WEEKLY NEWS REPORT 4-2-2021

Kate Dzienis • February 4, 2021

Sandman 50, WA
OMFG Running Festival, WA
Coming Up & Postponement
Member Reminder

The AURA-listed Sandman 50 and OMFG Running Festival were held at the weekend (30-31 January), just in time before WA went into hard lockdown from 6pm Sunday (31 January).

Sandman 50
The Sandman 50 is a 50km race from Old Dunsborough boat ramp to the Busselton Jetty and back, with the majority of the course set on the beach. Held on 30 January (Saturday) the results saw, for the men, Tony Smith come in 1st Male (3:45:39), David Collins 2nd (4:08:09) and Adrian Castle 3rd (4:09:05).

For the women top spots went to Ruth Murdie for 1st Female (5:01:08), Katie Lovis 2nd (5:02:49) and Vanessa Best 3rd(5:08:25).

Congratulations to all our AURA members who ran in the Sandman 50 including Jon Pendse (4:27:04), Bryan Wright(5:06:49), Geoff Quinton (5:57:11), Heath Watkins (6:02:16) and Diane Breant (7:04:27).

OMFG Running Festival
This Ultra Series WA held OMFG Running Festival took place on 30 January (Saturday) at John Forrest National Park in Swan View, WA. The Swan View Railway Tunnel along with the Eagle View and Heritage trails serve as the venue for the festival, and offers a variety of distances including 6km, 10km, 16km and 25km.

In the 25km men’s event podium spots went to Brian Madigan (2:03:15), Oliver Flloyd (2:03:29) and Daniel Hewitt (2:12:29). For the women top finishers were Cantale Paoliello (2:13:21), Helena Tooming (2:25:59) and Geraldine Pretorius (2:32:35).

Well done to AURA member John Cooke who also competed in the 25km and finished at 3:39:05.

Coming Up
This month we have some more exciting events on the AURA-listed calendar of events.

Cradle Mountain Run will be held in Cradle Mountain, Tas this weekend on 6 February. Some of the track in several areas will see participants race an altitude of 1000m – which by world standards may not be huge, but is well above the tree line. The Cradle Mountain Run offers an 80km distance.

That same weekend (7 February) will see GoodRunnings host the City Run in Bonython Park, Adelaide in SA with an offering of 50km and 60km events.

Last for February is the Lark Hill Dusk to Dawn Ultra to be held on the 27th at Lark Hill Sporting Complex in Port Kennedy, WA. A night time run around a 3km limestone track loop, runners are offered a 25km (8 laps), 50km (17 laps) and a 100km (34 laps).

We will keep our members posted on whether Lark Hill will take place, as hard lockdown is due to be lifted 5 February from 6pm but some restrictions will stay.

Coming Up
Delirious W.E.S.T was originally scheduled to take place this weekend – a 200 miler starting from Northcliffe in WA. However due to WA’s hard lockdown, Delirious W.E.S.T has officially been postponed until 6-10 October. Ultra Series WA race director Shaun Kaesler said yesterday (3 February) that despite zero new cases of COVID-19 in WA and Premier Mark McGowan announcing that restrictions will continue in some capacity past the lockdown lift on 5 February, it was enough information for Shaun to justify the postponement.

“I find it heartbreaking and ridiculously over the top that one Covid case and the actions of government can cause such catastrophic affects to so many…but then in the next breath, I am eternally grateful for the systems we have in place that have allowed us so much freedom in the last 12 months in an otherwise chaotic world,” he said.

“I know how much everyone invests in this (Delirious W.E.S.T); I’m not talking financial. I’m talking about the investment you can’t put a value on.

“All entries are being automatically rolled to the new October dates (6-10). We will hold the 2022 Delirious W.E.S.T once again in February (9-13) so if you would prefer this date over the October one, we will give you a 100% rollover to that as an option.”

Reminder
A reminder for all AURA members that with the new year already upon us, we would love to have even more race reports contributed to our digital Ultramag magazine than ever before. 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 – PLUS you get a bonus point in the AURA points competition!

Email your report in a Word document (single spaced and include your name, event name and date) along with high resolution photographs (not in the Word document but attached to the email) to ultramag@aura.asn.au

Pictured – Participants in the weekend OMFG Running Festival. Photograph – Marcos De Martini.

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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.