WEEKLY NEWS REPORT 2-11-2022

Heysen 105, SA
Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB, NSW
Old Mates Backyard Ultra, Qld
Upcoming Events

Because there are so many names to check against in this week’s news report, if you find any discrepancies at all with your timed result, or have noticed a name missing, please email kate.dzienis@aura.asn.au with the information required. Please keep in mind there were just under 1000 runners in the UTA 100km and just over 1700 runners in the UTA50km. To go through them manually is quite a task, however if your name has not been listed and you would like a mention (because who doesn’t?!) please email me at the above address and we’ll get it sorted! 

Also, our end-of-year edition of Ultramag will be coming out in mid-December and we want your stories! Race reports, race director wrap-ups, story ideas/pitches, tips and advice from coaches – we want it all to make it our biggest edition of the year! Please consider putting fingers-to-keyboard and emailing us your experiences. They don’t have to be about AURA listed events either. So long as you’re an AURA member, we want to hear all about it! Email ultramag@aura.asn.au to get into our November-December bumper edition.

HEYSEN 105

The Heysen 105 was held the weekend of 22-23 October along the Heysen Trail in beautiful SA. Offering a range of distances for every runner out there, there was a 115km, 70km, 50km, 37km, 28km and 13km available – not to mention that this year, the ** doubled as AURA’s Long Course Trail Championships!

Please note that in the Long Course Trail Championships, even if a podium finisher is not an AURA member, they do present with top spot in the Championships; the event is not exclusive.

In the 115km, a total of 85 runners crossed the finish line (25 women, 60 men).

In the Women’s 115km, AURA’s very own Melissa Robertson from Long Jetty, NSW took claim to 1st Female with a fantastic time of 13:20:00 even. What a stellar effort, taking almost a 2hr lead over 2nd Female winner Sophie Shawdon who finished in 14:59:12. Julie Brock claimed 3rd Female with 15:04:36. A big congratulations to Melissa, well done on your well-deserved win!

In the Men’s 115km, top podium spots went to Jarrad Allen (10:53:42), Marcus Staker (11:47:23) and Brett Goldfinch (11:49:23).

Congratulations to our AURA members Peter Goss from Adelaide (17:55:43), Pete Sinfield from Tugun, Qld (20:47:36) and Dawn Parks from Marden, SA (26:48:28).

The 70km distance saw a total of 33 runners cross the finish line (16 women, 17 men).

In the Women’s 70km, 1st Female was awarded to Emma Burgess (7:43:27) whilst 2nd was handed to both Indi Zammit (7:43:55) and AURA member Amanda Meggison from South Melbourne, Vic as they completed the distance in the same time. Briony Weckert took 3rd (8:40:53).

For the Men’s 70km, top spots went to Rodney Angelo (7:29:10), Shaun Bennett (7:57:17) and Sebastian Silva (8:57:41).

Onto the 50km, where there was a total of 118 finishers (70 women, 48 men).

In the Women’s 50km, top spots were awarded to Dannielle Vanderheul (5:34:34), Bruna Lanzoni (5:40:37) and Caroline Bertrand (5:45:53). In the Men’s 50km, winners were named David Williams (4:52:58), Ryan Clark (5:25:36) and Dave Jongebloed (5:36:33).

Congratulations to our AURA members who took on the 50km, including Kay Heinecke from Myrtleford, Vic (7:47:33), Nancy Williams from Blackwood, SA (8:17:58) and Benjamin Anchor from Payneham, SA (11:43:37).

For the full list of results, including those for the non-ultra distances, click here.

ULTRA-TRAIL AUSTRALIA BY UTMB

There were 2 ultra distances on offer at Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB, which ran from 27-30 October in the Blue Mountains.

In the 100km, with 1064 starters, 81 DNFs and 986 finishers…it would be a long process to check each name against our AURA membership database manually! So please bear with me and let me know if you’ve been missed!

Top podium finishers for the Men’s 100km were Reece Edward (8:10:11), Scotty Hawker (8:18:28) and Sam McCutcheon (8:28:08). In the Women’s 100km, winners were named Anna Mckenna (9:15:23), Erika Lori (9:41:02) and Naomi Brand (9:41:10).

Congratulations to AURA member Mike Carroll from Ainslie, ACT who secured himself 4th Male (and 1st in his age category MasterM) with a total time of 8:40:15. Another big congrats goes to AURA’s Dominic Bullock from Linley Point, NSW who finished 5th Male (and 1st in his age category of OpenM) with a time of 8:42:32. Also well done to AURA member Josef Mcgrath from Forresters Beach, NSW who secured 6th Male with a time of 8:44:23.

Massive kudos to all our members who ran in the UTA100km, including those who finished in the top 250 – Megann Coffey from Hillarys, WA who finished 5th Female (and 1st in her age category OpenW) with a time of 10:27:15, Aaron Dower (10:28:13), Brendan Davies (10:45:58), Mark Taylor (11:20:18), our very own president Ewan Horsburgh(11:28:04), Michael Molloy (11:30:57), Ben Duffus (12:22:57), David Campbell (12:25:12) and Hayden Pohio (12:52:32).

In the UTA50, there were 1736 starters, 49 DNFs and 1689 finishers.

In the Women’s 50km, AURA’s very own Patricia McKibbin from Jerrabomberra, ACT took out 1st Place with an astonishing finish time of 4:48:17. Second and 3rd placings went to Gemma Jenkins (4:55:34) and Gillian Turnbull (5:05:21).

In the Men’s 50km, top spots went to Ben St Lawrence (3:54:29), Ronnie Sparke (3:55:03) and Piotr Babis (3:55:32).

Congratulations to everyone who ran in the 50km!

For the full list of results for both the UTA100 and UTA50, plus all non-ultras, click here.

OLD MATES BACKYARD ULTRA

Queensland’s newest backyard ultra was played out over the weekend, Old Mates Backyard Ultra from 29-30 October, and saw 58 starters. Some interesting statistics include 493 total laps – 3301.1 total kilometres – 34.5 degrees maximum temp – 18 laps for the assist – 19 laps for the last one standing.

Last one standing winner was Adam Fox, who was a hot favourite after his 2nd place win at The Guzzler earlier this year. He finished with a total of 19 loops, which equalled 127.3km.

The Assist went to Gary Venz, who started the 19th lap but halfway through knew he wasn’t going to make cut-off and so walked in.

We are still awaiting the official starter’s list to see if there were any AURA members racing. If you are an AURA member and you ran, please let me know!

UPCOMING EVENTS

This month there is a buffet – or smorgasbord, if you like – of magical ultra events to get you pumped for the summer season ahead!

The inaugural Janssen Bondi to Manly in NSW kicks off on 5 November, as does Ultra Series’ Feral Pig Ultra in WA (5-6 November). Finishing off the weekend is the newest addition to the AURA calendar, the White Rock Trail Fest, hosted by AAA Racing, in Qld and being held on Sunday (6 November).

Further down the line, 2 events will both claim the weekend of 11-13 November, with the Great Southern Endurance Run in Vic and the Hysterical Carnage Backyard Ultra in SA.

Mid-November sees the Super Trail Mitchell River in Vic from 18-20 November, LOSER (Last One Standing Endurance Race) in Vic from 18-20 November and the Stromlo Running Festival in the ACT from 19-20 November. Rounding off the month is the Blue Goat Backyard in NSW from 26-27 November, the well-known and highly anticipated Coast to Kosci in NSW from 2-4 December, Bruny Island 64k Ultra in Tas on 3 December, GoodRunnings 6/12 in SA from 3-4 December, and the Fisiocrem GC50 in Qld on 4 December which will double as the Australian 50km Championships.

With that said, the rest of December will be here before we know it – the Narrabeen All Nighter from 10-11 December in NSW and the 6 Inch Trail Marathon in WA on 18 December.

Pictured: Runners hit a slight incline at the Heysen 105. Photograph – Sophie Geraghty.