WEEKLY NEWS REPORT – 23/10/2019

Kate Dzienis • October 23, 2019

Butter24, Qld
Blackall 100 & 50, Qld
GOW100s, Vic

There were some truly amazing performances at the weekend amongst AURA members and the ultra running community as a whole, and first we’ll go back to late September for the Sunshine Coast BUTTER24 which was held on 28 September in Brisbane, Qld with 6hr, 12hr and 24hr options.

BUTTER24

Participants ran loops of the University of Sunshine Coast track facility known for its ‘sandwich system’ which offers cushioning and rebound, a favourable condition for endurance events.

In the 24hr event, AURA’s Kathryn Austin from Springfield Lakes, Qld took home 1st Female after completing 163.798km. In 2nd place was Lisa O’Brien with 153.167km whilst 3rd was Amanda Pavey with 118.473kms.

For the men’s event in the 24hr, Dean Ivy took 1st Male after completing 185.312km, whilst 2nd went to AURA member Greg Ponych from Wishart, Qld who finished his day with 181.713km. Third was taken by another AURA member, Fergus Edwards from Launceston, Tas who completed 164.010km.

Congratulations to AURA members Kerrie Williamson (106.400km) and Kevin McCann (64.400km) who finished their 24hr events with great distances.

On to the 12hr event, podium finishes for the women went to Nicole Jukes (102.032km), Suzanne Wilson (72.653km) and Alexiallfc [sic] Broome (20.400km) whilst for the men it was Ben Dennien (109.542km), Trevor Lampard (104.860km) and Matt Fitzgerald (104.698km).

Well done to AURA member Andrew Kruck from Brisbane, Qld who completed the 12hr with 102.540km.

In the 6hr event, AURA’s Kerrie Bremner from Nicholls, ACT who took home top spot with 1st Female after completing a total of 60.199km. Second spot went to Cheryl McLean (42.493km).

For the men, podium finishes went to Robert Trims (76.604km), David Scroope (72.287km) and Josh Dinale (65.717km) respectively.

Blackall 100 & 50

The highly anticipated Blackall 100 & 50 trail event took place on Saturday (October 19) along the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walk’s Blackall Range. Considered a large scale event, the Blackall offers a personal challenge with spectacular scenery and brilliant support.

On the morning, 199 participants stood at the start line for the 100km event with 173 successfully completing the distance.

For the women’s top spots, AURA’s very own Jessica Schluter from Keperra, Qld smashed the event and took control of the 1st Female position with a finish time of 11:38:37. She was a decent 20 minutes ahead of 2nd Female winner Alana Vought (11:59:00) whilst 3rd Female went to Chrissy Redwod (12:25:27).

For the men, Ryan Crawford took 1st Male and cemented a new course record with 9:53:53 (previous record was held by last year’s male winner Yun Phua in 9:57:21). Second Male went to New Zealander Steve Pemberton who finished in 10:20:40 whilst 3rd Male was held by Darryl Hill (11:00:25).

Congratulations to all our AURA members who took on the Blackall 100 including Shona Stephenson (13:02:44), Andrew Speakman (14:55:04), Jason Parsons (15:45:37), Cora Lau (15:46:42), Gregory Brown (17:29:21), Alena Scurrah and David Von Senden.

In the 50km, about 420 runners gathered their gear for the trails while about 413 successfully completed the course.

Podium standings in the men went to Josh Corcoran (4:32:37), Luke Garrett (4:38:38) and Oskar Booth (4:52:25). In the women spots went to Cecilia Mattas (4:59:59), Emma Burgess (5:30:19) and Mindy Durdin (5:40:26).

Congratulations to AURA members who raced in the 50km including Nicole Kruse (8:06:41), Lynn Mazza (9:30:25) and Benjamin Duffus.

GOW100s

The GOW100s event on Saturday (October 19) was held on the west coast of Vic through the Otway Ranges, along beaches, through rainforest and across rocky headlands, however the weather leading up to the event came into question if the race would go ahead.

It was decided on Thursday (October 17) that due to potential 6-metre swells and near gale force winds, the course would be modified for the safety of runners and volunteers.

The course was changed with a start in Apollo Bay at the anchor and then running to Aire River for a turnaround, with the remainder of the course heading for a finish at Marengo Caravan Park. With the modification, it means the distance was changed to 80km, the equivalent of a 50 miler.

The news didn’t stop 89 racers from participating though (81 finishing) and the event kicked off.

For the men, Tony Lopez took 1st Male with 8:05:12 whilst AURA member Damian Smith from Nowra, NSW claimed 2nd Male, finishing in a time of 8:08:49. Dan Beard completed the race in 8:39:41.

In the women’s race 1st Female went to Jo Nevin (8:16:07), 2nd went to Kerryn McTaggart (9:40:53) and 3rd went to Martine Nield (9:53:59).

Congratulations to all our AURA members who braved the weather including Adam Waites (9:59:50), Joseph Lewis(9:59:53), Tim Kacprzak (10:08:06), Nicole Vaughan (10:30:31), Niall Roche (10:34:27), Tony O’Connell (11:42:40), Mark Falls (12:46:46), Bill Bardsley (12:52:06), Oliver Mestdagh (14:10:10), Rob Sutton (14:19:30) and Jody Daff.

International news

With the infamous Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra held over the weekend in the US (Bell Buckle, Tennessee) it was hard to not keep an eye on social media posts as AURA’s David Giles held on strong against a highly competitive field of 72 runners.

Giles, from Willetton in WA, completed a total of 116.66km and finished 28th according to official results.

Last one standing was American Maggie Guterl from Colorado who totalled 250km.

Coming up

This weekend is another couple days of stellar events including the Heysen 105 in Newland Hill, SA on Saturday; the IAU 24hr World Championships in Albi, France on Saturday; the Ned Kelly Chase 50km and 100km in Wangaratta, Vic which also doubles as the National 100km Championships; and the Mico RunningWorks Ultra 50km at The Spectacles in WA.

Reports

If you are an AURA member and would like to contribute to the next edition of Ultramag which is due out very soon, email your race report along with high resolution images attached to the body of the email to ultramag@aura.asn.au

Pictured: Jessica Schluter ringing the bell at the end of her Blackall 100. Photograph – Blackall 100/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.