2017 COBURG 6 HOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2017 Coburg 6 Hour Track Championships were held last Sunday 5th March at the George Knott Reserve in Coburg, a northern Melbourne suburb. This annual event includes both run and walk divisions and always sees a smattering of our ultra distance walkers in attendance.
I was there keeping a business eye on things as usual and all turned out well, with the weather kind to the 35 starters (25 runners and 10 walkers) toeing the start line for the 6AM start. You might think 6AM a bit early to start but it was a good decision, with the sun breaking though the cloud at around 10:45AM, meaning the runners and walkers only had to worry about a relatively small period of tough conditions.
As usual, runners competed in lane 1, with walkers in lane 3.
The men’s 6 Hour Run was a closely contested affair, with the final placings going to Peter van Wijngaarden (8.035km), Kevin Muller (78.634km) and Chris Rancie (77.982 km), while the women’s 6 Hour Run saw a clear win to local Coburg runner Amelia Griffith (71.510km).
6 Hour Run Women
1. GRIFFITH, Amelia VIC 71.510 km
2. MAUGHAN, Lynne VIC 61.013 km
3. URQUHART, Donna VIC 60.710 km
4. BLACKNEY, Olivia VIC 41.404 km
5. ROWE, Belinda VIC 32.132 km
6 Hour Run Men
1. VAN WIJNGAARDEN, Peter VIC 81.035 km
2. MULLER, Kevin QLD 78.634 km
3. RANCIE, Chris VIC 77.982 km
4. O’LOUGHLIN, Daragh VIC 72.323 km
5. SCHOLZ, Justin VIC 72.169 km
6. HUGHES, Stuart VIC 69.916 km
7. ELMS, Corey VIC 65.716 km
8. MILLER, Tristan VIC 64.451 km
9. MAUGHAN, Simon VIC 63.168 km
10. JAKUS, Gabor VIC 63.068 km
11. ENNIS-KING, Jonathan VIC 60.642 km
12. MARSHALL, Mick VIC 60.070 km
13. LIM, Jon VIC 57.338 km
14. TICKNER, Colin VIC 54.850 km
15. SHARMA, Rohit VIC 47.059 km
16. NUTTALL, John QLD 44.000 km
17. SAXON, Tom VIC 43.281 km
18. SAXON, Brett VIC 40.711 km
19.TEWARI, Anubhav VIC 38.302 km
20.WILMS, Tony VIC 24.882 km
Overall, Australia’s best ultra walker Michelle Thompson won easily the 6 Hour walk with 54.639km while Robin Whyte won the men’s division with 49.406km (a new M75 Australian walk record) John Kilmartin (48.738km), Albin Hess (46.148km) and Karyn O’Neill (45.738km) all walked well and were each close to their respective PBs.
6 Hours Walk Women
1. THOMPSON, Michelle VIC 48 54.639 km
2. O’NEILL, Karyn VIC 62 45.738 km
3. PARRIS, Dawn VIC 64 40.748 km
4. SANDERSON, Kate VIC 41 36.215 km
6 Hours Walk Men
1. WHYTE, Robin NSW 75 49.406 km M75 Australian Record
2. KILMARTIN, John VIC 65 48.758 km
3. HESS, Albin VIC 57 46.148 km
4. TIMMS, John VIC 74 38.287 km
5. RICHARDSON, Saul NSW 44 37.117 km
6. CARTER, Ken VIC 64 22.078 km
Tim Erickson
April 2017