President's Report: October 2023

Simone Hayes • October 30, 2023

Wow, it’s been a big few months with some even bigger ones to come, so I thought it would be nice to touch base with you on a monthly basis via Ultramag to fill you in on what we have been doing behind the scenes, how our calendar and events are shaping up, what new benefits we have to offer you and more!

The Committee wishes to keep everything we do completely transparent and keep you informed. We hope this regular report offers that to you all and gets you excited about what’s happening in Australia’s running scene.

Our Australian representatives are almost ready to fly our flag!

50km World Championships

Next week our Aussie representatives for the 50km world champs leave for Hyderabad, India to race on 5 November. We have a small but strong team of 3 men made up of Wayne Spies (Captain), Ben MacCronan and Tom Brimelow. All three are fit and ready to go and we wish them all the best for a safe trip and a successful race!

24 Hour World Championships

In less than 6 weeks our 24 hour reps head to Taipei to compete in the first 24 hour world champs since 2019 after a break during the pandemic. The large team of 6 men and 6 women team take to the track on 1 December and I believe we have the strongest team we have ever put together. We will touch base next month on the team closer to the event.

The 2024 Events Calendar is now live!

We are pleased to announce that the AURA 2024 Calendar is now open and live on the website. You can now start planning your year to make it your best year yet! Take note of our National Championship dates as well. We have some new events hosting these this year as well as many new events appearing for us all to take part in. 2024 is shaping up to be an awesome year of running!

Not all of us care about records and trophies, most of us run for the love of it and we are trying to expand this calendar for everyone in the running community to take part in and enjoy. We’ll always have our elites but they realistically make up a small part of who we are – runners that love to get out there in the community, experience new events, new trails and meet new people!

Exciting news – we have a new website coming!

We have been busy working behind the scenes all year developing a new website that we believe will be more user friendly, offer more to members and provide you with heaps of cool stuff to fuel your running habit with. We will be offering more content for members such as our Coaches Corner with lots of solid evidence based articles to help you improve and succeed written by AURA accredited coaches. We will also have links to these coaches if anyone is looking for guidance or for a coach. Also new will be our Gear Review section where we will be testing new products and giving you the rundown. We are working on delivering more and more Member Benefits Discounts so you can all go nuts shopping as runners love to do! We also plan to have some fun member-only competitions and giveaways throughout the year.

Information and entertainment wise there will be a lot of free content for runners such as podcast links (featuring our members and also lots of great interviews with experts regarding all things running) so you can ‘click and go’ on your next run direct from the website. Ultramag will now have full free access to all, as we want to share the love. All AURA history and records remains the same but will be easier to find. The backend has also improved but that’s all boring stuff you don’t need to know about.

And did I mention it looks great? So, watch this space, we plan to launch before the end of the year.

AURA State Representatives

Our State Reps have been busy spreading the word in their respective states and doing a fabulous job sharing with you what is going on, what events are coming up and what has come and gone. They are there to engage with the community and help in any way they can so please, reach out if you have any questions or you can post on your state page if you have something running worthy to share.

Thank you to our volunteers

As I said at the start, it’s been a big year. This is my fourth year on the committee and my first year as President and it’s been a big step up and a challenge at times, but I’m learning as I go and could not do it without the support of the amazing committee by my side, with Matthew Eckford, Stephen Redfern and Annabel Hepworth. These guys have been my rocks. We are a committee of four and we work well as a team and I couldn’t do it without them.

I also need to extend an enormous thanks to Alexis Oosterhoff whom without, we would all be lost! His input and hours of help he offers to AURA from results compilation to solving all of our IT issues (there are many as we are all a bit challenged in this area!) cannot be measured and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts. I also wish to thank our records officer Tia Jones who has been working tirelessly going through records to either ratify them or make sure all records are going to the correct people – this really is no small task and she does it for the athletes, so thank you.

So that’s a wrap – there is so much more I could write here but going to save something for next month!

Simone Hayes
AURA President

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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.