WEEKLY NEWS – 11/4/2018

Down Under 135mi

Down Under 135mi was held last Friday (April 6) and across the weekend as participants challenged themselves to get through the 217km single stage non-stop race. Held along the trails of the Lerderderg and Wombat state forests in Vic, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in another world despite being just 40kms west of Melbourne CBD.

It’s rumoured to be one of the toughest trail races in Australia, and it’s a fair call…Down Under 135mi has had a finishing rate of just 23% in the last two years.

This year it was a mammoth effort by two AURA members who just took the event by storm.

David Giles from Willetton, WA took control with 1st overall and made it well under 54-hour cut off, crossing the finish line in 49:05:20 while fellow AURA runner Ben Hirst from Kingston, Tas hit the ground running to score 3rd overall not far behind with a time of 51:13:20.

To give a bit of perspective, there were 26 starters this year with only five finishers (19% finishing rate for 2018), and the dates for next year’s event have already been announced (April 12-14, 2019).

A big congratulations to both David and Ben who conquered a big race.

Pictured: The five finishers of the 2018 Down Under 135mi. Photograph – Facebook.