President’s Report: Simone Hayes for Dec 2023

Wow. What a couple of months it has been since my October report. We missed November due to the website launch, so this bumper issue of Ultramag is packed with all the good stuff and our amazing marketing co-ordinator Kate has put together a fantastic issue for you all.

So much has happened in the space of a few short months, it’s an exciting time to be a part of the running industry and especially AURA. We’ve experienced some amazing growth this year and we send a very big welcome to our new members and are forever grateful to our returning and long term members. We also have many new races appearing on our calendar for 2024, and we welcome our new race directors and are excited to see these new events available to all of our members alongside our regular annual events that we all love. We hope our members embrace all of these events and take advantage of the discounted entries that your membership affords you, whilst supporting and enjoying what our running community has to offer.

We also have many new partners on board offering members great discounts on products and services which means you can save way more than your $49 membership fee in just one purchase or a race entry – what’s not to love about that?

This month we had our amazing Emus, the 24hr team, head over to Chinese Taipei to compete in the first 24hr World Championships since 2019. They performed brilliantly and did us proud with the Men’s Team placing 5^th overall and the Women’s Team 6^th. Maree Connor achieved 15^th place and bagged herself a W40 Australian Record with a PB as well with her 232.135km result. No doubt one of our best team performances at a World Champs and bodes well for the future of Australian ultra and track racing. 

We launched our new AURA website last month which was four months in the making. I’m sure you will all agree that it was worth the effort that all the volunteers put in, with special thanks to our IT guru Alexis Oosterhoff. Without him it would never have happened. It’s fresh, functional and has new links to benefits so you can take advantage of things like gear reviews, Coach’s Corner articles and more. We also hope you enjoy our new podcast feature that you can access from the website or your phone and listen on the run.

Please do make sure that you have responded to the email we sent you asking to create a new account on the new platform. You MUST do this to be able to access your member benefits. You do not have to pay anything if your membership is current. If you do have any issues email us at memberships@aura.asn.au. To check if you are actually current (in case you have forgotten to renew!) you can send an email with no content to membercheck@aura.asn.au and will receive an automated reply with your AURA membership number if current, or a notification that you are due to renew if not. Simplez!

This year we initiated a new platform introducing AURA Endorsed Coaches. We encourage you to reach out to this group if you’re seeking coaching advice. These qualified trainers know their stuff and were selected via a highly set criteria based on their number of years coaching, number of clients they have coached, time spent coaching, their specialties and their qualifications. Each coach brings their own unique specialty and experience and we believe that we have selected a team that has something to offer everyone, regardless of a runners current ability. They will be showering us with articles to share with our members so we hope you enjoy them throughout the year. 

Next year in April we are hosting the 24hr Asian Oceania Championships, which is the first time we have had a championship event here in Australia. This in itself is hugely exciting. We will be able to cheer on our runners on course rather than from a timing platform online and hopefully we can get supporters and spectators down in Canberra at the AIS for the weekend wearing their green and gold. We suggest you start looking at accommodation early if you want to join in on the fun. We will also be putting out a call for volunteers closer to the event, which besides being a valuable assistant, you will get a front row seat to all the action.

As the year winds up I would like to thank my tireless committee for their support, we have a wonderful team that works really hard behind the scenes to keep AURA running, which can at times be a full time job. 

I want to thank all of our volunteers, State Reps, and marketing coordinator Kate Dzienis for everything they do throughout the year.

I would like to also thank all of the race directors that support AURA each year by listing their events with us, and if there is anything more we can do to help promote your races each year please let us know, we are here to support you.

And to you, our members – you are who we do this for. The runners! Trail and ultra running is at an all-time high and will continue to thrive in the coming years. AURA is here to help that continue to happen in Australia and to make sure that we grow with the sport, be proactive and stay abreast of changes, be able to assist athletes to reach their potential, embrace new formats, introduce new talent from juniors to seniors and bring them through the ranks and various distances and modes of racing. And to allow all abilities shine, whether you are a beginner or an experienced elite athlete. 

We are all here for the one reason – because we love to run and we love this community!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year and we look forward to sharing 2024 with you all.

Simone Hayes

AURA President

Images: Supplied