What a bummer for him. Thanks for posting the updates.
Wait, what???
So Day Three has begun and after some rain at the start we now have sunshine on the Sunshine Coast.
I am currently sitting at the 21K mark and just marked off the last runner heading south. 36 athletes started today and they all seem in pretty good spirits.
The two leaders Tim and Kristy crossed almost together here at 21K in 1hr 42min which is around a 7hr double marathon. Letās see if they can keep that pace up. The fastest ever time for Dat Three is 6:06 so no chance of troubling the record keepers today.
Iāll post an update if things get exciting when they pass my checkpoint again at 63K
https://events.barefootsport.co.nz/event/1072/results
1 Like
Hahaha,yeah The Deca is nuts.My old mate from Brazil,Sergio Cordiero is currently on the run of the Brasil Ultra Tri Decaā¦at 70 years of age.
1 Like
hope everyone is hanging in there - cast AND crew
live link?
In case you were frustrated in not having a live link Kevin,it was in a post just aboveā¦
https://events.barefootsport.co.nz/event/1072/results
thnx
We have been saying for decades that āRun Day is Fun Dayā and this years Day Three double marathon was no exception for most of the runners and crew here in Noosa and the neighboring suburbs along the northern Sunshine Coast.
Only two people were really racing for respective wins and that was in the battle of the genders up front between day one and two overall leader Tim Belstead and second place Kirsty Sheehan,who at the start of the run were about 82 minutes apart. Most of the rest were all about just getting in the best double marathon time they could and let the overall positions fall where they may. A few at the beck and were racing the clock to make cut offs in an event that had a pretty big attrition rate, mainly due to the brutal weather on the first two days.
The first half of the run went completely according to plan and the attention for us highlighting the race on YouTube shifted from the athletes to the crews on course showing how things get done and from a crew perspective and how much fun the run day can be.
It was great to have multiple Ultraman Champ and World record holder Simon Cochrane attach a camera to himself and run with the pack for the first 10k or so to show another perspective of the race. He then had to attend to some of his coached athletes and spent the rest of the day with them.Also great to see past UMOZ Champions Shane Kent (currently training for āArch to Arcā), Dee Fuller and ex-Pro Kate Bevilaqua drop into the feed to say āHiā and give their own perspectives and memories of their own UMOZ experience. Kate was on course all weekend having flown in from Perth to look after a couple of her coached athletes (how is that for coaching service). Several of the athlete had their coaches with them which I think was cool to see.
The second half is where the fun started with Tim and Kirsty hitting the marathon turn at the same time having run together with the pacers as the rest of the field fell in behind. Reports from the course though had Kirsty slowly pull away and we started to talk about the possibility of Kirsty breaking Kate Bevilaquaās 7:25 record at the same time wondering if she could possibly surprise everyone and actually take back her 1hr 20 minuteāish deficit and win the whole event outright.
I was at the 21k/63k timing mat putting my two cents worth of useless opinions while making sure the local school kids didnāt steal the timing mat and signage and was super excited to call Kirsty as the first runner though . It was then that we started crnching the numbers as runners,who werenāt named Tim appeared and gave me reports that the overall race leader had blown and was in total ājust get to the finish lineā mode. Speaking to his crew,they though he would be okay and hold off Kirsty for the overall win but man it ended up being close enough to make it exciting.
Tim and Kirsty ran the first marathon in 3:28 (not a chance troubling the mens run record) but by the time Kirsty started the 600meter run along Noosa Main Beach to the finish a new female record was on the cards and she took 10 minutes off Kateās old record and crossed in 7:15 becoming the 2025 womens Ultraman Australia Champion,one spot better than her last attempt here.
Meaniwhile,well and truly in the pain closet, Tim was struggling to get tp the finish having been passed by three men who were now mixing it up for the minor placings in the mens race. As we counted down the deficit between Tim and Kirsty to under 10 minutes reports that Tim had made it to beach turn and only a major incident would stop him from squaeking in for the overall win. He managed to close out the second marathon in 8:21 meaning Kirsty had taken 76 of the 82 minute deficit and her effort for the overall win fell 6 minutes short. An amazing achievement also making her the first female to cross the double marathon finish line leading the entire field. Much respect!
At the back of the race I was trying my best to ignore the 9hr cut-off at the 63K mark and let the final female though at 9:25 before the sweep team dropped by to tell me they would look after packing up from there. Leanne made it to the 10k to go timing mat at 11:29 before she was taken off the course.The second to last male was taken off course as he crossed the 63k timing mat at 10:28 and the final male some time short of reaching 63K.
In all 32 of the 41 starters officially finished with the 9 others earning their āParticipantā trophies ( they will get to speak at the awards if they wish) and it would seem that the UMOZ team have pulled off another amazing weekend for all involved.
The YouTube livestream we did was never supposed to be a ārace coverageā like you see in Ironman and other races but instead an overview of what it is like to be part of the entire weekend for racers,crew and staff. The Ultraman/Ultra515 world has been criticized for being far to insular in the way they do things and after recent events with the Ultraman brand DQāing (UMOZ is not an Ultraman brand event) their defending champion in Arizona for wanting to showcase that event and his attempt to document all of the Ultraman events this year it was decided that UMOZ would open up to not only Larry Ryan and his 515:The Ultra Podcast as host but to everyone associated with the race this year, athletes, crews past finishers, past champions and assorted relatives and friends. Everyone was welcome to join us live and post their past or ongoing experience with the Noosa race.
We had our issues during the three days but as an experiment it was a huge success and has set a platform for a whole new way of bringing these races to the triathlon public who never really get to see any coverage at all. For me,it was a bunch of fun and any time I get to spend an entire weekend with Steve King, sharing our 30 plus years of crazy and sometimes silly Ultraman stories Iāll gladly take it.
Todays awards function is something of an endurance feat in itself and I believe it too will be live streamed with all the cool and sometimes very emotional speeches from the entire field shared live for the first time.
Barefoot Sports Timing - Entry System & Race Timing Solutions - Ultraman 2025
4 Likes
Thanks for the report. It sounds like the finish was pretty exciting.
1 Like
Yep for sure,
Not as exciting as the announcement of the new UMNZ to be held in Wanaka in December 2026.
Would make for a great crew trip for your Cathy.
Thanks for the great recaps, it is nice to see that someone has taken up the mantle of this race distance and keeping it alive and relevant. I had lost all interest in the Kona race after all the shenanigans they have been pulling over the years, the series is ripe for a takeover, next big stop New Zealand!!!
1 Like
Thanks Monty,
I know the guys here at UMOZ will appreciate your comments. New Zealand should amazing and I am already in touch with the crew at Challenge Wanaka to get then to help support the new race.
Cheers
1 Like
did many of the locals know it was on and get down to watch any parts of it? we have pretty vanilla events run by big corporates down here in syd, the running fesitvals and halfs etc.
enjoyed reading along. sounds like kirsty just ran out of road to take the overall, bet tim was glad to get over the line lol!
1 Like
Canāt think of many better places in the world to suffer, thatās for sure!
1 Like
I think that would be a yes! Thatās actually one part of NZ that I have not been to.
1 Like
Lots of people drop in during day one and three as the swim ,T1 and run finish are right in front of the Noosa Surf Club Main Beach. The rest of the course is so spread out in the countryside that you really gave to be a fan.
For sure. I did Challenge Wanaka a long time ago and fell in love with the place. It is like the Kiwi version of Penticton.