Self-Transcendence 24-Hour Festival of Running 2004 Race Report

Keeping to script, the veteran Western Australian runner took an early lead, and within 12 hours he looked unbeatable – still running strong while his fellow ultra-runners were slowing down, feeling the effects of one of Australia’s toughest races. In the end, he covered a distance of 221.3 km, 10 km further than his winning distance last year.

While Mick Francis is already a legend of the event, the new female National Champion is a rising star. NSW runner Felicity Joyce, at 23, was easily the youngest competitor. However, in her relatively short career, she had already completed two 24 hour events. Her winning distance of 171.5 km, a personal best, placed her fifth overall in what was the strongest field in over a decade, with an impressive ten of the sixteen 24 Hour competitors completing over 100 miles.

 Not to be outdone, Queenslander Geoff Hain achieved his own goal in the race - without running a step. Though a keen ultra-runner, with seven 24 hour events to his credit, Geoff had high hopes of becoming a member of the elite Centurion Club (individuals who have walked 100miles in a 24 hour period). Less than 30 minutes before the end of the long and difficult 24 Hours Geoff finally achieved his goal and in doing so qualified as Australia's 49th Centurion walker and only the ninth Australian to have both walked and run 100 miles in 24 Hour events.

The 12 hour event, held simultaneously, was won by Queensland grandfather Peter Lahiff, who ran 102.4 km. With this distance, the 69-year-old not only broke the Australian record for his age group (65-69), but also the national age-group record for 100 km, which he completed in 11 hrs, 45 mins (surpassing his own record time of 11 hrs, 36 mins). His two closest rivals were over 20 years his junior.

 A third event, the six hour race (also held simultaneously), was won by Adelaide’s Dirk Thys with a distance of 56.9 km. Only two and a half kilometres behind him, however, was 74-year-old legend Shirley Young, the only female runner to complete all 27 Melbourne Marathons. (Only a week earlier, she had achieved a time of 4:28 in this event.) A veteran of 35 ultra events, Shirley easily became the women’s champion, running 54.5 km in six hours – seven kilometres (and 36 years) ahead of her nearest rival!