WEEKLY NEWS REPORT 24-06-2021

Kate Dzienis • June 24, 2021

Glow Worm Tunnel Marathon, NSW
River Run, SA
Transcend Ultra, WA
Upcoming Events

GLOW WORM TUNNEL MARATHON

The Glow Worm Tunnel Marathon Weekend was held on Saturday and Sunday (19-20 June, 2021) taking runners on a journey that took in the best sights of Newnes and the Wolgan Valley in NSW.

There were a number of distances on offer for everyone, including a full marathon, half marathon and 6km on Saturday, then a half marathon and a ‘Mountain Mile’ on Sunday. Event organisers also offered combination events – The Grand Slam (marathon and 6km on Saturday, the half marathon and 1500m climb on Sunday), The Triple Crown (marathon and 6km on Saturday, then the half marathon on Sunday) and The Double (marathon on Saturday, half marathon on Sunday).

Starting with the combination events, AURA member Kelly Glanville from Kurrajong Heights, NSW secured 1st Female in The Grand Slam with Stage 1 completed in 5:38:06, Stage 2 in 45:49, Stage 3 in 2:50:49 and Stage 4 in 15:21. Second Female was Alexandra Kong.

For the men in The Grand Slam winners were Leigh Shakespeare, Ken Schack-Evans and Matthew Williamson.

One person took on The Triple Crown and it was Govindaran Manogaran.

In The Double combination event, podium spots for the women went to Laura Vilcek in 1st and Leanne Herrett in 2nd. For the men, winners were named as Jeff Powell, Andrew Fuller and Brad Innes.

Onto the single distances, half marathon winners on Saturday were AURA member Brendan Davies from Woodford, NSW who came in with a speedy 1:42:12 across the finish line. Stellar effort, well done! 2nd Male went to Brian Smith (1:47:02) and 3rd Wesley Harrison (1:58:50).

For the women, it was Helena Hayes 1st (1:51:53), Claire Rayner 2nd (1:53:32) and Alae Brand 3rd (1:54:55).

286 runners participated in the half marathon, congratulations to everyone who ran.

In Saturday’s marathon, which saw 108 finishers cross the finish line, winners were Luke Taylor in 1st (3:35:13) and AURA member Andrew Lee from Warrimoo, NSW who claimed 2nd Male in a time of 3:59:26. Third Male went to James Howatson (4:11:42).

For the women’s marathon on Saturday, it was Marijke Walshe in 1st (4:24:49), Faye Southcombe 2nd (4:41:27) and Becky House 3rd (4:53:27).

In Sunday’s half marathon, podium finishers for the men included Jack Roth (1:37:40), Lewis Squadrito 2nd (1:41:20) and James Watson 3rd (1:45:47). For the women it was Melinda Vernon (1:50:19), Georgina Beech (1:59:25) and Saskia Grootemaat (2:02:54).

RIVER RUN

GoodRunnings’ River Run event was held on Sunday (20 June) and featured two ultra distances – a 50km and a 60km. Only one runner raced in the ultra distances, Rhys Dix who finished the 60km in a time of 6:46:37.

TRANSCEND ULTRA

The Transcend Ultra 65km kicked off in WA on Sunday (20 June) at Walyunga National Park just outside the Swan Valley, and finished at Cobblers Pool near the historic town of Toodyay. Weather on the day wasn’t ideal, but that didn’t stop the trail runners shivering at the start line at 7am. Rain soaked everyone, getting heavy for a few hours and seeing all runners drenched from head to toe – it was certainly an incentive to get everyone moving and stay warm, with a chill factor hitting the Perth hills. Eventually the sun made its appearance, and the rain stopped but that didn’t stop muddy puddles along all the trails as well as slippery ups and downs, lots of hills, rock hopping, river crossings, fire trails and spectacular views at every turn.

First to cross the finish line for the women was Isabel Traill (7:21:48) followed by Jessica Smith (7:32:10) and Anna Bamber (7:43:44).

For the men it was AURA’s very own Joshua Chugg from Hamilton Hill who took 1st Male in a time of 5:55:25 soon followed by Justin Scarvaci (6:32:21). AURA member Joshua Kuhn from South Bunbury also took a podium finish, taking 3rd Male when he crossed the finish line in 6:47:17.

Congratulations to all our AURA members who took on the solo division in the 65km including Beck Hefferon (9:18:11), Sarah Niven (10:34:46), Wayne McMurtrie (11:49:28), James Sawyer (11:58:15) and Kathryn Hookham (13:22:57).

A multitude of teams also ran in the 65km, allowing for teams of 2-4 with either female, male or mixed groups – amazing efforts by everyone who ran on the day in trying conditions!

Transcend Ultra race director Shane Johnstone said on the shortest, coldest and wettest day of the year, more than 300 runners (solo and teams) took part in the event through the Avon Valley.

“The beautifully brutal course took many by surprise,” he said.

“Despite being on Perth’s doorstep not many had ventured through this region, largely because of how much is privately managed land.

“It was great to see everyone embrace the wet weather and it turned on all the water features, which is what the Avon Valley is really about, you could hear the river raging below through the rapids.

“Friends and family followed their runner trackers along to the finish line at Cobbler Pool near the historic town of Toodyay; the paddock had been transformed to an after party where they cheered on the first team and then then our first solo athletes.

“It was a fairytale finish with the last runner Tim Branco crossing the line at the 9pm cut off with the two race directors, myself and Mitchell Craig, MC Rob Goyen and the two sweeps Martha and Peter Byatt by his side for the final kilometre.

“For the event’s first year it was a huge success and there is already so much excitement for the 2022 edition.”

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Wild Goose Chase Running Festival kicks off this weekend on Friday (25 June) and runs through to 27 June, with both Saturday and Sunday offering distances for all abilities from the 5km to the 100 miler.

Come July and we’ve got the Australian 24 Hour Track Invitational from 3-4 July at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, and the Lakes100 across the same weekend in Hawks Nest, NSW.

Pictured: Joshua Chugg taking the lead into aid station 5 at the weekend Transcend Ultra. Photograph – Bilbo Betts.

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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.