Another action-packed weekend of racing with racing in Victoria, South Australia and over in Western Australia too. Plus, we look at the Hoka Project Carbon X attempt to break the world 100km record, and maybe a few others along the way too.
Margaret River Ultra (80kms)
Starting over in WA for the Margaret River ultra 80km, which saw Justin Scarvaci take out the win for the men in a time of 7hrs 46mins. While in the ladies, returning champ, Deb Nicholl from Queensland did it again (despite smashing down beers all week beforehand at a number of breweries – Facebook never lies Deb!), winning in 8hrs 52mins.
Rounding out the male podium was Shane Johnston in 8hrs dead and third was Jon Pendse in 8hrs 25 mins. While in the ladies, Ariarn Huston was second in 8hrs 56mins and third was Lauren French in 9hrs 14mins.
Back across the country to Victoria saw the running of the Down Under 135 and The Prom.
Hubert 100
Down in South Australia, the Hubert 100 also took place, featuring 100 miler, 100km and 50km events for the ultra nuts.
Zoe Duffy led the way for the ladies, taking out the win and also the fastest time of the day by anyone, running the course in 23hrs 11mins. For the men, Matthew Woodman won in 24hrs 43mins. Gary Boyce was second in 26hrs 24mins with Reg Smith third in 26hrs 34mins. No other female finishers I’m afraid.
In the 100km event, Nathan Liersch was victorious in 11hrs 49mins with Jennifer Ritossa winning the ladies in 13hrs 54mins. Dawn Reynolds was second in the women’s race in 15hrs 51mins with Corrine Cornish third in 17hrs 17mins. In the mens, Darren Lane was second in 12hrs 59mins and Neil Scrimgeour third in 13hrs 9mins.
50km results will be posted when known.
Down Under 135 miler
In the DU135, we had the first female finisher of the race, Karen Barrett in 49hrs 37mins, which also ranked as the third fastest time of the race too. In the men’s race, Michael Stuart won in a time of 44hrs 28mins. Ross McPhee became the first person to finish the DU135 twice, coming second in a time of 46hrs 37min, while Matt Piper was third in a stellar 51hrs 4mins.
The Prom
In the 100km men’s event:
Nick Montgomery was first in 10.52, with Jadan Halkett second in 11.26 and Cody McKellar -third in 11.38. In the women’s race, winner was Jacqui Hansen in 14.33 with joint second Leah Alexander and Leeah Cooper in 15.03.
In the 60km event:
Luke Whitmore won in 5.58, with Apo Kale second in 6.16 and Simon Neale third in 6.31. in the women’s race, Martine Nield won in 7.24 with Cecile Smith second in 7.32 and Ngan Harwood third in 7.44.
Hoka Project Carbon X
To celebrate the launch of some kind of new shoe thing, Hoka went all Nike on us, attempting to break the rather speedy 100km world record (6hrs 9mins) with a bunch of athletes, including a certain Jim Walmsley. In attempting this, they also attempted the world / US 50 mile world records too.
Jim ended up breaking the world best and American 50 mile records in 4:50:08 (old world best was 4:50:51 by Bruce Fordyce in 1984), but immediately after had to take a chair and have a word with himself in the corner. In his own words, ‘I’m fucked’ he said. No surprises there after busting your balls running at 3:3x pace for 80km.
However the cruel irony of this record attempt was that for it to be given an official world best and American record for 50 miles, he would have to finish the 100k race. There is a rule that interim splits only count as records if the full race distance is finished. So, off he went, trudging his way around the course to finish the final 20km – in 2hrs 15mins for the record. I bet he loved knocking off those at 6min km pace!
In the end, two-time defending world 100km champion Hideaki Yamauchi won the 100km race in 6:19:54, over 10 minutes outside the 6:09:14 world record. American Patrick Reagan was second in a personal best of 6:33:50, with Jim eventually finishing 4th in 7:05:24. US runner, Sabrina Little was the only female finisher in 7:49:28.
One can’t help but think if they focused solely on the 100km record, rather than trying to break a few others along the way, they may have been successful. It’s like saying, we’re going to break the marathon world record, but along the way, bag the half-marathon record too, as well as maybe the 30km for good measure – it’s only gonna end up one way – blow up central. Still it’s all a bit of fun, and they got a record out of it too, which would have been a primary goal for the launch. Kudos to Jim and the others for putting their balls on the line and having a stab – great to see these things being done.
