2019 AURA AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Rob Donkersloot • February 1, 2020

AURA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 AURA Awards.

Australian Female Ultra Runner of the Year For outstanding single or collective performances by a female.

Amy Lamprecht has been selected as the Australian Female Ultra Runner of the Year for 2019. Amy returned consistently high ranking performances in all the events she participated including first place at Ultra Trail Australia, first place at Bruny Island, first place at Convicts & Wenches, and second place at Cradle Mountain. Without doubt a spectacular year of running by Amy.

Australian Male Ultra Runner of the Year For outstanding single or collective performances by a male.

The winner for this award goes to to Ash Watson, who had an fantastic year with multiple top finishes on trail and road. His performances included winning the Surf Coast Century, Great Ocean Road, Two Bays events as well as first place at the 50km Australian Championships on road at Canberra in a very smart time of 2:59:40.

Helen Stanger Award For the greatest single best ultra running achievement by a female under the age of 60.

Bernadette Benson, is the winner for her Australian open women’s record for 100 miles (15:24:44) set at the Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour race at Campbelltown in June.

Bryan Smith Award For the greatest single best ultra running achievement by a male under the age of 60.

Kay Bretz ran a massive 259.670 km total at the 2019 World Championships in Albi, France. This was the largest Australian total ever in a World Championships. The distance is the fourth best ever achieved by an Australian, and the furthest ever run on foreign soil. A worthy recipient of the Bryan Smith Award.

Young Female Ultra Runner of the Year For outstanding single or collective performances by a female under the age of 30.

Nicole Vaughan had a great year in 2019 including a very impressive first place at the Coburg 24 Hour race where she ran 191km. Other results includes sixth at the Australian 100km Championships, and 6th at Great Ocean Walk.

Stephanie Auston had an outstanding year of racing in 2019, including 19th place at the Trail World Championships in June, 1st place at the Brisbane Trail Ultra (60km), Australian Alpine Ascent (50km), Six Foot Track (45km), Snowies Trail Run Festival (50km) and Two Bays (56km), and 2nd place at Tarawera 100km (NZL). Stephanie was announced as joint recipient in March 2020 following the idenficiation of an error in the AURA membership database after the awards had been announced.

Young Male Ultra Runner of the Year For outstanding single or collective performances by a male under the age of 30.

Dan Symonds, this is the second year in a row Dan has won this award. In 2019 it was his second place and impressive 362km set at the Canberra 48 Hour event as well as his participation at the World 24 Hour Championships in France that saw him deservedly selected a second time.

Cliff Young Award For the greatest single best ultra running achievement by a male over the age of 60.

Mick Francis, for his second place at the Gold Coast 100km road race, running an impressive time of 9:23. Mick also recorded numerous top results at events in his home state of Western Australia, finishing first in his age category for every event he entered in 2019.

Shirley Young Award For the greatest single best ultra running achievement by a female over the age of 60.

Marie Boyd wins the Shirley Young Award for her new Womens W70 age group record for the 6 Day event when she recorded 385.019km at the Adelaide 6 Day race, averaging 64km per day.

Ultra Performance of the Year Award Nominated by and voted on by the AURA members

Kay Bretz is the winner of the AURA Ultra Performance of the Year Award for 2019 for his 259km run at the 24 hour World Championships. This award was voted by AURA members, so true recognition for Kay by his peers. Congratulations also to Lou Clifton, Amy Lamprecht, Bernadette Benson and Clay Dawson for being nominated.

Pictured: Amy Lamprecht, 2019 Australian Female Ultra Runner of the Year, and Ash Watson, 2019 Australian Male Ultra Runner of the Year

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2026 AGM Notice of Meeting

By Dave Martin • March 31, 2026

AUTRA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Wednesday 15 April 2026

AUTRA Race Report 30-3-2026

By Kate Dzienis • March 30, 2026

Kunanyi Mountain Run, Tas Buffalo Stampede Festival (Australian Long Trail Championships), Vic Cairns 50, Qld Lithgow Ridgy-Didge Trail Run Festival, NSW Southern Cross 24 Hour, SA Upcoming Events WEEKLY RACE RECAP FOR 30-3-2026 As always, we're continuously on the hunt for your stories and reports, so get those race reports and photographs in to ultramag@autra.asn.au with the following information: Word document, single spaced Include the name of the event, the date and the location anywhere in the report (just a bullet point at the top is great) Please attach photographs to the email – do not put images in the body of your Word doc. You’ll just get me emailing you back asking for the photos sent in the correct way! As many photos as possible. With our new website, it’s now easier than ever to include a nice gallery in each race report No PDFs please And remember, it doesn’t have to be about an AUTRA-listed event specifically! You just have to be an AUTRA member for the 2026 year. Also too, if you’ve run in a non-AUTRA listed event anywhere on home soil or internationally, we’d love to include your race results and experience in our Member Updates, so please do reach out to us via email to kate.dzienis@autra.asn.au If any corrections need to be made in any of the results listed below, please alert me via email.