President's Report: August 2024

It’s nice to finally be getting to the end of winter and seeing some sunny warmer days! Although after the cold winter we have had it might take a bit of getting used to – my run today in unusually warm 26.5 degree weather (it was midday, mind you, and glorious) felt harder than normal, but I finished with a nice swim in the ocean and it does finally feel like spring is around the corner.

This month, as all months, has been super busy at AUTRA headquarters. We are busy rolling out the new brand which you will see at races before the end of the year. Our new merch line is in progress and has some really cool new designs in our shirts, buffs and new style Fractel hats, we even have a bucket hat on the way. I’m excited to say “watch this space”. We are hoping they will be available for purchase by October and can’t wait to see you all out there running in the new gear!

Our member base keeps growing and we welcome all of our new members this month.

On the trail side we have now selected a team for the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships, (APTRC’s) and they will be heading off to South Korea in October to do us proud.

Road side, the 100km World Championship applications are now open and selections will take place in early September for the December 7 race in Bengaluru, India.

Our events calendar is constantly growing as some awesome new races come on board. We welcome all of our new race directors and thank our regular ones for supporting AUTRA and sharing their events with our members on our calendar. Our Director of Events Lisa Sherman has been busy working with the race directors, improving and developing their relationship with AUTRA. If you have any questions regarding listing your race or obtaining insurance please reach out to Lisa. 

Our member benefits keep growing so if you haven’t checked out the page yet, login and head over and see where you can save some big bucks.

Don’t forget that our National Championship events have been announced for 2025, so start planning your calendar for next year. And still to come this year, we have Hume & Hovell hosting the 100mile Champs, Surf Coast Century the Long Course Trail Champs and the GC50 hosting the 50km road. Who is racing? Remember that every listed event you race you get points in the Points Competition and there are great cash prizes to be won at the end of the year.

Thanks again to all of the committee, state reps, trail subcommittee and volunteers that work tirelessly to keep us rolling each month – we have so much to do and so many exciting things ahead to organise and plan for, and day by day we are getting there!

See you in September,

Simone Hayes, President