It was an amazing fortnight of ultrarunning both in Australia and overseas, with Aussies taking on some huge events and coming out on top.
Locally, there were more than 1100 competitors across three events on the weekend of September 9 and 10 including the GNW100s in NSW, Surf Coast Century in Vic, and the Glasshouse 100 in Qld.
First place getters for the GNW 100kms were Vlad Shatrov for the men and Lou Clifton for the women; the 100mi winning titles were given to Brendan Davies and Kerrie Williamson.
In the Surf Coast Century 100kms, Ross Hopkins (pictured below) and Kylie Woods claimed the top podium finish in times of 8:43:31 and 10:05:20 respectively while Stephanie Auston (4:16:54) and Simon Neale (4:44:50) took their first place titles in the 50km race.
In a statement to media, Woods revealed she just took the race one step at a time.
“I took my coach’s advice to just run in the moment, don’t think about what’s behind you or what’s ahead,” she said.
The Glasshouse 100s were a successful event also with the sun shining down on participants.
First place finishers in the 100kms were William Wragg (12:35:12) and Jaimi Greenslade (15:23:16) and in the 100 miler it was a tied number 1 spot – David Waugh and Kieran O’Brien both crossed the finish line in 18:42:39, while for the women Suzanne Chatterton claimed champion status with a time of 26:21:56.
Over in the USA eight Australians took their long-haul flights and rested with enough time to compete in California’s Tahoe 200 Mile Endurance Run, which took place between September 8 and 12.
Since the gun went off, they all dominated the field along with more than 130 other entrants mainly from the US but some hailing from Canada, Mexico and South Africa.
Four entrants from WA claimed spots in the top 35.
On September 12 at 11:42 AM Pacific Standard Time (USA), the last Aussie crossed the finished line, making the cutoff with 30 minutes to spare, and making it 7 out of 8 Australians finishing the race.
It was a knee injury that forced out one Australian to a DNF early in the event.
In France, Aussies Kellie Emmerson (pictured top) and Robyn Bruns both closed in at the front of the pack and took fifth and 10th places respectively in the main event at UTMB which was held from August 27 to September 2.
