WEEKLY NEWS REPORT 22-03-2023

Kate Dzienis • March 22, 2023

Australian Alpine Ascent (AAA)
SA Track Ultra
Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra
News Abroad
Upcoming Events

We are always on the hunt for your stories and reports, so with March Ultramag due out soon, send in your incredible tales to ultramag@aura.asn.au And remember, it doesn’t have to be about an AURA-listed event specifically!

AUSTRALIAN ALPINE ASCENT, NSW

The Australian Alpine Ascent was held on Saturday, 11 March 2023, providing a 73km, 53km and 22km trail run. Participants raced through Kosciuszko National Park, starting and finishing at Charlotte Pass Village.

There were 28 finishers in the 73km division.

Congratulations to AURA member Andy McConnell from Watson, ACT who took 1st Male in the Men’s 73km event, crossing the finish line in 6:47:35. A stellar effort! Second and 3rd Male were won by Ryan Degan (7:51:56) and Dave Gwyther-Marchant (8:30:23).

In the Women’s 73km, podium finishes were awarded to Paige Strudwick (9:03:20), Tegan Porter (9:11:43) and Amanda Wheatley (9:37:47).

There were 96 finishers in the 53km race.

In the Men’s 53km, winners were named Myles Kinchington (4:44:43), Tony McEntee (4:53:41) and Cameron Luksich (5:18:57). In the Women’s 53km, it was Ellie Deakin (5:51:40) 1st, Kristin Bjerregaard (5:57:54) 2nd and Prue Davies (6:12:43) 3rd.

Congratulations to AURA members Jillian Mitchell from Mawson, ACT who finished the 53km in 7:25:13 and Joel Anderson from Throsby, ACT who completed his race in 7:38:17.

SA TRACK ULTRA, SA

The SA Track Ultra was held on Saturday, 11 March 2023 at the SA Athletics Stadium and offered a 50km and 100km for ultra runners.

In the Women’s 50km, AURA’s very own Tanya Caro from Golden Grove, SA took 1st Female with a total time of 5:55:24. Second Female went to Kay Parkin with 7:24:16 and 3rd was won by Stacey Miller with 8:51:12.

Congratulations to AURA member Melissa Knowles from Kilburn, SA who completed her 50km in 12:20:00.

In the Men’s 50km, Daniel Farrugia took 1st Male with 4:34:34 and Dylan Hayes won 2nd with 4:47:37. AURA’s very own Geoffrey Langhans from Happy Valley, SA took 3rd Male after finishing the 50km event in a fantastic time of 5:31:49.

In the 100km there were 2 competitors.

Michelle Salerno finished the Women’s 100km in 14:21:46 and Ben O’Brien finished the Men’s 100km in 14:59:49.

HERDY’S FRONTYARD ULTRA, WA

The highly anticipated Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra kicked off on Friday, March 17 at Herdsman Lake, WA and continued all the way through until the very early hours of Monday morning.

For two years running, AURA’s Phil Gore from Darling Downs, WA has held on the title of this particular race, winning it every year since its inception in 2021.

In 2021, he won it on 48 laps with AURA member Kevin Matthews taking the Assist on 48 laps. In 2021, Phil won it again, and increased his PB, taking the title on 50 laps whilst AURA’s Chetan Sadhana claimed the Assist on 49 laps.

This year, in 2023, Phil took it even further and won Herdy’s after an astonishing win on 57 laps, with a new Assist named as Michael Bellmon on 56 laps.

Congratulations to all our AURA members who raced at Herdy’s, including Tim Kacprzak from Vic (51 laps), Chetan Sadhana (36 laps), Jen Millum (30 laps and ‘last’ female standing), Ben Hirst (29 laps), Kevin Matthews (28 laps), Jessica Smith (28 laps), Brad Halls (25 laps and proudly sporting an AURA shirt), Michael Hooker (24 laps), Rob Parsons (24 laps), Gabe Alves (21 laps), Tristan Cameron (13 laps), Graham Tottey (12 laps), John Cooke (10 laps), John Herzfeld (10 laps), Andy Thompson (7 laps), Jason Kell (6 laps) and Claudia Seke (3 laps),

NEWS ABROAD

A couple of our AURA members have been abroad this month, imprinting the trails, roads and tracks in international racing.

AURA Secretary Stephen Redfern and AURA member Melissa Robertson both travelled to Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, USA following their invitations into the 2023 Barkley, which kicked off on Tuesday, 14 March. We are all aware of how gruesome this particular race is with 54,200ft of accumulated vertical climb (and descent) and the allowance of only 40 participants permitted to run the loops (5x 20 mile loops with a total distance of about 100 miles or longer that must be completed in 60 hours).

Stephen completed his first lap in about 11 hours, and upon starting his second loop came back in 7 hours due to the brutality and cold weather. Congratulations on being the fourth Aussie to have officially completely one entire loop at Barkley!

Melissa Robertson gave it her best efforts however did not finish her loop in the allocated 12 hours; she’s recovering well and hope to see her tackling Barkley again!

AURA member Margie Hadley also travelled internationally this month to race in the Run Rome Marathon (Italy) on Sunday, 19 March. She secured herself a sub-3 hour marathon with a total time of 2:59:58 and finishing 10th Female. Well done on a fantastic result, Margie.

UPCOMING EVENTS

It’s a big weekend in ultra racing this Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Noosa Ultra-Trail will be held this weekend, from 23-26 March in Tewantin, Qld followed by the Sri Chinmoy 48 Hour Track Festival at the AIS in the ACT from 24-26 March – it doubles up as the Australian 48hr Championships.

The kunanyi Mountain Run, also doubling up as the Short Course Trail Australian Championships, will be run from 24-26 March in Mt Wellington, Tas and the Lithgow Ridgy-Didge Trail Run Festival kicks off on 25 March in Lithgow, NSW.

The Washpool World Heritage Trails will be held on 26 March in Gibraltar Range, NSW.

Pictured: AURA member Michael Hooker (centre) at the weekend’s Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra. Photograph – Noeko.

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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.