WEEKLY NEWS REPORT – 8/5/2019

Kate Dzienis • May 8, 2019

Down Under 135mi, Vic
Margaret River Ultra, WA

It was a weekend of mass proportions starting on Friday (May 3) when the Down Under 135mi kicked off through Lerderderg and Wombat state forests in Vic and the Margaret River Ultra in Margaret River, WA on Saturday.

If you know Down Under 135mi, you’ll know it’s a race where organisers only allow qualified athletes to enter – meaning participants must have completed two 100mi trail races (or longer) with 4000-metres of climbing, or receive Down Under Committee approval with races completed within three years of the event.

To top it off, ambulance cover is a condition of entry.

Although no AURA members completed what has been called the ‘gnarliest footrace in the Southern Hemisphere’, the event’s first ever woman finished the gruelling 217kms – Karen Barrett from NSW crossed the finish line in 49hrs 37mins, taking out third overall too.

New Zealand’s Michael Stuart took first in 44hrs 28mins.

Well done has to go out to all AURA members who entered and gave it their best including David Giles, Dej Jamieson, John Kilkelly, George Mihalakellis, Damian Smith and Tim Woods.

Saturday saw the start of the Margaret River Ultra where participants took to the trails – 80kms’ worth – from Hamelin Bay to Cheeky Monkey Brewery and Cidery in Wilyabrup.

Caversham’s Shane Johnstone crossed the finish line in 8:00:22 to take out second male, while Jon Pendse from Kingsley (who on the back of finishing the Lighthorse Ultra 12hr event with in 142.22kms the weekend prior) claimed third male in 8:25:22.

Johnstone said conditions on the day were testing with strong winds along the shoreline.

“Oddly there was a 20 to 30km NW wind which meant for headwinds on the soft sand beaches,” he said.

“It definitely tested the quads, shuffling over 8min/km at points, and the mental looking up the long stretches of beach. For some reason the sand isn’t firm near the water’s edge, so soft sand was the only option.

“You knew everyone was having the same battle, so you just had to keep on ticking the legs over.”

Johnstone had just completed the 130km Cape to Cape Track two weeks prior to the Margaret River Ultra, and had pulled up well so when starting Saturday’s event, he had started with little expectations and was looking to clock up another big session in the build up to the upcoming 231km Larapinta Trail at West Mac Monster.

“I was so stoked to get second place,” he said.

“I loved the energy from the crowd and team runners coming through the checkpoints; the south west of Australia has some beautiful coastline and forests to take the edge off the grind.”

Pendse was also very happy with his result, and said he was stunned by the variety that encompassed the coastline.

“The race had it all, and plenty more,” he said.

“Just don’t expect a quick time! A world trail race to envy all, we are truly lucky to have this in our backyard.”

Congratulations to all AURA members who ran the Margaret River Ultra including Brad Girvan (8:49:42), Ian North (9:49:49), Andre Pienaar (9:50:25), Beck Hefferon (10:49:28), Andrew Cohen (11:13:30), Sarah Niven (11:33:26), Katherine Booy (12:50:52), Mark Keenan (13:52:46), Kate Ashfaq (15:13:01), Diana Elliott (13:35:55), Fee Salmons (16:33:19) and Jamie Lines.

Some of the AURA women have also competed and performed brilliantly on the world stage in recent days, with Lou Clifton finishing second female at Ultra-Trail Mt Fuji in a time of 25:50:48 and Annabel Hepworth winning the Sri Chinmoy 6 Day Race in New York with 647kms.

Congratulations to Lou and Annabel on well deserved wins!

The next AURA-listed events on the calendar include the Great Ocean Road in Vic on May 18, West Macs Monster on May 24 and the Woodchopper’s Ultra on May 25.

Pictured: Shane Johnstone in the 2019 Margaret River Ultra.

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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.