1999 Yearly Report
1999 Australian Centurions 24 Hour Event
18-19 September 1999
Coburg Harriers Track, Coburg, Melbourne
The annual Centurions Club 24 Hour walking event was held this year in conjunction with the Victorian Walkers Club in Melbourne. As always, the aim is to walk 100 miles within the 24 hour limit and hence gain admittance to the exclusive Centurions Club.
This year’s race saw a record field of 25 entrants with 23 actually fronting the starting line. We were very pleased to have 9 overseas competitors join us for this annual event. The race started at 2PM on Saturday 18 Sept and ended at 2PM on Sunday 19 Sept. The venue was the Coburg Athletics Track in Melbourne and the ultimate aim of the race is to try to complete 100 miles of walking within the 24 hour period.
The pace was evident early with Sandra Brown of England setting a cracking pace of 2:30 per lap. Gerald Manderson of NZ (last year’s winner) was keen to take up the challenge and shadowed her for the first 2 hours. However, he was soon forced to slow and Sandra was left on her own to dominate the race.
| Sandra Brown Gerald Manderson Jill Green Robin Whyte Herbert Neubacher Gerrit de Jong Ann Staunton Carol Baird Steel Beveridge Robert Radley Lachlan Wilkinson Kelvin Marshall Harry Berg Kathleen Berg |
09:08:52 09:58:28 10:08:00 10:15:08 10:20:47 10:43:04 10:52:27 10:57:07 11:44:01 12:37:11 13:45:25 14:07:44 15:42:14 16:43:51 |
Aust Open Record Aust Residential Record
|
Sandra’s final 100 mile time of 19:14:56 was all the more amazing given that this was her 6th 100 mile walk for the year. She was only 14 minutes outside the recent world record she set in winning the New Zealand Centurions 24 hour event in July and she finished relatively fresh.
Behind Sandra, attention was focused on Gerald Manderson (NZ), Jill Green (England) and Herbert Neubacher (Germany). Gerald was eventually caught by the more evenly paced Jill and a great battle developed between these two with Herbert only 3 laps adrift. For many hours, all three lapped consistently until Herbert finally caught and passed the other two at about the 15 hour mark. Then he powered away and Jill and Gerald were left to fight it out for third place. At the 19 hour mark, Gerald paid the penalty for his aggressive early walking and faded. Jill came home strongly for a clear third place while Gerald limped home in fourth spot. Both Herbert and Jill produced personal best times for 100 miles while Gerald’s time was only 5 minutes adrift of his winning time last year.
Robin Whyte of Canberra was next to fiinish, completing his second 100 mile finish in Australia (1996 was his first one). As Ann Staunton faded from the efforts of her 50 mile record performance, her training partner Carol Baird came through strongly to be the 5th finisher. She set new Australian Residential standards for the 100 km, 100 mile and 24 hour distance along the way. This was only her second ultra distance walk and both she and Ann have big futures ahead of them as they mature in this tough discipline.
The only other walker to finish the 100 mile distance was Dutchman Gerrit de Jong. Like the other European walkers, he was both experienced and fit and had no trouble in beating the 24 hour mark. He has completed the British Centurion 100 mile event an amazing 18 times in the last 20 years. This gives readers an idea of his credentials.
100 Mile Finishers
| Sandra Brown
Herbert Neubacher Jill Green Gerald Manderson Robin Whyte Carol Baird Gerrit de Jong |
England |
19:14:56 21:03:07 21:15:35 21:39:33 21:41:20 22:16:43 22:51:24 |
C36 C37 C38 C31 C29 C39 C40 |
*** *** *** *** |
Both Gerald Manderson (1999) and Robin Whyte (1996) had completed this distance in Australia previously but the other 5 finishers became new Australian Centurions with their outstanding performances. They were awarded badges 35 to 40.
24 Hour / 100 Mile Walk Results
| Carol Baird Sandra Brown Herbert Neubacher Jill Green Gerald Manderson Robin Whyte Gerrit de Jong Steel Beveridge Robert Radley Kelvin Marshall Lachlan Wilkinson Paul Tierentyn Graham Watt David Blackett Peter Waddell Frank Overton |
50 50 46 57 55 57 57 48 42 35 40 60 25 46 68 51 |
ACT England Germany England NZ ACT Holland NSW NZ VIC ACT Belgium VIC NZ ACT NSW |
169.607 km 100 miles 100 miles 100 miles 100 miles 100 miles 100 miles 147.945 km 146.649 km 127.430 km 118.150 km 72.4 km 66.8 km 56.4 km 54.0 km 32.8 km |
24:00:00 19:14:56 21:03:07 21:15:35 21:39:33 21:41:20 22:51:24 24:00:00 24:00:00 24:00:00 24:00:00 10:02:38 10:18:17 20:41:00 09:28:45 04:47:38 |
It was pleasing to see a number of the other competitors walk for the full 24 hours and achieve very respectible distances in excess of 100 km. In particular, Steel Beveridge and Robert Radley were not far off 100 miles and should become centurions soon if they persevere with their efforts. Paul Tierentyn of Belgium was perhaps unlucky to experience leg problems and be forced to withdraw. He is a very experienced international ultra walker and will no doubt bounce back to form.
The silver medal distance of 100 km and the bronze medal distance of 50 km were also on offer and Ann Staunton and Peter Gray took the honours respectively. Ann’s 100 km time was outstanding given that this was her first ultra distance walk.
100 Km Walk
| 1 2 3 |
Ann Staunton
Harry Berg Kathleen Berg Cornelia Neubacher |
35 59 56 43 |
ACT ACT ACT Germany |
100 km 100 km 100 km 70.0km |
14:43:27 20:34:10 20:39:38 11:52:04 |
50 Km Walk
| 1 2 |
Peter Gray Brian Hamer Merv Lockyer |
35 47 68 |
VIC VIC VIC |
50 km 50 km 20.4 km |
06:58:29 23:14:23 02:32:46 |
AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTIAL RECORDS
| Ann Staunton Carol Baird Carol Baird Carol Baird |
ACT ACT ACT ACT |
50 miles 100 km 100 miles 24 hours |
10:52:27 13:39:33 22:16:43 169.607 km |
AUSTRALIAN ALL COMERS RECORDS
| Sandra Brown Sandra Brown Sandra Brown |
England England England |
50 miles 100 km 100 miles |
09:08:52 11:33:24 19:14:56 |
The Jack Webber Trophy is awarded to the most meritorious Centurion performance. This year, we recognise the performance of Carol Baird. Last year Carol completed a fine 100 km in her first ever long distance walk and this year she made the final step and became Centurion Number 39. Her performance also set new Australian Residential records for 100 km, 100 miles and 24 hours.
Congratulations to those who competed. I look forward to seeing some of you back again next year to try to improve on your performances when we host the Year 2000 Centurions Walk in New South Wales.
Tim Erickson 25 Sept 1999