NEW FKT ON CANBERRA CENTENARY TRAIL

Kate Dzienis • June 30, 2021

Contributed by Elliot Cooper, AURA Member

FKT on Canberra Centenary Trail, 13 June 2021, Canberra ACT

Ultra runners have become accustomed to having an adventure run or FKT attempt on standby in case a race they’re training for is cancelled. For a number of ACT athletes the 145km Canberra Centenary Trail is becoming a question of not ‘if’ but ‘when’. I ran it twice last year – once supported in 18h36m32s (when Neverest Canberra was cancelled due to poor air quality) and once in tandem with my mate, and now AURA ACT state representative Matt Griggs, setting the unsupported only known time (OKT) in 18h23m15s.

13 June, 2021 (Sunday) was one year since another local runner, Alex Ramsey, brought the supported FKT down to 16h50m23s. It was also the date on which Matt Griggs and Chris Wilder (our crew) should have been pushing into day 2 of Mirrim Wurnit.

Three members of AURA (Matt, myself and Justin Hiatt) set out from Holdens Pondage at 6am with Ramsey’s record in mind. We set a strong pace and pushed through the first marathon in under 4 hours. Coming down Mt Majura we hit the halfway point in just over 7 hours. After that it started to get hard.

Fortunately we have a great local club in Ultra Mediocre Runners of Canberra with very strong runners who kept us fed and watered. Chris, winner of the recent AURA-listed backyarder the GUMBY, was our dedicated crew, driving all over Canberra to make sure we had what we needed. We had excellent pacers including Damien Stewart, Alec Brown, Matt Lamont, AURA ACT state representative Allicia Heron, Centenary Trail alumnus Brendan Codrington, Nettie Sakova and Andy Blyton who ran with us for sections to keep the pace on and the spirits high.

The 100km mark had us at One Tree Hill and with only a marathon ahead of us we donned head torches to grind out the bike path that lead to Belconnen. The relief at the summit of Black Mountain, our final climb, was monolithic. From there we followed the course through the Arboretum and over the Molongolo to our starting point by Holdens Pondage, finishing in 16h3m56s.

We beat the record by a respectable chunk, and Matt and I had beat our unsupported time by almost 2h20m. Justin, still new to distances over 100km, had an astonishingly strong run. We couldn’t be happier with the result and we look forward to future attempts on the Centenary Trail.

Pictured: Elliot, Matt Griggs and Justin Hiatt hitting out that FKT. Photograph – Supplied.

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AUTRA Race Report 23-3-2026

By Kate Dzienis • March 23, 2026

Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, WA Gold Coast Backyard Ultra, Qld I'm Still Standing Sydney, NSW Trail Run Australia - Tathra, NSW Sri Chinmoy 48hr Track Ultra (Australian 48hr Track Championships, ACT Washpool World Heritage Trails, NSW Tamworth Trailblazer, NSW Upcoming Events WEEKLY NEWS REPORT FOR 23-3-2026 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.

2026 AGM Notice (15 April 2026)

By Dave Martin • March 14, 2026

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

AUTRA statement regarding Snowies Trail Run Festival

March 12, 2026

AUTRA has been in direct contact with the organisers of the Snowies Trail Run Festival, In2Adventure, regarding a recent situation involving an athlete and the event’s in‑person safety briefing requirements. In2Adventure has confirmed that the situation was discussed directly with the athlete at the time. From In2Adventure’s account, and for the purpose of clarifying the public record, AUTRA notes the following points: At no stage was the athlete prevented from breastfeeding at the event. The organiser states that the following options were offered to enable the athlete to participate while still meeting safety requirements: a quiet and private space where she could breastfeed while still being present at the briefing; the option to receive the required briefing at the 30 km start line after the start; and the option to change her registration to the 21 km event, where the briefing is conducted on the start line. At no stage prior to event registration on Saturday night did the athlete contact the organiser to advise of her situation or request alternative arrangements, which limited what could be put in place at the time. Face‑to‑face safety briefings have always been a requirement for In2Adventure events due to the remote and higher‑risk nature of the trails. AUTRA was aware that in‑person briefings were used and had not raised concerns about that general approach. The organiser has indicated that this requirement is driven by safety, duty‑of‑care and insurance obligations, and follows previous experience where remote or online briefings resulted in athletes starting events without critical safety information. The organiser maintains that the event was not conducted in a manner that was intended to be non‑inclusive, inflexible or discriminatory, and that decisions made on the day were based solely on safety requirements that apply equally to all participants. AUTRA’s aim in issuing this statement is solely to clarify the context and ensure that the public record reflects the information provided to us by the organiser.