Official 1,000 mile WR attempt by Nedd Brockman live discussion thread. Can he break the 10 day, 10 hours record?

It would be nice if it drew a greater appreciation of ultra running and running in general - but I do t think it does unfortunately.

i have learnt a fair bit about multi day ultra running just from this thread over the past few days

World record for lane violations.

I've found another.

Maurice Taylor ran a 487km halfway split in the 1989 Colac 6 Day when he finished with 894km. His opening days were 191.2, 149.2 and 147.6km. Maurice finished second behind Bryan Smith with 1002km.

As evident from Maurice and the very conservative extrapolations from Joe Record's 48 hour splits at La Rochelle '83 (868km) and Colac '87 (890km), it's likely we're missing a number of 6 Day performances with the criteria of "possibly but not certain: over 575 miles (925km) in 6 days".

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I'm not sure how the Westfield courses were measured back then, but it's not surprising some athletes pulled out their biggest performances in the race. Conversely, many did not. Even from the first year in '83, you can produce a list of names of experienced runners who would have been aiming for better results....Perdon, Rafferty, McCrorie, Bauer, Record (who led briefly late in the race before his DNF).

That race changed ultra running in Australia and around the world. It's hard to appreciate the impact of the Westfield unless you were around at time. It was a remarkable confluence of a visionary concept, a receptive public, extraordinary performances by great runners, marketing, a sporting fairytale, nationalism and cultural folklore, and massive amounts of luck, money and opportunity.

As it unfolded in real time, Cliffy's inaugural win captured national attention like few events had previously, sporting or otherwise. Never before had the progress of an ultramarathon featured on every nightly news bulletin and national newspaper. Unlike the nation's biggest football codes, here was a sports story in which BOTH Sydney AND Melbourne were interested in, and more importantly the whole country was barracking for the one team.....Cliff Young.

It's too long a story to recount here, but attracting the best ultra runners from around the world to run for money, fame and prestige in a country with a rapidly developing ultra running culture, it's not at all surprising many pulled out their biggest performances on the roads between Sydney and Melbourne. Sure there were other races....6 Days at Colac and Campbelltown, the Geraldton to Perth 450km and Albany to Perth 560km for those in the west, numerous 24 hour events and all the shorter stuff.....but with long races all year round, and everything fed into the Westfield for many runners.

It was THE race which held aspirations many Aussie ultra runners, some returning year upon year, developing over time as multi-day runners.

David Standeven was a case in point. Finishing 7th, then 5th at the Westfield, he returned the following year with his 24 Hour and 6 Day performances also showing linear improvement. 1989 saw the race handicapped to manage the spread of abilities across the field, with Kouros giving the best Aussie runners like David, Bryan Smith and Kevin Mansell a 12 hour start and most others 24 hours. As well as good prize money for the fastest time, there was also money for first across the line....and finish line crowds of thousands of people, unparalleled in ultras since the 6 Day races a century earlier. After 1011km and nearly 5 days and 14 hours, David breasted the tape, absolutely burying himself in the closing day to hold off the fast-finishing Yiannis by 30 minutes.

Kevin also produced his best ultra performance, finishing under 6 days and running over 1000km.......still a rare club. The rest of the field was over a day behind him. Frenchman Jean Boussiquet succumbed to injury after an extended battle with Kevin through the hills as the race entered Victoria. Those finishing after the 7 days ticked over included a who's who of the Aussie ultra scene ..... Bryan Smith, Maurice Taylor, NZ's Don Mitchell, Pat Farmer, Rune Larsson of Sweden, an improving Mark Gladwell, and reigning Aussie 24 Hour champion Owen Tolliday rounding out the top 10.

But that's what the Westfield did.....put everyone through the wringer with the lure of cut-throat competitive racing, money, and perhaps a little notoriety. Inevitably, every year a fortunate few would thrive, their most memorable running moments played out on the grandest stage possible. Most would either simply survive to fight out an admirable finish or flame out with exhaustion or injury, their career highlights to be shared in muted celebration with only some fellow runners, crews and lap-scorers on a worn grass track. However, one Westfield runner proved indominable as the greatest ultra runner the world has seen.

But the outside of Westfield's incongruous mix of moments of glamour and ugly nights on Australia's highways, the rest of ultra scene was more mundane. There was a group that would often meet Friday evening after work in south-west of suburban Sydney
to run through the night and finish up late Saturday...... Kevin Mansell, Mark Gladwell, Maurice Taylor, Dave Taylor, Pat Farmer, maybe Georgie McConnell and Wanda Foley showing the path for women yet to find the sport. One Sunday morning, I remember chatting with a couple of the guys at a local half marathon in Sydney's north. They'd been on their Friday long run. Not sure if they had made it home on the Saturday night, but still wearing their Westfield gear, I suspect not. Maybe they'd refueled and had a nap at Mark's place around 40 hours on the way through.

It was hardcore scene back then, but supportive. It was inevitable it unearthed some talent, and hardly surprising that some shone with their best races at the Westfield.

I've found this thread interesting and it's constantly shifted my view. I originally started thinking that Nedd was a fraud after reading some posts and then thought it was even insulting that he's attempted such a feat.

I've imagined that he will be humbled by this challenge and it could be embarassing for him.

I have thought that it's unfair that he has the support he does when so many runners achieving amazing things go unnoticed.

Following him last night, I started to think he was done and this challenged has exposed him.

For how amateur his running is, I now have to say I'm impressed. His grit is infectious and this effort (whilst he will fall short) has to be impressive considering he isn't the elite runner lots have said he needs to be to do something like this.

Thanks for that. I was only a kid when it was happening but I still have strong memories of it from the late eighties and early nineties. I remember watching extended features that would be on wide world of sports and the whole atmosphere of the event, the competitors and Yiannis in particular really captured me. A few years ago I came across Phil Essam's book covering the history of the race online and was able to get a much deeper sense and appreciation of the event from reading it. It's actually free to download and I highly recommend it to anyone who's keen to learn more about that era of the ultra scene - http://www.coolrunning.com.au/ultra/westfieldbook-v2.pdf

Of course it would never happen nowadays, competitors running on the side of main roads with thousands of cars flying by. And many forget that there was a death and some other serious injuries. All in all it was certainly a memorable and captivating chapter in the history of the sport!

The latest state of play is:

744k in 122 hours.
865 required in 118.

It's a horror proposition, and no chance of course. On a break now to boot.

These runfluencer debates have absolutely nothing to do with their grit and guts, but only their quality. We all have grit and guts - it's dime a dozen. Quality is reserved for the few.

That can't be right.
5 days are 120 hours. He should at least run 161k a day, that's 805k for 120 hours.

Ultra running is doing just fine. By most measures, (number of participants and races, quality of performances), it's in better shape than it's ever been. Sure, it would be cool to see a more competitive 100km scene on the roads, but trail running has boomed in the last 15 years, the Backyard events are an inclusive format catering newbies and top athletes, multiday is continuing its renaissance and it's all flowing through to traditional formats like 24 Hour and now even 6 Day.

Ultras could (and did) live through runners trying to dupe the public they were next Kouros way back in the 1980s. Yes, there was a Greek-Australian dude for a while back then, who never raced, but ran through towns in rural Victoria in a blaze of self-promotion, proclaiming to better than Kouros. Of course, he was never sighted on the roads in between running at better than world record marathon pace, but he did he piss off Yiannis for a while!

The thing is people have difficulty getting their head around running a very long way. And that's why they're so often fundamentally impressed by it. Even many committed runners can't comprehend what's required to run ultras. How many on Letsrun will dismiss the pace of a decent 100 mile as easily achievable or the talents of the world's best?

Given there's an inevitable and inherent lack of understanding of the sport among most of the population, coupled with a peculiar fascination and admiration for extraordinary running achievements, there forever lies the potential for grift and a spotlight for certain kinds of people, fiddling on the fringes of the sport.

That's not going to change. And here's a tale which illustrates why.

I work closely with a guy not too much older than Nedd, who had begun following his run across Australia. Smart guy, exceptionally good at his job, though I think much of his world view is shaped by his chats with his mates and social media. In 2022, as Nedd neared Sydney, and knowing I did a little running, my colleague told me about Nedd's run and mentioned he thought it was probably the first time someone had ran across Australia.

I shared the belated news with him that George Perdon did it faster and better half a century previously, arriving in Perth a week after Tony Rafferty had already departed, before setting chase across the continent. Running in crappy primitive shoes when much of "highway" was still an unsealed gravel track across the Nullabor Plain, Perdon beat Rafferty into Sydney by a day. He was shocked.

I didn't share with him any reservations I had about Nedd's run. Nor did I tell him when he was just toddler, one summer morning I stood on the other side of the river behind us, along with Trans Con Expert and a couple of dozen other runners from around the world, about to start racing across Australia.

I don't know why the link I posted doesn't work. I downloaded the pdf directly from it before posting. The link can be found at the bottom of the Sydney to Melbourne wiki page.

In fairness it's 865 required in 128.

You're forgetting the extra 10 hours past 10 days. As pointed out by members in the stream that just might give him the time he needs. Still a long shot as of course he's struggling but he's actually still in it.

Mate you think he's gonna negative split in a thousand miler?! 😂😂

Bud you clearly just don't understand that Australia's best runner Nedd Brockman is simply built different

To give you some perspective Kouros reached 1000km 5 days and 20 hrs into his run. Where's neddy going to be by then? 800km? There or thereabouts.

It just didn't work for me. No idea why.

If he was at 800 around that mark, he’d nearly be in the top 100 for known 6 day runs. For more perspective.

But of course this isn’t a race, he’s got pacers swapping in and out and deliberately blocking the wind when it gets up, who knows what treatment he’s getting behind the scenes, and I still can’t work out how they’re reliably measuring this.

The perfect comparison, and a clear insight into how far off he is. Yet all the talk in the studio is that he's "100% on track.

It is so eye-wateringly daft to assume no slow down in this thing. He is starting to look like a mummy. Bandaged up on his feet, leg, torso, blood gushing from nose, chundering regularly.

To negative split this, the first thing he needs to attend to is the 3.23 marathon he kicked off with.

Yes, I understand about the 10 hour buffer. Well, the halfway stage for that is incoming in 1:36.

Why does he have bandages on his shoulder?

The level of vitriol in this chat against the bloke is quite fascinating.

Of course he’s going to miss. Does it really matter that he’s said he’ll have a crack at a record he was never really going to get?

The rate he’s going there’s a decent chance he manages to get there in ~12 days, some of it in 30 degree heat unless the wheels fall off, which they might. Haven’t like 10 people done that ever? Probably no one in the last decade. There’s a realistic chance he could pull off the fastest since Yiannis. Surely it’s a pretty commendable effort. Plus he’ll probably manage to raise a couple of million bucks along the way