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WORLD RECORD TO GO AT COLAC
6-DAY RACE
The 20th Cliff Young Australian 6-day race looks like being one of the best ever with twenty nine runners having accepted for the race so far. This is incredible when you consider that the race doesn't start until the 20th November at Memorial Square, Colac. The field of twenty-eight runners includes fourteen runners from overseas. This is the second year that the race has been named after Colac legend, Cliff Young who won the inaugural Westfield Sydney to Melbourne race in 1983 and endeared him to the nation.
The race looks like being a battle between Claude Hardel from France and the contingent of four runners from Japan. Claude Hardel recently ran 923 km at the 6-day race in Erkath, Germany. He is also a previous winner of the Trans 333 which is known as the longest Desert race in the world.
The four Japanese runners that have been accepted into the race are Aki Inoue, Kenji Okiyama, Muneharu Kiroda and Katsuhiro Tanaka. Aki Inoue is a previous winner of the Colac 6-day race in 2002 with 800 plus kms and last year completed 304km in a 48hr race in America. Kenji Okiyama is probably the best-performed Japanese runner at the multi day level with a 252km at 24hrs and recently completed 407km in a 48hr race in Europe. Muneharu Kiroda is also an elite Ultra runner with several 24hr races over 200kms and recently ran 250km at the 24hr race in Taipei. The forth runner from Japan is Katsuhiro Tanaka. He has finished the Greek Spartathlon twice and has completed 338km in a 48hr race in 2005.
Australian Ultra Historian and this year's Race Commentator, Phil Essam, believes that with the quality of the top five runners in the field, the 6-day World record of 1023km held by Greek legend, Yiannis Kouros could be in jeopardy. “At the very least the top three runners will beat 900km in the six-days which hasn't happened in a Colac 6 day race for quite a few years” Essam was quoted as saying.
The race has been bolstered this year with the announcement of a $5,000 first prize for the race and a bonus $5,000 to the winner of the race if he has beaten 900km in the six days. “This is a tremendous bonus for the race and also a bonus for the sport in Australia, who haven't had a race with this sort of prize money for over fourteen years.” said Essam. “Hopefully the publicity generated from this year's race will have a flow on effect for the coming years” Essam was quoted as saying.
Of the nine remaining overseas runners entered in the field, three are from the United States, two from South Africa, 2 from New Zealand, one from Brazil and one from the Czech Republic.
The battle for the AURA Australian 6-day Championship looks like being a two-way battle between Westfield veteran, Tony Collins who this year won the Australian 48hr with 313km and Graeme Watts from Queens land who is previous winner of the race. These two won't want to falter during the race as Tasmanian runners, Peter Hoskinson and Vlastik Skavril will continue their battle around the Memorial Square at Colac and will be hot on their heels.
There are five women entered for the race so far. They include last year's winner, Dawn Parris, Carolyn Tassie from New Zealand, Sarah Barnett from Victoria, Heather Kick from the USA and Deb DeWilliams from Victoria. Dawn Parris with her wealth of Colac experience looks like being the favorite for the womens race, but will be chased all the way by the other three competitors.
There is still time to enter the Colac 6-day race, but runners had better enter quickly before there isn't space for any more competitors. The race will start on the 20th November and if you can't attend you will be able to follow it at http://sixdayrace.org.au . The web site will also have a webcam that people will be able to watch the race from all over the world.
For further information, please contact Phil Essam on 0407830263 or pessam@bigpond.net.au. Phil Essam |