WEEKLY NEWS REPORT – 10/9/2019

Kate Dzienis • September 10, 2019

Birdy’s Backyard Ultra, WA

Birdy’s Backyard Ultra

AURA members from WA took on the inaugural Birdy’s Backyard Ultra at the weekend, which began on Friday (September 6) on a private property in the hills of Perth.

Participants took on an official 6.7km loop course, with requirements to be at the start line ready to go again on the hour, every hour until there was a last one standing.

Forty-five runners had their names on the whiteboard when the first lap began, but Birdy’s proved to be a tough course with a fair bit of elevation.

In the end, after a gruelling 21 hours, it was Michael Hooker who took title of winner and last one standing following an incredible performance of completing 21 laps, or approximately 140.70km.

Best three performances by the men were Hooker, Jimmy Brook (20 laps) and AURA’s very own Sergio Gustinetti from Tuart Hill (17 laps).

Best three performances by the women were AURA member Jen Millum from Karnup (13 laps), AURA’s Margie Hadley from Henley Brook (11 laps), and Ky Lee Bell (10 laps).

Congratulations to all our AURA members who took on the inaugural Birdy’s Backyard Ultra – there were a lot of happy faces for this new format in the state, with many thrilled to be given a wooden spoon when DNFing – Darlene Dale, Barbara Fieberg, Robert Freitag, Sophee Gregory,Beck Hefferon, Shane Holstein, Kathryn Hookham, Jutta Kober, Kevin Matthews, Wayne McMurtrie, Alexis Oosterhoff, Shaye Pett, Andre Pienaar, Glen Smetherham, Georgia Snowball, Cheryl Tatterton, Logan Vickers and Harmony Waite.

It was also fabulous to see a number of our members donning the new AURA t-shirts at Birdy’s!

Other Events

There were a number of other events across the country (non AURA-listed) and we saw a few AURA members participate in those.

Sadly, due to out-of-control bushfires in the area, the Coastal High 50 in Queensland was cancelled. The AURA community wishes everyone to stay safe and ensure the safety of themselves and their families as first priority.

The River Run 100km was held on Saturday (September 7) in Brisbane, Qld with fabulous performances by AURA members.

Greg Ponych from Wishart, Qld took 1st Male with an astounding time of 9:47:01.

Not stopping there, Annabel Hepworth from Annandale, NSW claimed 2nd Female after crossing the finish in 11:12:22 and Kristy Ryan from Pacific Pines, Qld held on to claim 3rd Female with her time of 11:30:17.

They were outstanding 100km performances by these runners.

Also on Saturday was the Kowen Moonlighter 12hr event in Wamboin, NSW where again, our AURA members did amazingly well.

Congratulations to Isobel Ross from Boronia, Vic who claimed 1st Female following a distance of 90.600km and also to Peter Fitzpatrick (75.500km), Samantha Post (64.340km), Arnold Campbell (60.400km) and Leah Weeden (52.850km).

Last but not least was the Backyard Blister at The Branch, NSW which featured a last one standing race that started on Friday (September 6) as well as a 12hr event (September 7).

In the last one standing race, it was Geordi Maclean from NSW who claimed the title, winning outright while Emma-Leigh Heighway won the 12hr event. We are still waiting on official results to see if any AURA members participated.

Coming up

Coming up on the AURA-listed calendar of events is the Great North Walk Ultras (100mi, 100km, 50mi, 50km) on September 14 in Teralba, NSW; the Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail Ultra (100km) on September 14 in Acton, ACT; and Run the Great Whitsunday Trail 57km) on September 15 in Airlie Beach, Qld.

AURA members, please submit your race reports, in a Word document with high resolution images attached to the email, to ultramag@aura.asn.au to be featured in the next edition of Ultramag.

Pictured: AURA members Wayne McMurtrie and Sophee Gregory getting ready to hit out at another lap at the inaugural Birdy’s Backyard Ultra. Photograph – Andrew Yeatman.

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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.