NORTH FACE 24 HOUR TREADMILL ULTRA-MARATHON

Deanne Nobbs was selected recently to compete in a 24 Hour Treadmill Ultra-Marathon sponsored by the North Face in the front window of their newly opened Bourke Street store. The event was held from 7:00 am Thursday, 6 March to 7:00 am on Friday, 7 March

Along with Deanne were two other elite members of the ultra sport Martin Fryer and David Waugh. Should any member of the team reach the qualifying distance, the effort would earn them direct entry into the World Championships, fully sponsored by the North Face

Deanne had two goals going into the event. One was to achieve an Australian qualifying distance of 180 kilometres, and the other was to break the Australian female 24 Hour treadmill running record of 185 kilometres

Aided by a race plan developed by Australia's best ultra athlete Martin Fryer, Deanne started the treadmill at 9.1 km/hour. The idea was to run at this pace until the halfway point then wind it back to 7 km/hour

Running through the night, just after 5:30 am Deanne achieved her first goal of World Champs qualification and shortly after 6:00 am Deanne became the new Australian record holder

Shortly after the event, Deanne was swamped with calls from media outlets and Channel Ten news. Deanne was surrounded by firiends through the middle and last parts of the event with mates from her local gym who helped her training, students from Rushworth College where she teaches and of course several Coburg Harriers

Deanne would like to thank all those who came to offer her support and said she could not have achieved what she did without your help. Among those who came to see her were Rey Villegas, Mohammed Reese, Brian Delaney, Jeremy Grey and Philip van Dueren - the latter three were there in the afternoon and for the last hour of her ultramarathon effort. In fact, her fellow ultra competitors were moved to remark afterwards that they were envious of Deanne for all the people who came out to support her

Afterwards Deanne was on a high merrily chatting to people on the telephone and generally engaging in the awesome atmosphere and adrenalin rush that comes with finishing such a great event. Indeed, Martin Fryer who achieved the third ever best distance in the world (295 km) and David Waugh - fifth best ever in the world (291 km) were enjoying pastries afterwards. These are two very experienced 24 Hour ultra athletes. What makes Deanne's performance remarkable is that she has never run further than nine hours!

Deanne now has a well earned rest before the World Championships in September or October. At this stage, it is not clear whether Deanne will compete at the 24 Hour World Champs or the 100 km Road World Cup

Congratulations Deanne from everyone at the Coburg Harriers. Below is the letter sent by Deanne thanking her teammates