The Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon was an annual
ultramarathon foot race held between 1983 and 1991. It was sponsored by the
Westfield Group
Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio ...
, with the start being at
Westfield Parramatta
Westfield Parramatta is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Parramatta in Greater Western Sydney.
Transport
The North Shore & Western, Inner West & Leppington and Cumberland Line offer frequent services to Westfield Parramatta.
Westfi ...
shopping centre and the finish at
Westfield Doncaster
Westfield Doncaster (formerly Doncaster Shoppingtown) is a shopping centre 50% owned by Scentre Group and 25% owned by ISPT and 25% owned by Asia Property Fund (as of May 2015) located in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...
shopping centre (formerly known as "Doncaster Shoppingtown").
The five-day event, which ranged in distance from to , was regarded as one of the toughest in the world. It was particularly notable for having been won in 1983 by
Cliff Young, an almost unknown 61-year-old potato farmer from
Beech Forest, Victoria.
Yiannis Kouros
Yiannis Kouros ( el, Γιάννης Κούρος, ; born 13 February 1956 in Tripoli, Kingdom of Greece) is a Greek ultramarathon runner based in Greece. He is sometimes given the epithets "Running god", "Pheidippides' Successor" or "Son of Ph ...
won the men's race five times. In 1988, the race organiser challenged him to start 12 hours behind the rest of the field. Kouros overtook his competitors and won the race with a one-hour lead over New Zealander Dick Tout.
The first woman to compete was Australian Caroline Vaughan who ran in 1984.
Vaughan did not finish the race. In 1985, three women competed and finished: British ultramarathon runner
Eleanor Robinson
Eleanor Robinson (formerly Adams, née Puckrin, 20 November 1947) is a British former ultramarathon runner and two-time winner of the IAU 100km World Championships. She was the first woman to run over 150 miles in a 24-hour endurance race. Sh ...
(then Eleanor Adams), Donna Hudson of the US and Australian Margaret Smith. Robinson won the women's race three times.
The final running of the event included prize money ($60,000 for first place), a handicapping system and a change to the course. It ceased being held when the Westfield Group withdrew its support.
Results
1983
#
Cliff Young: 5d 15h 04m
#
George Perdon: 6d 01h 00m
#
Siggy Bauer: 6d 05h 00m
6 finishers
1984
#
Geoff Molloy: 6d 04h 02m
#
John Hughes: 6d 06h 00m
#
Wal McCrorie
WAL or Wal may refer to:
Places
* Wał, Lublin Voivodeship, village in eastern Poland
* Wał, Masovian Voivodeship, village in east-central Poland
* Wales, constituent nation of the United Kingdom
* Wallonia, Walloon Region of Belgium
* Wallops ...
: 6d 16h 21m
9 finishers
1985
Men's race
#
Yiannis Kouros
Yiannis Kouros ( el, Γιάννης Κούρος, ; born 13 February 1956 in Tripoli, Kingdom of Greece) is a Greek ultramarathon runner based in Greece. He is sometimes given the epithets "Running god", "Pheidippides' Successor" or "Son of Ph ...
: 5d 05h 07m
[Potter, David (18 Apr 1985]
Melbourne's Greeks welcome their Marathon man
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
#Siggy Bauer: 6d 05h 46m
#
Brian Bloomer
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...
: 6d 17h 20m
Women's race
#
Eleanor Robinson
Eleanor Robinson (formerly Adams, née Puckrin, 20 November 1947) is a British former ultramarathon runner and two-time winner of the IAU 100km World Championships. She was the first woman to run over 150 miles in a 24-hour endurance race. Sh ...
: 8d 00h 30m
# Donna Hudson: 8d 11h 57m
# Margaret Smith: 8d 16h 28m
11 finishers
1986
Men's race
#: 6d 12h 38m
#Brian Bloomer: 7d 04h 53m
#
Patrick Macke Patrick may refer to:
*Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
*Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
* Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
: 7d 13h 02m
Women's race
# Eleanor Robinson: 7d 17h 58m
# Donna Hudson: 8d 06h 15m
# Christine Barrett: 8d 22h 30m
9 finishers
1987
Men's race
#Yiannis Kouros: 5d 14h 47m
#Patrick Macke: 6d 17h 21m
#Dick Tout: 6d 22h 19m
Women's race
# Cynthia Cameron: 8d 10h 55m
# Mary Hanudel: 8d 12h 44m
16 finishers
1988
Men's race
#Yiannis Kouros: 5d 19h 14m
#Dick Tout: 6d 11h 18m
#Dusan Mravlje: 6d 14h 10m
Women's race
# Eleanor Robinson: 7d 10h 5m
#
Sandra Barwick
Sandra May Barwick (born 1949) is a New Zealand ultramarathon runner who set a new six-day track world record in Campbelltown, Australia, 18–24 November 1990. Covering 549 miles 110 yards in six days, Barwick set a record that still stan ...
: 8d 04h 10m
23 finishers
1989
#Yiannis Kouros: 5d 02h 27m
#David Standeven: 5d 13h 55m
#
Kevin Mansell: 5d 22h 59m
19 finishers
1990
Men's race
#Yiannis Kouros: 5d 23h 55m
#Bryan Smith: 6d 09h 45m
#
Peter Quirk
Peter Quirk (born 26 January 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Sydney Swans in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Quirk came from Riverina Football League club Narrandera. He made seven VFL appearances for the S ...
: 6d 11h 40m
Women's race
# Sandra Barwick: 7d 04h 46m
20 finishers
1991
#Bryan Smith: 6d 12h 50m (24h handicap)
#Tony Collins: 7d 04h 17m (12h handicap)
#Andrew Law: 7d 09h 32m (12h handicap)
#Maurice Taylor: 6d 23h 22m (24h handicap)
#Kevin Mansell: 7d 02h 26m (24h handicap)
11 finishers
References
External links
Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathonat statistik.d-u-v.org
*
Multiday races
Recurring sporting events established in 1983
Recurring events disestablished in 1991
Marathons in Australia
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