The Cliff Young Australian 6-Day Race was an

ultramarathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

race that takes place in

Colac, Victoria Colac is a town in the Western District (Victoria), Western District of Victoria, Australia, approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac. History For thousands of years clans of the Gulidjan people ...

. One of a small handful of six-day races around the world, the Cliff Young has had many fine performances, culminating in November 2005 with

Yiannis Kouros Yiannis Kouros (, ; born 13 February 1956 in Tripoli, Kingdom of Greece) is a Greek ultramarathon runner based in Greece. Kouros holds or formerly held many world records between 100 miles and 1,000 miles. In 1991, he starred as Pheidippid ...

, arguably the best multiday runner in the world, setting a new six-dayrecord. It started in 1983 and was renamed in 2004 after Cliff Young, a Colac farmer and winner of the inaugural

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Westfield's Ultramarathon in May 1983.

History

After Cliff Young (a potato farmer) won the ultramarathon in 1983, the City of Colac was inspired to stage a 1000-mile race in Cliff's honour - the 1983 Cliff Young Colac 1000 which started in Melbourne and ended in the Colac Memorial Square. In the following year, the City of Colac announced its decision to stage a six-day race. A 400-metre track was created in the Memorial square and named in his honour. Initially named the 1984 Colac Ultra Marathon, it later became known as the Australian Six Day Race - Colac. Fourteen runners entered the inaugural race including the great Yiannis Kouros and British multiday runner Eleanor Adams-Robinson. Kouros easily won, covering over 1022 km, setting a new world record and Adams-Robinson also broke 11 world records. The race was renamed in early 2004 in honour of Cliff Young, who died on the 2nd of November 2003. In 2005, at the age of 49, Yiannis Kouros returned to the recently renamed race and again demonstrated his unparalleled capacity by setting a new Six Day World Record by covering just over 1036 km, breaking the course record and set new world record times for covering 500 km and 1000 km in his age group. The event has not been held since 2005, despite an effort from Australian marathon runner Lee Troop to revive the race in 2008.

References

Coolrunning.com.au
Yiannis Kouros - A legend in the making - by Andy Milroy
Coolrunning.com.au
1983-1991 Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Experiences by Kevin Cassidy
Ultrarunning.com
- Ultrarunning magazine
Multidayrunning.com
- Multiday Running magazine

Other 6 Day races

6jours-antibes.com
- Antibes (FRA)

- Erkrath GER)
SriChinmoyRaces.org
- Self-Transcendence (USA)

- Toyota (RSA)
Australian 6 Day Race
- (Australia, South Australia) {{Marathons in Australia Multiday races Sports competitions in Victoria (state) Colac, Victoria 1984 establishments in Australia Recurring sporting events established in 1984 2005 disestablishments in Australia Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2005 Ultramarathons in Australia