Australian Centurions 24 Hour Carnival,
16-17 April 2005,
Coburg
Harriers Track, Melbourne
This event was a
combined run/walk event with the Australian Centurions joining with the
Coburg Harriers as co-hosts. A record 53 starters fronted the line with
competitors split across the following divisions :
24 Hour / 12 Hour /
6 Hour Run
24 Hour / 12 Hour / 6 Hour Walk
The carnival
started at 10AM on Saturday morning in overcast cool conditions. The sun
broke through after several hours but was never too debilitating with the
day recording a maximum temperature of 19 degrees C. A cold still night
was followed by a sunny Sunday morning as the 24 hour competitors closed
in on their various individual targets.
Three walkers completed in excess of 100 miles and we welcomed one new
Australian Centurion into our elite club.
English legend Jill Green, C38, was the first to reach the 100
mile mark in an excellent 22 hours and 59 minutes and was the overall
winner with 165.996 km.
Jill, who is already an Australian Centurion (1999 C38), competed
with a torn hamstring but this did not seem to slow her as she led the
whole way. Jill is one of only 2 people who have all 6 Centurion badges
and she has completed over 50 100 mile walks during her illustrious
career.
Geoff Hain, C49, who had previously completed the 100 mile distance
in October 2004 in Adelaide, completed his second Australian qualifier and
improved on his previous time with 23 hours and 25 minutes.
The third centurion finisher was 34 year old South Australian runner
David Billett. In this same event last year, David completed 163.8 km
in the 24 hour run. This year, he entered as a walker and recorded a very
similar distance: 161.887 km. Along the way, he
passed the 100 mile mark in 23:52:27 to become Australian Centurion
Number 50.
This year, we
hosted the inaugural Racewalking Australia 100 km Australian Walking
Championships for men and women. We hope this will continue as an annual
event. |
