PROFILE PIECE ON ELIZABETH BENNETT

By Kate Dzienis

Elizabeth Bennett has done it all when it comes to volunteering with AURA, and after all her years of dedicating tirelessly to an association she feels passionately about, she’s decided it’s time for her to step back and take a seat.

Hailing from Dickson, ACT and thoroughly enjoying the cold that is Canberra, Elizabeth has done her fair share of volunteering in the ultra running community, including taking on three years of being the editor of Ultramag when it was a hardcopy version.

If you’ve been a runner in and around the eastern states, you know Elizabeth – and chances are, Elizabeth knows you too. In fact, if you spend any amount of time with her, you’ll know how committed and devoted she is to the community that is running.

And all whilst working full time, running her own business, gaining a third university degree and a graduate diploma.

Elizabeth recaps some of her favourite moments with AURA, of which she has been a member of for 10 years, and tells us why the association is an important part of the sport.

“My involvement with AURA and the relationships I’ve developed have emanated mostly from running with training groups and crewing,” she says.

“Rob (Donkersloot) and I became close friends after I crewed for him the first time at Coast to Kosci; in a race that long, you can get some pretty rough moments in the dark, in the snow, and you form an unspoken bond after something like that.

“Doing something like that makes people feel like they’d like to return the favour, so often you’ll find that people will crew for each other because of that, because they’ve been through a humbling experience with one another.”

What Elizabeth has really enjoyed seeing is how AURA has, over the last two years, become a more professional outfit – so being involved and outspoken in issues about selections for country representation, and speaking out about topical issues like drugs in sports.

“Things like gender balance, and even gender testing, like whether or not some people who are considered gender neutral, how do they participate and how do we make equality in ultra running more inclusive and comprehensive,” she says.

“AURA really did start out, in many respects, a bit like a club and it’s really changed from that network basis through to a more professional outfit; that’s just amazing to see, and it would be great to see it get to the next level.”

The Canberra area is intimately familiar to Elizabeth. She’s lived there since her early university days, and ultimately settled in after meeting her now-husband during studies and having children. Being in Australia’s capital city has allowed Elizabeth the flexibility to get to long distance races all along the east coast, and she’s even ventured over to the west a few times to tackle the events there.

Elizabeth has volunteered tirelessly with AURA over the years, and she has decided to take a step back from active committee roles after all her hard work. AURA would like to take this time to thank Elizabeth for all she has done in this community, and we all look forward see her on the tracks and trails or crewing fellow runners.

Pictured: Elizabeth Bennett.