Saturday. ▪ Photo contributed
Local Cobar Athletics & Triathlon Squad (CATS) club member, 18 year old Isaac Theakston, competed at the Sydney Backyard Ultra on Saturday, along with his dad Paul (who went along for support).
Backyard Ultra is a form of ultramarathon race where competitors must consecutively run the distance of 6,706 meters (4.167 miles) in less than one hour.
Runners run hour after hour until only one remains.
On Saturday Isaac ran 16 ‘yards’, a distance of 107.3km in 16 hours, from 8am to midnight (with about 10 minutes rest between laps).
Paul, who went along to support Isaac, ran seven laps (46.9km).
Isaac has been wanting to try competitive running after enjoying and doing well at the CATS triathlon events.
He heard of the Backyard Ultras and so decided to try his hand at the Sydney event on the weekend.
“He’s never run anything like it before – the long course for CATS is the furthest he’s run competitively before, which is 4km, so we’re all very impressed with 107.3!” his proud mum Sarah Theakston told The Cobar Weekly.
Isaac finished with a great result of 53rd out of a field of 259 runners while Paul placed 203rd from the group.
The winner, 40 year old Jonathan Ash, completed 42 laps, one lap more than runner-up 46 year old Ewan Horsburgh with 43 year old Barry Keem third with 37 laps. The best finishing female was 23 year old Lauren Marshall in 8th place with a tally of 30 laps.
Sarah said Isaac pulled up a bit sore but he still went to work bright and early on Monday.
