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Kouros may lead the field in Trans Australia Footrace
8th November 2000A star-studded field is shaping up for the Trans Australia Footrace, a 65-day race that begins Jan. 5 and stretches approximately 4,500 kilometres across from Perth to the national capital in Canberra.
Runners will average 70 kilometres a day, competing for prize money of $40,000(US). Most of the money will be paid at the finish, the bulk of it going to the top 10 finishers. However, there will also be daily stage prizes of about $200.
The event is longer than the Tour de France and will take competitors through Australia's parched Nullabor plain in the peak of summer in the southern hemisphere.
Although not yet confirmed, it is now looking as though Yiannis Kouros, the finest multi-day competitor of modern times, will head the field. "We're still negotiating with him to work out the details, but it's looking very hopeful at this stage," says chief organizer Jesse Dale Riley.
Kouros dominated the Westfield Run, the prestigious Sydney-Melboure race held in Australia during the 1980s and early 1990s and holds multiple world records as the greatest multi-day ultramarathoner of modern times. He was born in Greece but is now an Australian citizen.
Among those who are confirmed to run are the following:
- Dusan Mravlje of Slovenia, the 1995 winner of the Trans America Footrace and a former winner of the prestigious Westfield Run, held in Australia during the 1980s and early 1990s.
- Istvan Sipos of Hungary, the 1994 winner of the Trans Amerca Footrace and the 1998 winner of the Sri Chinmoy 3100-mile Race, the longest certified ultramarathon in the world - run on a half-mile road loop in Jamaica, New York.
- Kiwaki Spalding of Hawaii, a 1994 finisher of the Trans America Footrace.
- Helmut Schieke of Germany, a 1992 finisher of the Trans America Footrace.
- Stefan Schlett of Germany, also a 1992 finisher of the Trans America Footrace.
- Wolfgang Schwerk of Germany, second all-time to Yiannis Kourus in world 24-hour race standings (303km vs 276km).
- Brian Smith and David Standeven, both former Westfield champions.
Riley says the exact route that the race will follow is still being finalized. A number of detours are being added to take the event through centres that would otherwise miss it. The field will be limited to 25 of the best multi-day runners in the world.
Back to CoolRunning Trans-Australia Footrace HomePage (includes links to other Trans-Australia Footrace articles)
This article has been provided with permission by UltraMarathon World, the foremost authority on Ultramarathons in the world, for which CoolRunning Australia is very grateful.
