Yurrebilla Trail Ultra-marathon, 28 September 2008
Off-road ultra-marathons present a unique running experience, with camaraderie, the sense of achivement that comes from conquering both distance and terrain, and beautiful natural surroundings. Yurrebilla certainly fills the need for such an event near Adelaide. We measured it as 56 km, with 1570 metres of ascent and 1750 metres of descent. This year (the second time it has been held) was as successful as the last, with 39 people finishing, compared with 23 last year.
At least 5 finishers had never run more than 30 km before, yet managed to finish looking cheerful. We completed a memorable day with a shower, drinks and a meal nearby in the Athelstone Football Club, for whose support we are grateful.
Many people have written since the event to say how much they enjoyed themselves, acknowledging especially the enthusiastic support of the volunteers, who included marshals, caterers, drivers, a nurse, a time-keeper, and above all a race controller. In reply to our request for feedback, criticisms and suggestions for improvement were surprisingly limited.
The three groups which started the run broke up a bit, so that we can meaningfully refer to winners, who were Brett Worley (6 hours, 57 minutes) and Catherine Yates (7 hours, 57 minutes). Most people took between about 8 hours and 9 hours 30 minutes.
We can even talk of international recognition, thanks to Mayuko Kurashima. Unable to participate herself because of injury, she acted as photographer, and her illustrated report promptly appeared in the Japanese magazine “Runners” (circulation 280,000). There were two inter-state participants this year, and we confidently expect to attract many more next year.
The aim of the organisers in the past two years has been to test the feasibility of this event. It is only 18 months since the event was conceived as a gleam in Terry Cleary’s eye. But we now feel that we have enough experience to offer the Yurrebilla Trail Ultra as a race in 2009 (with no limit to numbers), and to provide participants with the option of running it fast as individuals, or in a more leisurely way in groups.
David Close
There’s only one thing worse than running Yurrebilla…….not running it!”
Off-road ultra-marathons present a unique running experience, with camaraderie, the sense of achivement that comes from conquering both distance and terrain, and beautiful natural surroundings. Yurrebilla certainly fills the need for such an event near Adelaide. We measured it as 56 km, with 1570 metres of ascent and 1750 metres of descent. This year (the second time it has been held) was as successful as the last, with 39 people finishing, compared with 23 last year.
At least 5 finishers had never run more than 30 km before, yet managed to finish looking cheerful. We completed a memorable day with a shower, drinks and a meal nearby in the Athelstone Football Club, for whose support we are grateful.
Many people have written since the event to say how much they enjoyed themselves, acknowledging especially the enthusiastic support of the volunteers, who included marshals, caterers, drivers, a nurse, a time-keeper, and above all a race controller. In reply to our request for feedback, criticisms and suggestions for improvement were surprisingly limited.
The three groups which started the run broke up a bit, so that we can meaningfully refer to winners, who were Brett Worley (6 hours, 57 minutes) and Catherine Yates (7 hours, 57 minutes). Most people took between about 8 hours and 9 hours 30 minutes.
We can even talk of international recognition, thanks to Mayuko Kurashima. Unable to participate herself because of injury, she acted as photographer, and her illustrated report promptly appeared in the Japanese magazine “Runners” (circulation 280,000). There were two inter-state participants this year, and we confidently expect to attract many more next year.
The aim of the organisers in the past two years has been to test the feasibility of this event. It is only 18 months since the event was conceived as a gleam in Terry Cleary’s eye. But we now feel that we have enough experience to offer the Yurrebilla Trail Ultra as a race in 2009 (with no limit to numbers), and to provide participants with the option of running it fast as individuals, or in a more leisurely way in groups.
David Close
There’s only one thing worse than running Yurrebilla…….not running it!”
THIS EVENT WAS PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:
