COBURG 24 HOUR CARNIVAL, HAROLD STEVENS ATHLETICS TRACK, COBURG, 13-14 APRIL 2019

Coburg 24 Race Certificates
Coburg 24 Hour Race Report
Coburg 24 Hour Results
Coburg 24 Hour Lapsplits
Coburg 24 Photo Galleries

Saturday 13th April 2019 saw a record 101 athletes (76 runners and 25 walkers) toeing the line for the 36th annual staging of the Victorian 24 Hour Track Championship. As always, the carnival played host to the Australian Centurions. This year, additional prestige was added with the AURA Australian 24 Hour Track Championships also added to the bill.

With hot weather the week before and with the temperatures climbing again this week, post event, the weekend proved just about perfect, with temperatures peaking around 20C on Saturday before cooling to a pleasant 12C on Saturday night.

The 24 Hour runs saw Nicole Vaughan (191.628km) and Kevin Muller (251.605km) take line honours. In the women’s race, Bernadette Benson had led out with a scorching pace, reaching 67.2km in the first 6 hours, a distance that put her over 11km in front of second placed Karen Mickle. She reached the half way mark with 126km, now over 23km in front of the second placed runner who was now Nicole Vaughan. At that stage, Bernadette had set new Canadian W50 records for 6 Hours, 100km and 12 Hours. She decided to call it quits soon afterwards, job done for the day. That left Nicole in front, a position she continued to hold to the finish, her final distance of 191.628km a great inaugural run. Cheryl Symons (186.311km) and Karen Mickle (an inaugural 174.642km) filled the minor spots.

The men’s 24H run was dominated from start to finish by 2016 winner Kevin Muller. He was over 1km in front after the first hour and just kept on building from there, recording 73.6km at the 6H mark, 138.8km at the 12H mark and 196.4km at the 18H mark. At that stage, he looked set for 260+km. His pace finally slowed in the last few hours, but his final winning distance of 251.605km was still an 8km PB. Second place went to our 2017 winner John Yoon (219.245) while third went to last year’s winner Daragh O’Loughlin (208.705km). Thus the last 3 winners took the first 3 placings in 2019. Not far behind in fourth place, Majell Backhausen produced a superb run (203.379km) in his first ever 24H event.

24 Hour Run Women
1 Nicole Vaughan VIC 191.628
2 Cheryl Symons VIC 186.311
3 Karen Mickle VIC 174.642
4 Jody Daff VIC 169.777
5 Kris Ryan QLD 168.177
6 Sher Mayne Chan NSW 155.645
7 Myra Keep WA 151.621
8 Bernadette Benson WA 126.800
9 Sarah Barnett SA 126.157
10 Erin Billett VIC 100.000

24 Hour Run Men
1 Kevin Muller VIC 251.605
2 John Yoon VIC 219.245
3 Daragh O’Loughlin VIC 208.705
4 Majell Backhausen VIC 203.379
5 Peter Clarke VIC 171.250
6 Ben Hirst TAS 170.000
7 George Alexandropolous VIC 155.197
8 Dean Metcalf TAS 154.037
9 Michael Smith VIC 151.774
10 Duc Do VIC 142.418
11 Angelo Portelli VIC 126.025
12 Frank Palermo VIC 122.231
13 Stephen Lewis QLD 120.000
14 Adam Fitzgerald VIC 119.083
15 Luke McDougall VIC 118.628
16 Troy Beattie VIC 117.217
17 Harry Turley VIC 109.073
18 Bob Littlewood GBR 104.405
19 Jon Lim VIC 102.000
20 Malcolm Gamble VIC 98.800
21 Thomas Billett VIC 86.400
22 Shane James TAS 75.384
23 Joel Gablek VIC 60.204
24 Dainen Pearce VIC 32.800
25 Tony Wilms VIC 22.800

The AURA 24 Hour Australian Track Championship placings were awarded to the first 3 AURA members in each division.

AURA 24 Hour Australian Track Championship – Women
1 Cheryl Symons VIC 186.311
2 Karen Mickle VIC 174.642
3 Kris Ryan QLD 168.177

AURA 24 Hour Australian Track Championship – Men
1 Kevin Muller VIC 251.605
2 John Yoon VIC 219.245
3 Daragh O’Loughlin VIC 208.705

The 24 Hour Walk saw 11 starters, with most of them targeting the tough 100 miles (160.934km) standard. The hunt for centurion badges had attracted 5 walkers from overseas, 4 from Netherlands and one from Belgium. They lined up against the 5 Victorian based walkers and one from the top end. The pace was on target from the start, with Kim Janssens (BEL), Marco Bloemerts (NED), Jurgen Dewaart (VIC/NED), Sharon Scholz (VIC), Martin Vos (NED), Gertrude Achterberg (NED), Arie Kandelaars (NED) and Colin Heywood (NT) all heading off at the required pace.

Colin Heywood was the first to fall off the pace. He had qualified as centurion C75 in last year’s event and had returned with the aim of improving his 100km time. Alas, it was not his day and he called it quits after 51km. The next to feel the pinch was Dutchman Arie Kandelaars. He had come over last year but with an injury that prevented him finishing. This year was meant to complete unfinished business, but it was not to be. He was forced off the track in the middle of the night, with nausea and dizziness. To his credit, he did eventually rejoin the race, walking to a distance of 128.151km.

There were no such problems for the rest of the lead group, as they powered through the hours and, one by one, reached the 100 mile mark in fine form. Most stopped either at that point or at the completion of the lap, job done. Only Sharon Scholz walked on, reaching 163.983km at the final gun.

24 Hour Walk Women
1 Sharon Scholz VIC 163.983
2 Gertrude Achterberg NED 160.934
3 Dawn Parris VIC 126.724

24 Hour Walk Men
1 Kim Janssens BEL 161.263
2 Marco Bloemerts NED 161.263
3 Jurgen Dewaart VIC 160.934
4 Martin Vos NED 160.934
5 Arie Kandelaars NED 128.151
6 Liam Keating VIC 68.812
7 Peter Gray VIC 55.607
8 Colin Heywood NT 51.605

Six walkers completed 100 Miles (160.934km) within the requisite 24 Hours. Five of them were awarded new Australian Centurion badges.

C76 Kim Janssens BEL 22:19:38
C77 Marco Bloemerts NED 22:42:30
C78 Jurgen Dewaart NED/AUS 23:13:03
C63 Sharon Scholz VIC 23:15:15
C79 Martin Vos NED 23:20:17
C80 Gertrude Achterberg NED 23:36:28

The 24 Hour Carnival also hosted the Racewalking Australia 100km walk championships, with placings as shown below.

RWA 100km Walk Championship Women
1 Sharon Scholz AUS 13:40:50
2 Gertrude Achterberg NED 14:00:17
3 Dawn Parris AUS 19:14:34

RWA 100km Walk Championship Men
1 Kim Janssens BEL 13:17:32
2 Marco Bloemerts NED 13:44:29
3 Jurgen Dewaart AUS 13:47:28

The meet also included 12 Hour and 6 Hour Run and Walk Championships. The 12H races started at midday on Saturday and were held alongside the 24H but with runners in lane 3 and walkers in lane 5. The 6 Hour races started at 6AM on the Sunday morning, also with runners in lane 3 and walkers in lane 5.

The winning run performances were all excellent, with Tia Jones (117.546km) and Stephen Redfern (131.585km) showing the way in the 12H and Natasha Fraser (72.127km) and Felix Weber (86.507km) showing the way in the 6H. In fact, Felix bettered the Australian 6H male record by 1km. Alas, he runs under German nationality so we can’t claim him! The top two performances in the walk divisions were those of Michelle Thompson (98.177km in the 12H) and Pramesh Prasad (56.512km in the 6H).

12 Hour Run Women
1 Tia Jones QLD 117.546
2 Annabel Hepworth NSW 89.179
3 Kirsten Maplestone VIC 81.527
4 Suyi Poh VIC 77.384
5 Jacqui Wilson VIC 48.359

12 Hour Run Men
1 Stephen Redfern NSW 131.585
2 Donald Bailey VIC 123.028
3 Trevor Marsh VIC 105.840
4 Regan Doyle VIC 92.537
5 Matt Brassington VIC 88.337
6 Cam Jones VIC 81.776
7 Bill Bardsley VIC 71.329
8 Sean Wrigley VIC 58.058

12 Hour Walk Women
1 Michelle Thompson VIC 98.177
2 Karen Chiarello IOM 17.201

12 Hour Walk Men
1 Justin Scholz VIC 58.322

6 Hour Run Women
1 Natasha Fraser VIC 72.127
2 Donna Urquhart VIC 65.484
3 Lucy Bartholomew VIC 65.006
4 Nikki Wynd VIC 60.504
5 Paula Pettingill VIC 52.539
6 Celeste Botton VIC 51.989
7 Abbey Gordon VIC 51.066
8 De’ana Williams VIC 41.127
9 Maggi Rowlands VIC 39.430
10 Annabel Hepworth NSW 28.614

6 Hour Run Men
1 Felix Weber GER 86.507
2 Matthew Eckford QLD 76.025
3 Jevvan McPhee VIC 51.557
4 Christopher Kent VIC 51.322
5 Francis Cosson VIC 49.603

6 Hour Walk Women
1 Karyn O’Neill VIC 41.367
2 Elise Hess VIC 37.493
3 Sandra Howorth VIC 36.420

6 Hour Walk Men
1 Pramesh Prasad VIC 56.512
2 Albin Hess VIC 46.658
3 Ernie Hartley VIC 34.832
4 John Timms VIC 32.787

Marathon Runs were scheduled for the first time and attracted 12 entrants. We hope this event will grow in subsequent years.

Marathon Run Women
1 Alycia Garriock VIC 03:56:14
2 Dale Clarke VIC 04:15:28
3 Cecile Sun VIC 05:11:26
4 Lindy Yap VIC 06:00:09
– Dawn Parks (late start) SA 05:04:19

Marathon Run Men
1 Shaun Wilson VIC 03:21:19
2 Steve Brennan VIC 03:40:26
3 Adam Needham VIC 04:03:25
4 Danny Burgess VIC 04:08:19
5 Peter Mahoney VIC 04:17:05
6 Warren Simpson VIC 05:47:06
7 Nick Spark VIC 06:08:59

The perpetual trophies were awarded as follows

Victorian 24 Hour Track Champion: Kevin Mullins (VIC)
Coburg Endurance Award: Dean Metcalf (TAS)
Jim Gleeson Trophy: Sharon Scholz (VIC) and Kim Janssens (BEL)
Gordon Smith Trophy: Gertrude Acherberg (NED)