COBURG 24HR RACE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Contributed by Tim Erickson, Race Director, Coburg 24hr Festival

A total of 56 athletes (34 runners and 22 walkers) toed the line for the midday start on Saturday, April 21 in the 35th annual staging of the iconic Victorian ultra event, the Coburg 24hr Festival. The forecast promised good weather and it proved correct. The first few hours were still, warm and sunny, until late afternoon cloud cooled competitors. A cold and misty night was followed by another sunny day, but again not too hot.

The 24hr Run saw clear wins to Nikki Wynd (201.290km) and Daragh O’Loughlin (217.260km). In the women’s race, little separated the three runners for the first six hours, but from then on Nikki gradually drew clear, never to be challenged.

In the men’s race, Philip Balnave led for the first eight hours, with Stuart Hughes in pursuit. As the night set in Philip slowed, to be overtaken first by Donald Bailey and then by Daragh O’Loughlin. Daragh took the lead just before the 12-hour mark, which he passed with 116.8km. From then on, he increased his lead hour by hour, running to a comfortable win. Kay Bretz ran a strong second half to take silver with an inaugural 24hr distance of 212.660km. Third placed Donald Bailey also excelled, bettering the 200km barrier with an inaugural distance of 205.636km. Shaun Moore, in fourth place, confirmed his C2K qualifier with a PB 183.249km. The next two places were filled by runners contesting their first 24-hour track races, with Stuart Hughes 182.372km and Joel Claxton (our equal youngest runner at 23 years of age) 181.229km.

The walk divisions had an international flavour with entrants from Belgium, Netherlands, the Isle of Man and USA joining their Australian counterparts. The women’s 24-hour race saw an easy win to Dutch walker Gertrude Achterberg. She had passed the halfway mark with 85.146km and looked set for a big total. Alas, she slowed in the second half, finishing with 138.040km. Dawn Parris walked strongly as always to take second with 131.745 km. Lorraine Billett impressed with her third place distance of 101.378km, setting four new W70 Australian walking records along the way.

In the men’s 24hr walk, Justin Scholz and Colin Heywood headed out fast with Chris Burn in close pursuit. Justin’s pace was too demanding for the others and they gradually gave ground in their chase. He passed the half way mark with an impressive 97.7km, nearly 5km clear of Colin and a further 1km clear of Jantinus Mients and Chris. The race complexion changed when Justin retired just after the 14-hour mark. By then, Colin, Jantinus, Chris and Adrie Ross had come together and were within two laps of each other. They stayed within touch of each other until the final hours, when Chris eventually pulled clear, reaching the 100-mile mark with 22:08:09 and then retiring, with his goal achieved. Jantinus was next to reach the 100 mile mark, with 22:25:34, then he too retired. The same was the case for Adrie Ross with 22:33:31 followed by race retirement. Colin was next to reach the 100-mile mark with 22:46:53 but he then surprised by doing one further lap before retiring, thus ensuring a win in the 24hr race.

But it is fair to say that the 24hr placings were of minor importance to these walkers, with their new Australian Centurion statuses of greater significance.

The 24hr walks also hosted the Racewalking Australia 100km walk championships, with placings as shown below.

RWA 100km Walk Championship Men

1. Justin Scholz Vic    12:18:45
2. Colin Heywood NT     12:53:08
3. Jantinus Meints NED  13:04:51

RWA 100km Walk Championship Women

1. Gertrude Achterberg NED   14:20:01
2. Dawn Parris           Vic     18:40:22
3. Lorraine Billett SA      23:01:14

The meet also included 12hr and 6hr Run and Walk Championships. The 12hr races started at midday on Saturday and were held alongside the 24hr but with competitors in lane 3 rather than in lane 1. The races saw outstanding performances from Mal Gamble (a new M50 12H Australian record and PB of 137.763km), Ken Marsh (a PB 115.298km) and Bernadette Benson (a W45 6hr Canadian record of 72.329 km).

The 6hr races, which started at 6am on the Sunday morning, also produced their own highlight, with Kevin Muller breaking his own Australian M45 6hr run record with 81.414 km

The perpetual trophies were awarded as follows:

Victorian 24 Hour Track Champion: Daragh O’Loughlin (Vic)
Coburg Endurance Award: Lorraine Billett (SA)
Jim Gleeson Trophy: Justin Scholz (Vic) and Gertrude Achterberg (NED)
Jack Webber Trophy: Chris Burn (IOM)

A number of masters walking records were provisionally set as follows:

Joel Claxton
M20 100 miles Run: 20:04:22
M20 24hr Run: 191.229km

Bernadette Benson
W45 6hr Run: 73.329kms

Malcolm Gamble
M50 12hr Run: 137.763km

Kevin Muller
M45 6hr Run: 81.414km

Lorraine Billett
W70 12hr Walk 65.154km
W70 50 miles Walk 16:33:21
W70 100km Walk 23:01:14
W70 24hr Walk 101.378kms

A final note of thanks to the many people who deserve special mention

• Heather (and family!) and Bertha in the canteen – what a superb job!
• Bernie Goggin who shared the overall event management load with me.
• The Coburg 24hr Committee members who were on deck for so much, if not all, of the event.
• The other volunteers, many of them Coburg Harriers members, who helped with event setup or pulldown or who came for periods during the race to help out.
• Philip van Duren for singlet design and delivery and financial sponsorship via his travel company ‘The Outdoor Traveller’.
• Michael Gillan for his dedicated work as masseur this year, and for many years past.
• Robyn and Brett Saxon of TrailsPlus for their event recording. They extended their chip system to cover six­ lanes this year, and it worked seamlessly for our lane 1, 3 and 5 competitors. They also used a new software system that they have recently purchased and it was far superior to the previous one, allowing a much greater variety and timeliness of reports, etc. Anyone who came for a look could not help but be impressed by the enhancements on show this year. To have the results confirmed and printed out a few minutes after the final gun goes is an amazing thing when I think back to our old manual days, with Mark and Brian sweating it out behind the scenes.
• Centurions Michelle Thompson, Terry and Karyn O’Neill and Stu Cooper who looked after our overseas walkers with their own big multi-tent area at the top of the track.
• Billy Pearce who looked after our first aid needs for the first 12 hours.
• Our fantastic long term first aid support Libby Ravalli was unable to come this year, so Bernie organised for the Western Sports Trainers Assn to take responsibility for the second 12 hours of the event. In particular, we were very fortunate to have Sam Fenech on duty for the last 6 hours. Sam is known to many of us for his work with Athletics Victoria and was a wonderful resource to have on deck for the final few hours of the 24H and for the immediate post-event period. As can be seen, it takes a lot of dedication and enthusiasm to put on an event like this. Well done everyone and see you all again next year for the 2019 Coburg 24 Hour Carnival.

Full results, along with lapsplits for all competitors, are available here.