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Trans Australia Racers To Face Heat up to 40C

20th December 2000

"It is potentially lethal, there's no two ways about that," Farmer said in Canberra Wednesday at a pre-race news conference. "But it's like anybody who wants to climb Everest, it's a challenge, it's there and you have to be tough otherwise everybody would do it. You have to also keep in mind that even though it has that potential, these are the best competitors from all over the world."

The 4500km race will start in Perth on January 6 and end in Canberra on March 11, passing through 130 towns and cities to help commemorate the Centenary of Federation.

Each of the 25 competitors will run an average of 70km a day for 65 days, facing an average temperature of 40 deg across the Nullabor Plain.

Ice vests, such as those worn by AFL players, will be one way the runners will try to beat the heat during the event, which has been dubbed the Race of Fire.

Legendary Australian distance runner Yiannis Kouros, famous for his Sydney-to-Melbourne victories, is confirmed for the event, as is Russian Konstantin Santalov, the three-time 100km world champion. There will also be competitors from Japan, Europe and the United States.

Canberra was a somewhat controversial finish line to the race, according to race director Bernie Farmer, Pat's older brother.

"I copped one hell of a lot of flak for finishing it in Canberra, not Sydney," he said. Bernie Farmer, who lives in Evatt, said he wanted to finish the race in Canberra on March 11 when the National Museum of Australia would open and the city's multicultural festival was under way. "From the run around Australia with Pat, we got a great reception here in Canberra. The people come out and I couldn't equate it with anywhere else," he said. We just think there's so much happening here; great scenery. There's a lot for the athletes to take in when they come to the finish."

Organisers have also headed off criticism that the event is not a real race because it does not go coast to coast by taking it to Eden and then doubling back for the finish in Canberra.

Total prize money of $65,000 is being offered in the race which is also raising funds along the way for charities, including the ACT Cancer Council.

The competitors range in age from 65-year-old George Audley, of Western Australia, to 22-year-old Sydney teacher David Criniti, who was at yesterday's race launch presided over by ACT Chief Minister Gary Humphries.

Pat Farmer won't be competing in the race - his 14,500km trek around Australia which ended in December last year was his farewell to ultra-marathons.

Farmer was at yesterday's launch as a representative of the National Council for the Centenary of Federation and has no doubts the race will be the most difficult in the world. Farmer counts NSW runner Paul Every as a strong chance and says the Russians should never be discounted.

"I've found the Russians to be the toughest competitors on earth - once they make up their mind to do something, they are very hard to beat," he said.

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