A record field of 1,258 participants took to the trails along the Cape to Cape coastline in south-west Western Australia at the third annual Margaret River Ultra Marathon on Saturday 17 October, 2020.
In one of Australia's only ultra-marathons this year, Justin Scarvaci and Claire O'Brien-Smith were first across the line in the solo male and female categories respectively, after a testing, yet rewarding 80km point to point course in perfect conditions.
Scarvaci surpassed his 2019 victory by 30 minutes to set an impressive new course record time of 07:16:55.
"Conditions today were fast, but hot. I was definitely more prepared this year compared to last year, so maybe that's why I went a bit quicker," said Scarvaci.
Second place Josh Chugg didn't make it easy for Scarvaci though and pushed solidly to the finish line, also finishing under the previous course record in a time of 7:32.03.
Solo female winner O'Brien-Smith lead the women's field from start to finish, recording a terrific time of 09:14:38 but also commented on how hard the final kilometres were. "I ran the whole way but found the last 13km quite tough! My legs weren't cooperating very well by the end!" she said.
The event inspired 236 solo runners to tackle the 80km ultra running goal at the event with the reward of exclusive wine glass trophy and medal to celebrate their incredible achievement.
The remainder of the field were made up of relay teams of two to five runners divided over five legs varying between 10km and 20km in length.
Team 'Ogging Squad' with Declan Tingay, Jonathon Sammut, Nick Thompson, Justin Ghosh and Leighton Cook flew like the wind to take out the teams event, completely obliterating the former course record to finish in a time of 05:54:17.
The event was postponed from May this year to October when COVID-19 struck. The change meant that no interstate competitors could participate when normally 20 per cent of the field are from outside the state.
