WEEKLY NEWS REPORT 22-3-2021

Kate Dzienis • March 22, 2021

Duncan’s Run, Vic
IAU 6hr Virtual Global Solidarity Run, Aust
Upcoming Events

Duncan’s Run
Held on Saturday, 20 March at Tarra-Bulga National Park in South Gippsland, Vic participants at Duncan’s Run were offered distances of 100km and 50km for the ultra categories.

In the men’s 100km Thomas Dade claimed 1st (12:00:13), Joel Read took 2nd (12:13:33) and Andrew Zhang got 3rd (14:10:50).

For the women’s event it was Eva Clarke in 1st (14:29:48), Alycia Marotta 2nd (15:42:47) and Julie Thomas 3rd (17:19:13).

Congratulations to AURA member Katherine McMillan who completed her 100km in a time of 17:34:24.

In the 50km event, we saw John Dutton take 1st for the men in 4:48:07, Corey Milner claim 2nd (4:57:04) and AURA’s very own Justin Hiatt from Weston Creek finished the podium standings after finishing 3rd Male with a time of 5:05:44.

In the women’s 50km race it was Sarah McConnell 1st (6:27:21), Ruby Greig-Hurtig 2nd (6:43:04) and Mary-Louise Van Dyk 3rd(6:49:24).

Well done and stellar efforts to AURA’s Ryan Claxton who crossed the finish line in the 50km in 8:01:16.

IAU 6hr Virtual Global Solidarity Run
Across the globe, 350 runners from 32 teams ran over the weekend (20-21 March) for the IAU 6hr Virtual Global Solidarity Run. The Australian men’s team consisted of Kay Bretz, Steve Robertson, Darren Linney, Anthony Boyle and Stephen Lomax whilst the women’s team starred Julia Mackay, Tash Fraser and Corrina Black.

Running on Saturday:

Kay Bretz clocked more than 14 laps around Albert Park, Melbourne, Vic in the early morning and covered more than 73km, doing the majority of the event with a large group of runners.

Darren Linney ran his 6hrs at Thorndon Park, Adelaide, SA and had a barrage of family and friends nearby to support and cheer him on. He succeeded with just under 67km – this, all after breaking his left foot 10 weeks ago.

Corrina Black hit Mermaid Beach in Qld at 2am on Saturday to knock out 65.67km in what were trying conditions – rain bucketing down in her first hour, and then a hit of humidity.

Running on Sunday:

AURA secretary Julia Mackay utilised her entry at the Perth Trail Series 12hr Diamond Run in WA from 9pm Friday (19 March) to 9am Sunday (21 March) to do her 6hr solidarity run. She ran a total of 62km.

Anthony Boyle ran in humid conditions in Byron Bay, NSW on Saturday and achieved 73.16km for his 6hrs. Thanks to support from family and friends, he got through the humidity with plenty of ice.

From 730am to 130pm, Tash Fraser completed a total distance of 72.79km around Ballarat, Vic with an average page of 4:57/km and utilised the event to fundaise for BeyondBlue. You can donate to her cause here.

Steve Robertson began at 6am and did 550m loops around Cooper St Park, Engadine, NSW despite wild weather conditions in Sydney. He achieved his goal of 50km for the event.

Stephen Lomax braved tough rainy conditions solo running around the Ridge Athletics Track in Barden Ridge, NSW and managed to secure a total of 63.3km. The weather was atrocious with rainfall and the chill factor; NSW State Representative Stephen Redfern and his wife Penny visited out in the morning to cheer him on.

AURA president Ewan Horsburgh is a part of the IAU Presidents Club Team and participated by contributing a 2hr taper run and a 4hr carbo-load in preparation for his upcoming 48hr Australian Championships race.

Upcoming Events
The Sri Chinmoy 48hr Track Festival will be held 26-28 March and doubles up as AURA’s 48hr Australian Track Championships. The event will see runners do laps of the Australian Institute of Sport track in Canberra racing in either a 48hr, 24hr, 12hr and 6hr event.

The inaugural Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra in WA will see it continue the busy weekend in March (26-28), placing itself as a sister-event to Birdy’s Backyard later in the year. Held at Herdsman Lake, the race is a Last One Standing format where runners will tackle a 6.71km loop until only one man or woman is left.

To finish off the month, Trails and Tails is also an inaugural event this year, to be held at Charlie Watts Reserve and Cairncross State Forest in Telegraph Point, NSW. Offering a distance of 7km, 14km or 21km the course welcome your pet dog to run with you.

Reminder
A reminder for all AURA members we would love to have more race reports contributed to our digital Ultramagmagazine. It doesn’t matter what event you ran in, it can be AURA-listed or not, we love reading your reports and sharing them with the AURA community. Email your reports in a Word document (single spaced and include your name, event name and dates you ran) along with high resolution photographs (not in the Word document but attached to the email) to ultramag@aura.asn.au

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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.