YMCA CANBERRA CAPITAL TO COAST RACE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Kate Dzienis • September 27, 2019

Contributed by Paul Mahoney, Race Director

YMCA Canberra Capital to Coast, ACT
100km, 23-25 August 2019

At 4pm on August 23 (Friday) 16 solo runners and members of 39 relay teams toed the line at Rond Terrace in Canberra for two laps of the central basin of Lake Burley Griffin, the 10km prologue of the 2019 YMCA Capital to Coast 100km staged trail race.

Only 36:48 later, Tim Cochrane in the solo male event led all runners home. Kieran O’Brien was fourth across the line and second solo male in 38:50 and Glen Robinson came through for third solo male in 40:37. The interim podium in the female solo event on Friday night had Grace Owen on the top step in 51:19, leading Dianne O’Shaughnessy by three seconds and Amy Currie and Clare King a further five seconds behind.

A late change to the course moved the first three stages on Saturday into the ACT. After an evening’s rest, the runners showed up for a 7am start at a frosty Stromlo Forest Park for the 8km Stage 1 on a mix of grass cross country course and lumpy fire trails.

The overnight low of -5° had turned the grass course to ice but the cool conditions were soon warmed up by some fast running – Tim Cochrane again led all runners home in 31:00 and Grace Owen again led the females home in 41:02 with Amy Currie yet again chasing hard only 12 seconds behind.

Runners then relocated from Canberra’s west to Canberra’s north for the next mass start at the 15km Stage 2 in Mulligans Flat. The field followed the fire trails through the feral-free fauna reserve before following the border up towards Oak Hill lookout and finishing with a fast downhill section. Tim Cochrane was led home by a relay runner but extended his lead in the male solo competition with a time of 1:02:02 with Glen Robinson moving up to second. Amy Currie led the female soloists home in 1:20:09 and moved ahead of Grace Owen overall by five seconds.

Still circling Canberra in a vaguely coastward direction, the 9km Stage 3 took place on roller coaster fire trails at Molonglo Gorge in Kowen Forest in the east of the ACT, finishing with 3km of single trail heading down the gorge. The challenging course slowed down the runners with Tim Cochrane again leading the soloists home in 47:22 and Glen Robinson consolidating in second. Annie Schofield led the female solo field in 1:04:12 with Laura Marshall second while Grace Owen returned to the overall lead by 1:28.

The route changes meant that runners piled into their cars after Stage 3 for the two-hour drive to the south coast for the 4pm start to Stage 4 in Long Beach, north of Batemans Bay. The 14km course took runners along the dirt roads of Murramarang National Park and through the village of South Durras before accessing Cookies Beach for 800m for a sunset beach finish (and a convenient ocean ‘recovery pool’ beside the finish line). Glen Robinson crossed the line in 1:02:48 to pip Tim Cochrane by two seconds. Amy Currie was the first solo female through the sand in 1:18:15 and returned to the overall lead.

With 56km down at five locations, runners retired to enjoy a social buffet dinner at the Catalina Club in Batemans Bay.

Dinner chatter covered war stories from the first day and expectations and plans for day two. None of the runners appeared too keen to ‘kick on’ after dinner and early nights appeared to be the favoured choice. Overnight, Tim Cochrane led Glen Robinson by 10:37 with Kieran O’Brien 23:54 further behind. Amy Currie led the women from Grace Owen by 1:08 with Annie Schofield a further 14:22 later.

Sunday dawned fine as the race progressed up the Princes Highway to Stage 5. Runners faced a slow climb along the dirt ‘Old Princes Highway’ for 13km through state forests before a fast 3km downhill finish to Termeil. Both overnight solo leaders consolidated their position with Tim Cochrane finishing in 1:10:43 and Amy Currie coming home in 1:27:43.

Stage 6 returned to fire trails, traversing 9km through Morton National Park. The dry conditions changed the wade through Conjola Creek into a stretch of mud before the field headed up and down the steep fire trails. Once again, both leaders extended their overall advantages – Tim Cochrane’s time being 42:40 and Amy Currie crossing the line in 55:52.

The cross country course at Timberhills in Tomerong was the location for Stage 7. After 44 years of staging cross country events, Stage 7 was the last time Timberhills was to host a race, being retired after the event. Three laps of the 3km course gave the field a challenge and the spectator fleet plenty of opportunity to cheer their runners along (while enjoying a picnic in the fields). Glen Robinson led the solo men home in 38:13, cutting 2:23 out of Tim Cochrane’s lead while Annie Schofield’s local knowledge may have assisted her to a 48:27 winning time, beating Amy Currie out by nine seconds.

The final stage took runners from Hyams Village along the single trail of White Sands Walk through Jervis Bay National Park for 4km before joining the bike path for a further 6km through to finish at White Sands Park in the heart of Huskisson and the completion of the 100km total journey. Glen Robinson again took time out of Tim Cochrane’s lead, coming home in 40:47, 2:46 ahead of Tim. Amy Currie led home the female solo field in 47:54, extending her lead by almost six minutes. Both Tim’s overall time (7:17:30) and Glen’s overall time (7:30:21) in the solo male competition were faster than any of the relay teams.

All seven female soloists completed the course although three of the runners failed to meet cut-off on at least one stage. Six of the nine male soloists also completed the course but two of these six also missed at least one cut-off. Unfortunately, no AURA members took up the solo challenge in 2019.

Female solo podium:

Amy Currie 9:24:11
Grace Owen 9:39:24
Annie Schofield 9:56:54

Male solo podium:

Tim Cochrane 7:17:30
Glen Robinson 7:30:21
Rajeev Bajania 8:22:25

Pictured: Runners hitting the course in Stage 1 of the YMCA Canberra Capital to Coast 2019. Photograph – Supplied.

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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.