His world ranking just entered top two, but for Kyneton ultramarathon runner Greg Wilson, the ultimate achievement was smashing Cliff Young’s record.
Wilson has written his way into the record books for breaking the long-held Australian M70 Age Record for six days by about 9.8kms in New Zealand.
He was the second male, with about 663.432kms, at the New Zealand Six Day Ultramarathon at Christchurch over March 31 to April 5. His 72 hour M70 performance ranked him second in the world.
“The target as always was Cliff Young’s remarkable 34-year-old Australian M70 record of 653.6 kilometres. My personal best was 52 kilometres less so that was very ‘ambitious’. I did it because Cliffy held it,” he said.
Cliff ‘Cliffy’ Young became an Australian folk legend when he won the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon aged 61 years old in 1983.
He was a humble potato farmer from the Beech Forest/Colac region and wore his gumboots and overalls at the starting line.
Young went on to set numerous impressive ultramarathon age records, and chasing those down has been a huge motivator for Wilson. To surpass one of Cliffy’s biggest records that was still in reach, Wilson described as “certainly a pleasing result”.
“What a memorable way to finish my best performance in 55 years of running,” he said.
“I trained solidly and this time the weather converted my effort into a fine result.
“The secret is patience and perseverance. Relaxed and flowing with little distress and a walk/run combination. The final six hours is where I put in a solid running effort.”
For the total 144-hour event, Wilson slept for only about 10 hours, determined to hit his daily targets.
“Most important was to spend as much time as possible out there moving,” he said.
By the end of day one, he had reached 145kms with no sleep, day two added 110kms to reach 225kms, and at the end of day three he had clocked a total of 360kms, despite a toe injury.
Wilson had a total of 460kms at the end of day four, by the end of day five a total of 560kms, and day six was the ultimate celebration.
After breaking Cliffy’s M70 record for six days, on day six, Wilson realised he could achieve a world ranking and pushed his body even further to see it happen.
Wilson claimed Cliffy’s long-held 48-hour Australian M70 Age Record with a 287.404km finish at Sri Chinmoy, Canberra, adding 22.604kms to the record in 2023.
