Planet UltraMarathon

Race Decsion to be made at AGM in Jan 2007

A very successful public meeting was held last night to discuss the future of the race.

Some fresh ideas and thoughts were presented that are going to be followed up on in the next two months. A full decision wether the race is on in 2007 will be made at the Colac AGM in 2007. (Date to be confirmed).

Bill Sutcliffe would like to thank everyone in the Ultra community for their feedback and support.

Thoughts from runners about Colac

Dear Editor,

Although last year was my first time of competing in your great event; I have been an active competitor in this great sport on & off since 1987.

In '87 I competed in Queensland's very first 24 hour (in Sep.) in which I completed 70km., before cramps forced my withdrawal. Since then I have: run over 45 races of marathon distance or longer, run 100 km.

approx. 20 times, run over 500 km. four times, inc. running 1000 km. in the Westfield Sydney to Melb.

Ultra-Marathon in '91 (at the relatively young age of 25).

The thing I enjoyed most about competing in the Cliff Young 6-day Aust. Track Championships at Colac last year was the fact that it was the first time I had run over 48 hours since '91 (14 years).

Another thing I liked immensely about your race last year is that I really enjoyed the community involvement and inter-action. Although perhaps I wasn't as ready for this year's race as I was for last years', I was still fairly disappointed when I first discovered the race had been cancelled.

Obviously the reason for this letter to you today is to express my strongest possible feelings of support for the on-going conduct of this great race. These views I have are many and varied, but for brevity's sake, these are the main ones:--

* As we all know, debate has been raging most of the year about the greater incidence of obesity, and the related issue of junk food advertising (to children), in our modern society. Clearly events such as yours are very important reminders to the rest of the community - not only the town of Colac, and people who live near-by, but in fact anyone throughout the country/world who hears of your race - that exercise is and should be a very important part of our daily lives.

* Also, as we know, debate has been raging most of the year about the rapidly growing threat of climate change (evidence Al Gore's recent movie). Clearly an event such as yours is a great example to people of an excellent leisure pursuit that doesn't over-extend the developed world's 'foot-print' on our planet's finite resources!!

* Clearly this sport has been set-back for a considerable period by the decision in the early '90's by Westfield to no longer sponsor the Sydney to Melbourne. Given the other factors which I've already stated, this makes the importance of your race just that much greater!!

* Finally, just on a personal note, given my rather lack-lustre performance in the sport in the last 10-15 years (I like to think of myself as somewhat of a 'journeyman', like Darren Lehmann was for all those years whilst playing for SA., waiting for a gap in our all-conquering test line-up) I'm quietly confident that the next few years will indeed be very much different for me - "If you know what I mean"!! I'm hopefully looking forward to the opportunity of doing at least three or four of your races in the next say six years & this will include a Guiness World Record attempt in '08 of being the first person to run 100 hours with less than 1% of the time off my feet.

I hope you are able to publish a goodly portion of this letter, and thanks for your interest.

 

Yours sincerely, Lindsay Phillips

 

PS. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing you again in November '07!!

 
 
 
Hello Phil & Bill,
 
As one of the older competitors and supporter of  the Cliff Young Australian 6 Day Race I thank and congratulate both of you, each of your partners and all other people who support the race, and are working so hard to ensure that it continues.
 
Athletes from around the world compete in this event which is much more than just another ultra race. It is a world famous event run at the best venue in the world and reflects great credit on the team members who make it possible.
 
Australia and particularly Colac need this race to continue and maintain it's tradition and reputation as the best 6 day race in the world, and I hope that the public meeting next Monday night gets the support it deserves and that volunteers come forward to assist in future stagings of the race.
 
I apologise for my non-attendance at the meeting, but as you know Ellwyn is not yet fit to travel so far and I cannot leave her at home alone. We both send our best wishes and hope that you have a successful meeting.
 
Stan Miskin.
 
 
Colac 6 day race? My opinion? IO  have been there three times. It is one of the best races in the  world as well as one of the very few to be held at that challenging distance. Runners from around the world consider it a highlight of their careers to be invited to run there. There is a great mix of World record holders, local runner of great talent, as well as runners who are at a lower performance level, but who add to the races culture and destiny. In three short years I have been a participant,m I have seen many world and national records fall, the closed course is easy to monitor, there are things going on during the race that are helpful to the runners, such as all night events, fairs, etc. Children from all over Australia come to see a part of history being made, interact with international runners and learn about other cultures etc. And, lets face it, holding it in Colac, the home site of one of Australia's most famous runners (Cliff Young) adds much. Like in the USA, going to the "House that Ruth built" (Yankee stadium and Babe Ruth, etc.
Would be a great loss to the running community as well as Australia to not have one of the most prestigious and well run races that are available.
Andy Lovy, D.O.  

Colac Website currently down

As webmaster of the Cliff Young Australian 6-day race, I would like to apoligise for the website (www.sixdayrace.org.au) beign off line at the moment. I would like to assure the site's many reader's that the problem has been identified and it will be up and running in the next two weeks.

Sorry.

 

Phil Essam

Letter to Colac Newspapers

Below is a copy of an email letter that I have sent to the Colac newspapers. The main thrust is to try and get more people involved in the running of the race from 2007 and help ensure the future of the race.

 

To the Editor,

 It was about nine years ago when I was researching material for my book “The World’s Greatest Race” (Story of the Westfield race) that I began to appreciate the tradition and importance that the Colac Six-day race is held and respected by the Australian Ultrarunning community and the Ultrarunning community around the world. I do not wish to give a history lesson here, but Memorial Square is where one of the Otway’s Greatest in Cliff Young found his feet as an Ultrarunning champion, it has seen some of the Greatest athletic achievements in history over the last twenty years and it is one of the best venues in the sport. I was gobsmacked the first time I saw Memorial Square in 2000 and appreciated what a great venue it is. All other ultra track races in Australia are held on a 400 metre track in an athletic stadium!

 How much money does the race bring into the community? If one takes an average of twenty runners per race multiplied by the twenty years that the race has been going for. That equals 400. Multiply that by 7 (six days of the race plus one extra). That comes to 2800. I would say that it is a very conservative estimate that every runner and crew would spend one hundred dollars a day during the race. This equates to at least $280,000 that runners and crew have brought to the Colac community over the past twenty years. This figure doesn’t include the supporters that come to Colac every year during the race and the runners families that holiday for a couple of days each year after the race!

 After last year’s race, I wrote the following in an article on the History of the race:

 “Where to from here?  In just over 20 years, The Colac event has become the longest running multi-day race in the world. The advent of the internet has taken the race to the ultrarunning fraternity around the globe yet only a few handfuls of people living in Colac appear to appreciate the legacy that Cliff Young has left on the region and the value that it brings to the area from visitors all around the world.”

 When I was living in Melbourne from 2000 to 2004 I was able to help the race in a small way and believe that my passion was able to help deliver and sell  the race to the world via the internet. The real helpers though have been the committee members and handful of other Colac residents that have put the race on year by year without a complaint or whinge.  It was a shame that the race could not be held this year. It was not the fault of the committee members that they have other issues happening in their lives during race week and the week before and cannot be involved. But this can be resolved next year and the future of the race fixed if more people from Colac become involved in the running and organization of the race on an ongoing basis. It doesn’t need any specific knowledge of Ultrarunning or athletics. All it takes is a desire to do something for your community and a desire to help remember Cliff Young and the pleasure he brought all of us during his life.

 I firmly believe that the Cliff Young Australian 6-day race can be to Colac and the Otway Ranges what the Stawell Gift is to Stawell every Easter. In another twenty years it will have a tradition which is forty years old, it will be the mainstay in helping to remember Ultrarunning pioneer, Cliff Young, it will be the centerpiece to a week of activities that centres on Memorial Square and brings people from all over Victoria, Australia and the Globe and it will be selling Colac to the world via the internet. Let’s do it Colac.

 Phil Essam

Ultrarunning Historian

Webmaster of Planetultramarathon.com

 

 

 

 

Race postponed for 2006

COLAC SIX DAY RACE POSTPONED

It is with great regret we have to inform you the Cliff Young Six Day Race is to be postponed until Nov. 2007.  Yesterday the committee agonized over this decision but came to the conclusion this is the only decision we could make. 

We have a small hard working committee who have been working tirelessly towards this years race to make it successful.  However, three of our committee  members have only recently changed employment, and one through illness, find they will no longer be available either in the week before the race (when all the infrastructure is put in place) or during the race.

This is not the first time the race has been postponed (it has previously been postponed twice since 1984) however, we are very disappointed to do so.

All application and entry fees will be refunded.

Please pencil in 19th – 24th November 2007 when we will be back with a new committee and a great race!  

Bev Sutcliffe (Secretary

Breaking News from Race Secretary

News in from the Race Secretary:

Here’s some breaking news for the website.

It was unanimously agreed at our meeting on Monday night to abolish Rule No. 11 which states “. 65km must be covered by a runner every 24 hour period from the commencement of the race. Any runner failing to complete 65kms. each day will be marked DNMR (did not meet requirements).Runners who do not complete the six days will be marked DNF (did not finish) after their names. Runners who do not finish or do not meet requirements are not eligible for prize money.

· Any person over 70yrs must complete 50kms. per day.

· Persons over 80yrs must complete 42 kms. per day. "

Phil

Further News - Postions Vacant.

The Colac race Committee are depserately trying to fill three positions to help the running of the  race.

These are Night Referee, Webmaster and Commentator. I do feel very bad that two of these positions were mine, but I am really going to struggle to get down this year and be Webmaster/commentator.(Phil)

If you are interested in any of these, please drop me an email to pessam@bigpond.net.au


Bill and Bev Sutcliffe, who have been two of the mainstays behind the revival of the Cliff Young Australian 6-day race over the past five years were recent winners of the Australian Ultra Runners Association  (AURA) Annual Bryan Smith Award.
 
The Award is for the AURA members who have made the biggest contribution to the sport over the preceding twelve months. It was deemed by the AURA committee that Bill as President and Bev as Secretary of the Colac Race Committee had made a tremendous contribution to the sport over the preceding twelve months by helping to ensure the continuance of the Six-day race and helping to mak eit such a tremendous success in 2005. Bill Sutcliffe paid tribute to all the helpers who had worked with the race over the last five years and said that it was everyone's contribution that helped to make the race a continued success.
 
The Award was named after champion Australian Ultra runner, Bryan Smith who tragically lost his life on the Trans Australia Race over four years ago and was a previous winner of the Colac 6-day race. Bryan Smith was one of the sport's champions in the way that he carried himself on and off the track.
 
The Cliff Young Australian 6-day race is on again this year from the 20th to 26th Nov 2006. The race will be starting on a Monday this year and finishing on the Sunday. It will also be holding the AURA Australian 6-day Championship  for the third year in a row. Organisers are confident of building on the success of last year's race when Yiannis Kouros smashed his existing World records. Entries are already starting to come in from around Australia and overseas. For further enquiries go to http://sixdayrace.org.au/colac/index.php or email Phil Essam on pessam@bigpond.net.au
 
 
Phil Essam
Webmaster 6 -day race.
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