John Nuttall from Kelso, Qld has also set numerous records on the other side of the continent, including his most recent at the 2018 Adelaide 12 Hour (M65) with a time of 11:20:35 and at the same event, the 100km (M65).
He has also set records in the 6 Hour M60 age division at Centennial Park, NSW with 69.676kms in 2012, and in the 6 Hour M65 category at Campbelltown, NSW with 65.491kms in 2017, but unlike Hadley, had his eyes on the prize.
“To set a running record is great, but to put it into perspective, I wasn’t a runner, having only started when I was 44 years old, so I didn’t have time on my hands and never chased open records,” he says.
“When I was approaching 60, I really tried to get fit to see what I could do and from there checked out the age records, and the rest is history.
“I’ve aimed to set a record on all my occasions; I look at my record certificates on the wall in the mornings when I tie my runners on and think yeah, I earned those. Especially this year getting the M65 12-hour that was held by the legendary Cliff Young. I’m not saying I’m even close to him, he was a legend, but it’s nice to think I may have given him a race.”
2018 IAU Asian 24hr Championship Aussie team member Sharon Scholz’s background consists of more than a dozen record breaking runs, including breaking the Female Australian Record in her very first 48-hour event, the 2010 48-Hour Australian Championships with a final tally of just over 333km, and the 2010 48-Hour World Championships (France) where she smashed the Australian road course record by nearly 20km.
But the Wangaratta, Victorian’s favourite record breaking race was on home soil.
“Quite a lot of preparation occurs for me to be aware of what is possible in terms of records,” she says.
“I definitely aimed for records when I was in ‘that space’, but now I run to my best on the day and that’s great too. Probably my favourite record to break was Coast 2 Kosci in 2010.
“We had set up the entire year around my achievements and this was the last in an amazing calendar year. But if I needed to choose one of the age or Aussie records as a favourite, I’d choose France (24 Hour World Championships) where I broke the Australian Open Road record with 224.885km.
