2005 Australian Centurion Results

Australian Centurion Walkers Inc. 24 Hour 2005
Harold Stevens Reserve, Coburg
Saturday 16 April - Sunday 17 April 2005

The 2005 official Australian Centurion Qualifying event was held in conjunction with the Coburg 24 Hour carnival at the Harold Stevens Reserve in Coburg. A record total of 19 walkers and 34 runners competed in a variety of running and walking events throughout the 24 hour period.

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 19oC. 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 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 young 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. He is a member of the very elite group of ultra competitors who have completed both 100 miles as a runner and as a walker.

David was behind the required schedule at the 18 hour mark and had to dig deep during the final stages of the event to bring himself back into contention. The final outcome was a fitting reward for his efforts and it won him the Jack Webber Trophy which is awarded annually to the best Centurion performance of the meet.

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.


PROVISIONAL RESULTS

24 HOUR WALK MEN
Geoff Hain QLD C49 163.441 km
David Billett SA C50 ** 161.887 km
Fred Baker QLD 103.200 km
Robin Whyte ACT C29 102.000 km
Stan Miskin VIC C23 81.950 km
Don MacKechnie VIC 81.994 km
Graham Watt VIC C48 60.000 km
Fred Brooks VIC C42 37.200 km
Ron McGregor VIC DNS

24 HOUR WALK WOMEN
Jill Green UK C38 165.996 km
Karyn Bollen VIC C45 132.588 km
Val Chesterton ACT 109.967 km
Sandra Howorth VIC 102.555 km

12 HOUR WALK MEN
Ken Carter VIC 56.188 km

6 HOUR WALK MEN
Steve Jordan VIC 43.600 km
Laurie Tinson VIC 38.736 km
Willie Erasmus VIC 33.232 km

6 HOUR WALK WOMEN
Ellwyn Miskin VIC 38.793 km
Heather Beattie VIC 34.429 km

AUSTRALIAN 100 KM CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MEN
Geoff Hain QLD
David Billett VIC
Robin Whyte QLD

AUSTRALIAN 100KM CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN
Jill Green UK
Daryn Bollen VIC
Val Chesterson ACT

CENTURION WALK QUALIFIERS
Jill Green C45 22:58
Geoff Hain C49 23:25
David Billett C50 ** 32:52:27

Jack Webber Trophy for most meritorious centurion performance
David Billett


Full results and photos will be uploaded very soon to the Australian Centurions website at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~austcent/index.html.