effort.

Kristen Brace in NSW ran with AURA president Ewan Horsburgh and both started at midnight, getting 50kms completed in the lower Blue Mountains with half road-half trail and 1200m vert.

Greg Wilson settled in for his Sunday morning 6 hour run from 7am, starting and finishing at Five Mile Creek Park in Woodend, with three loops of a flat 20.85km loop on bitumen and gravel roads in the rural Macedon Ranges. He finished with a total of 65.59km.

It was superb 6 hour event for Jeremy Rankin in NSW who ran a total of 60.78km from 5:15am and combined it with the virtual Run Against Violence month, spelling out the ‘Run Against Violence’ motto through the suburbs to make an impressive piece of Strava art.

We are still awaiting results from a couple other participants however a more detailed article about each runner will be released later in the month via Ultramag.

*AURA is confident all our members participating complied with COVID-19 exercise restrictions according to their locations.

Bright Running Festival

The Bright Running Festival, which was scheduled for 29 August had to instead go virtual this year due to COVID-19 restrictions; it was doubled as the AURA National 50km Championships. Plans were put in place for ultra and championship competitors to crack on for 16 days (29 August – 13 September) and complete a total of 100kms or do 10 x 10km in 10 straight days with similar instructions for those running 50km. Participants are still racing in this event, with results uploaded continuously on the event’s Facebook page and Strava club thanks to the event’s race director.

Kuranda to Port Douglas Ultra

We are still awaiting official results for the weekend’s Kuranda to Port Douglas 64km Ultra however three AURA runners were registered for the distance at the time of writing – Matthew Salinovich, Sarah Foster and Stephen Lewis.

Antsy for Anstey

As above, we are still awaiting official results for Sunday’s event and are yet to access which AURA members participated.

Coming up
In WA, the long awaited Light Horse Ultra will kick off on 12 September and run across the whole weekend. The event, which was one of the first to be postponed on the AURA calendar due to COVID-19 in 2020, usually ties in with Anzac Day in April. With participants running loops along a 2.5km track at Yellagonga Regional Park in Woodvale, WA this year sees the first time a 24hr option is included. Participants can opt for the 24hr, 12hr, 6hr, 3hr and 1hr.

On 13 Sept, the Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail Ultra (100km) will take place in the ACT as will the Barossa Run in Lyndoch, SA (63.3km) and Run the Great Whitsunday Trail in Airlie Beach, Qld with a 57km trail option.

The Butter 24 & 48 has changed its location to St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Boondall, Qld for 24 Sept with entrants ready to tackle a 6hr, 12hr, 24hr and 48hr track – this event will also double as the National 24hr Championships. The college features an international standard athletics track and is a superb venue – likely to produce some standout performances over the weekend.

The last event for September on the AURA listed calendar is the Waterous Trail on Foot aka WTF on 26 Sept in Dwellingup, WA with a 100mi and 50mi option.

Pictured: Margie Hadley taking 1st Female in the Bibra Lake Ultra 50km. Photograph – Jeff Gotcha Running Perth/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.