Weekly News Report 31-05-2023

Kate Dzienis • May 30, 2023

AGM Outcome
Great Ocean Road Running Festival, Vic
Run narawntapu, Tas
Upcoming Events

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

If any corrections need to be made in any of the results listed below, please do so via email by contacting Kate Dzienis at kate.dzienis@aura.asn.au

AGM OUTCOME

AURA’s AGM was held on Wednesday, 24 May and unfortunately we saw president Ewan Horsburgh step down from the role after a successful three years in the position. We wish Ewan all the best; thanking him for all the time he’s given the association in growing it to what it is today.

As we say goodbye to Ewan though, we welcome on board Simone Hayes, who moves from the Treasurer role into President – AURA’s first ever female to do so. Simone has an incredible background of ultra running behind her and is extremely passionate and dedicated to the sport. You can read her President’s Letter here, which has been released as a part of the May edition of Ultramag.

The AGM also saw a new array of State Representatives into the fold. Every year, AURA asks its members to put their hands up and become representatives of the association, thus representing the sport of ultra running, in their home state. To see our amazing collection of State Reps for the 2023-24 year, you can click here!

GREAT OCEAN ROAD RUNNING FESTIVAL, VIC

It was a record breaking Great Ocean Road Running Festival on 21 May, where participants could opt to enter anything from 6km to a 60km ultra, both road and trail. The event saw a record 9,350 registered participants compete across all nine events, and it was a sell-out event for the ultra – of which there were 161 finishers.

An incredible result in the Men’s 60km, with AURA’s Dion Finocchiaro from Brighton, Vic taking home 1^st Male with an astonishing time of 3:50:15 – a decent 20 minute lead ahead of 2^nd Male getter Theo Langlois (4:10:04). Ben Harris held on for 3^rd Male (4:18:03).

In the Women’s 60km, we also so an AURA top spot claimed, with AURA member Alice Hall from Scarborough, WA claim 1^st Female following a stellar finish of 4:58:54. Tara Carson took 2^nd Female (5:00:25) whilst AURA’s very own Kathleen Judge from Tugun, Qld walked away with a fantastic 3^rd Female, crossing the finish line in 5:06:40.

Congratulations to all our AURA members who ran in the 60km including Phil Ryan (5:31:22) and Dmitry Pupkov(5:35:44).

For the full list of results, including the marathon and half marathon, click here.

RUN NARAWNTAPU, TAS

Held on 28 May at narawntapu National Park in Greens Beach, Tas the Run narawntapu offered a scenic, stunning and culturally rich environment for endurance runners of all levels – athletes were given the option to enter the 52km, 25km or 12km with a cap of 200 runners in total on the day.

In the Men’s 52km, podium finishes were awarded to Jamis Turner (4:08:32), Grant Houniet (4:09:54) and Gareth Hinds (4:10:48). In the Women’s 52km, winners were Suzi Stiso (4:48:43), Laura Fitzgerald (5:30:06) and Jacqueline Goudy (5:59:05).

Congratulations to AURA member David Campbell who finished the race in 5:24:48, a job well done!

To see the full results, including the 25km and 12km, click here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

June sees the BUTTER 24/48 in Southport, Qld from 2-4 June, the Red Dirt Backyard Ultra in Karratha, WA from 10-11 June, the Southern Sydney 24hr Ultra in Leumeah, NSW from 10-12 June, and the Adelaide 24hr Festival in Glen Davis, NSW from 10-11 June.

The Glow Worm Tunnel Marathon Weekend will be held from 16-17 June in Glen Davis, NSW and the Kennards Hire BVRT100s – which is doubling up as the 100 Mile Australian Championships – will be held in Ipswich, Qld from 17-19 June.

Antsy for Anstey is due on 17 June in Tea Tree Gully, SA whilst the Australian Backyard Masters kicks off another year in Runnymede, Qld from 17-20 June. Transcend will be held on 25 June at Walyunga National Park, WA.

Pictured: The Top 2 of the Great Ocean Road Running Festival’s 60km Men’s event: (L) 2^nd Male Theo Langlois and AURA’s Dion Finocchiaro with his 1^st Male win.

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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.