Chapter One
"Australian Ultra
Running"
"Prior to
83 !"
Ultra running is
any distance over the traditional Marathon distance of 42.195kms. For that
reason alone it has never been a mass participation sport and will never be a
popular spectator sport. If you consider that less than one percent of the
population has run a Marathon, it makes Ultra Marathoners quite special and
elite. But are they special and elite? Westfield Marathon Race Director,
Charlie Lynn once described the Westfield runners as "Ordinary people
doing extraordinary things!"
Exactly! This book tells the story
of the Westfield Ultra Marathons that were run between 1983 to 1991. The men
and women who attempted the race were ordinary people. The bloke on the
Assembly Line, the housewife taking her kids to school etc. Their Everest was
the road between Sydney and Melbourne. The pinnacle was the Finish Line at
Doncaster Shopping Centre. They all conquered their spirit and body and took
something away that no one could ever take from them. This is their story and
it has been recorded forever.
The best ultra performance of the nineteenth century recorded in
Australia was by William King of Sydney in 1848. He covered 192 miles in a time
of 46 hours and 30 minutes. This deed was done on a track just under a mile
long. His splits were 66 1/2 miles in 12 hours, 104 miles in 24 hours and 157
miles in 36 hours. This was the earliest recorded Ultra distance set in
Australia.
The first Ultra Distance race was held in Australia in 1880. It was
a 6 day race conducted at the Melbourne Hippodrome and was completed on the 4
December. W.Baker, from Sydney, won the event and covered 307 miles and 1 lap.
Second runner in the event was Swan from New Zealand who covered 306 miles and
10 laps. Third was Seymour from NSW who ran 286 miles 3 laps.
At the same time a 48 hour race was
held at the Exhibition Buildings in Adelaide. Edwards ran 172 miles and 21
yards and won this. The year before he had walked 110 miles in just under one
day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Another notable performance in 1880 was
W.Baker covering 113 1/2 miles in a day in NSW.
1881 and 82 was to see two remarkable
performances by Clifford. In 1881 he ran 120 3/4 miles in a 24 hour period in
Adelaide. The following year he covered a remarkable 506 1/2 miles in a six day
period in Geelong. This would be 800 plus kilometres in the modern conversion
and would have earned him the Winner’s Trophy at the Colac 6 Day Race in 1997.
In 1882, JC Williams twice ran over
100 miles at Sayers Court within a month of each other. He was nearly fifty
years old at the time.
1883 saw a 6 day race at the
Exhibition buildings in Sydney. W Edwards ran 373 1/2 miles and was to beat his
American rival Daniel O Leary by over 23 miles. In 1887 Edwards was to set
another mark when he ran 111 miles in a 24 hour period at Bathurst in NSW.
The longest performance in the
nineteenth century went to 54 year old C. Williams. He walked 1500 miles in a
period of 1060 hours in Sydney in 1884. 'Flooded out of his tent three times
and walking for days on a wet sloppy track, 42 laps to the mile. He sometimes
took as much a 6 quarts of ale per day and latterly 1 bottle of rum per diem'.
The next recorded Australian Ultra
achievement didn't occur for another forty-five years. Queensland runner, Mike
McNamara came second in the now infamous, New York to LosAngeles Bunion Derby
in 1929. This race was later immortalised in Tom McNab’s book "The Longest
Run". His time was 627 hours 35 minutes and 26 seconds. This took from 1/3
to 16/6 and was a remarkable achievement!
It was in 1965 when one the first
recorded Inter City runs occurred. Tasmanian runner, Bill Emmerton took 10 days
to run the 740km journey between Melbourne and Adelaide.
Tony Rafferty and George Perdon were
to attempt this run five times between them prior to 1980. George Perdon had a
best time of 5 days 23 hrs and 31 minutes. This was part of his Melbourne/
Adelaide/ Melbourne run in 1979. There have been other runners such as Terry
Cox from Victoria who also attempted the run for charity and recorded a
credible time. Terry was to hold a record of a different sort when he held the
24 hour record for distance travelled on a treadmill.
Tony Rafferty broke the 1000 mile
world record in 1978 when he ran from Melbourne to Sydney and return in a time
of 18 days 4 hrs and 30 minutes. He was greeted by thousands of people when he
completed his run at Melbourne Post Office in Bourke Street.
George Perdon recorded the best time
along the Princes Highway route between Melbourne and Sydney in 1978 when he
took 9 days 4 hrs and 44 minute to complete the 1048km journey. Several other
runners holding the record at one time or another for this route. Ex- Scottish
paratrooper, Wal McCrorie was one of those runners and remembers the era as
being "fiercely competitive".
The longest match race of all time in
Australia occurred in 1973 when George Perdon and Tony Rafferty battled across
the continent. George Perdon started a week after Rafferty and claimed all the
records up to 2600 miles. Rafferty kept going past Sydney to Brisbane and
claimed all the records up to 3000 miles. George Perdon arrived in Sydney 47
days 1 hour and 45 minutes after leaving Perth. He was to beat Rafferty by a
day!
This race generated publicity all
over Australia with headlines like "Puff Puff Perdon Gains Ground",
"Rafferty rules the Road", "Perdon cracks the Pain Barrier"
and "Grudge clash of the century" appearing daily in the newspapers.
Journalists in helicopters followed them throughout the race and cameramen
chased them down the hot highway trying to get the perfect shot.
Tony Rafferty was to be sponsored by
Kellogs in 1973. He was the face that helped launch Nutra-Grain. This helped
him to train unencumbered for a couple of years.
Perdon and Rafferty had many fierce
battles over the years. The battles were fuelled by media speculation, but they
became good friends towards the end of their careers.
Desert runs became popular amongst
ultra runners. Tony Rafferty ran the Birdsville Track in 1974 in a time of 6
days and five hours. The journey was 574km. The Simpson desert was tackled for
the first time in 1980 by Bob Beer from NSW who took 6 days and five hours to
cross. This route followed the French Line which was a survey line laid in the
60's. Ron Grant took almost 2 days of this record a year later when he took 4
days 11 hours and 45 minutes for the same journey.
Queensland in the 70's and 80's was
to find a fair share of Ultra runners establishing records between towns and
cities. Ron Grant was the predominant name. He came to national prominence in
1983 when he ran around Australia in 217 days. He developed his profession
years previously when he ran between Queensland towns and holds records that
still stand today.
Tony Rafferty holds the record for
several Ultra distance records within NSW. In 1974, he ran for fifty hours and
covered 325 kilometres. He covered a circuit of Sydney in that time and
appeared on the David Frost Show as soon as he finished. In 1975 Tony ran from
Bathurst to Bondi and Newcastle to Sydney and return.
Tony Rafferty and George Perdon were
both from Victoria. In the late sixties and early seventies they were always
trying to outdo each other. On the 23rd May 1970, George Perdon
carried out an amazing run at Olympic Park which was to set many records and
the Ultra running benchmark for years to come. This was from the 70 miles to 12
hours mark. "That 100 mile time was my greatest achievement. Not long
before that I ran a marathon in 2 hours 19 minutes and 56 seconds", said
Perdon in an interview with Tony Rafferty many years later.
Perdon was the Champion Runner of the
decade. The best description of his talents was said by his closest rival, Tony
Rafferty. In an article written about Perdon years later, Rafferty said
"As an Ultra-marathon athlete, George Perdon was years ahead of his time
and for that, Yiannis Kouros and others should be thankful."
In July 1971, Tony Rafferty walked
for 218 miles and 650 yards in 69 hours and 30 minutes. This was non stop and
was a World Record. In 1972, Tony was the first to establish the Melbourne to
Portsea and return record in a time of 29 hours and 30 minutes. Six months
later, George Perdon came along and slashed six hours of the time. Four years
earlier, George Perdon had ran an incredible 6 hrs and 35 minutes between
Portsea to Melbourne, a distance of 60 miles.
In 1979, Tony Rafferty was to conquer
the Death Valley in a time of 2 days 7 hours and 25 minutes. This was the first
summer crossing and done in atrocious temperatures.
As you can see there were two runners
who dominated Australian Ultra running achievement in the late 70's and early
80's. These runners were George Perdon and Tony Rafferty. Would Perdon of set
as many records if the outgoing Rafferty wasn’t there to push him. In the
twilight of their careers they became friends, but in their heydays it was
tough and very competitive.
"It didn’t get really nasty between George and I, although I
don't think George would have felt very close to me. We were good friends
later, but there was certainly animosity with his support people, his sponsors
and handlers" said Tony Rafferty, when reflecting many years later.
"I must have had this knack of
drawing the media more than George did, cause our personalities are very
opposite. I think that upset the people around him: that there was a great
runner and I was getting a lot of publicity. George was a great athlete and
certainly a much better ultra-marathon runner than I'll ever be, and he wasn't
getting the coverage that perhaps he deserved." Said Rafferty when further
reminiscing on the time when Perdon and himself raced across Australia.
The Westfield Sydney to Melbourne
Ultra Marathons were born out of this era and rivalry. John Toleman (sports
store owner) put up $10 000 for a match race between Perdon and Rafferty. It
was to be a winner take all purse. The race took a few years to organise, but
by 1983 it became reality. The concept grew and the Westfield Sydney to
Melbourne Ultra Marathon was born with eleven starters lined up at Westfield
Parramatta in 1983.
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