I don’t think there were any other races on this weekend, but I could be wrong. And if the number of Facebook selfies wasn’t enough to tell you, then a little known race was on this weekend up in the Blue Mountains, Ultra-Trail Australia.
Despite me claiming all the international runners had stayed at home, apparently one or two made it in while the Liberals celebrated a ‘miracle win’ in the election. In the men’s 100km, Polish runner, Marcin Swierc led from the front for most of the day, coming home to win in 9hrs 31mins.
In the ladies, the ever-consistent Amy Lamprecht took home the spoils for Tassie with a superb win in a time of 11hrs 3mins. That’s a top win for Amy who’s always been there or thereabouts when it comes to podiums not just in this race but across a number of high-profile 100km events across Australia. Her time also, over an over better than her third place from last year is world-class.
In the men’s podium, Jono O’Loughlin, a 12 time finisher of this race finally bagged his first podium (just kidding mate!), with a wonderful second place in a time of 9hrs 42mins and a big PB for him. Having trained with Jono a fair bit in the lead up to this race, eight weeks ago you wouldn’t have bet your running shoes on this guy getting anywhere near the podium. But he gets his head down, puts in the big training runs when it’s needed, emptying the tank on the day. And, in third place was also a hugely well-deserved run from Morgan Lindqvist, finishing just behind Jono in 9hrs 43mins.
In the ladies podium we saw France’s Angélique Plaire finish in second in 12hrs 5mins and Spain’s Emma Roca third in 12hrs 14mins.
In the 50km event, the ladies event was won by Gemma Jenkins in a time of 5hrs 13mins, while in the men’s race, Rhett Gibson continued his awesome form to take the win in the men’s race in a speedy time of 4hrs 25mins. Rounding out the ladies podium was Lucy Bartholomew in 5hrs 15mins with Jessica Haro Ramos third in 5hrs 37mins.
In the men’s 50km podium, Tom Brimelow finished second in a time of 4hrs 32mins, with Mick Donges third in 4hrs 34mins.
And finally, in the 22km race, records were broken big time. Two runners we know well for their slightly longer exploits, proved that when it comes to the shorter stuff, they’ve got the goods too. Steph Auston continued her quite amazing form this year to win the 22km race in a new record time of 1hr 49mins. While Ben Duffus did exactly the same in the men’s race, winning in a time of 1hr 34mins. Taking the record from a certain B. St Lawrence. No mean feat there at all.
Well done to all runners who finished one of the many races on offer this weekend. Hope you all had a ball!
