Records and Rankings 2017

By Jodie Oborne, AURA Vice President and Records/Ranking Officer

There were again several outstanding achievements by Australian ultra runners at local events and internationally throughout the year in 2017. But the number of record applications is down on previous years. This could be due to the fact that the major World Championship events are now biannually with only two major World Championships conducted in 2017. The 24 Hour held in Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 1 and 2, and the Trail World Championships on June 9 and 10.

The rankings are a good guide for those seeking selection, and the competition in some events is quite fierce. It’s a great time for ultra running in Australia.

A current list of rankings can be found on the AURA website.

A number of notable performances were achieved at the Adelaide 24 Hour in the past few years and 2017 was no exception. In 2016, Tia Jones ran a fast 100kms in the 12-hour event to secure a place in the 100kms World Championships team later that year. In 2017, she returned in her debut over 24-hour and pulled off another significant performance. In Adelaide, Tia claimed records for the 100 miles (16:52:31), 200kms (22:26:21), and 24 hours (210.648kms).

While no open records were broken in 2017, Tia achieved a World Age Best Performance at her final event of the year, a 6-hour in Barcelona, Spain. This is yet to be ratified by the International Association of Ultrarunners, but Tia now joins Shirley Young (W70 24 hours, 12 hours, 6 hours, W65 6 hours) and Tina Torpy (W60 50kms) – all Australian women with World Age Best Performances.   Australian Men with World Age Best Performances include George Perdon, George Audley, Cliff Young, Drew Kettle and Yiannis Kouros.

At the National 100kms Championships held on the Gold Coast, Pam Muston had a great run, finishing third in the National Championships and securing a W55 age record for 100kms.

Only one male record application was received in 2017. The M65 category has a number of members with the potential to challenge records, and this year John Nuttall secured the 6-hour record in Sydney with 65.491kms – a fantastic result which had him ranked third in his age category internationally in 2017.

A complete list of Australian Records and Australian Age Records ratified in 2017 can be found in the table below.