The man was an Australian by the name of Albert Ernest Clifford “Cliff” Young, who decided
to take up running as a sport at the age of 57.
The competition was the Westfield run, which is an ultra-marathon that takes place in Australia.
The race is 543.7 miles long (875 km) and is run from Sydney to Melbourne.
What’s even more impressive than a 61 year old potato and sheep farmer even being able
to complete such a race in the allotted time is that, he not only won, but shattered the
world record for that distance, beating it by over two days.
Young showed up at the event on April 27, 1983 wearing overalls and gumboots, though
he later used ten pairs of shoes during the event.
His running style, like his attire, was also very unconventional, being more of a shuffle
than a run.
In the beginning, the other runners easily took the lead with Young and his slow shuffling
style lagging behind.
However, unlike the other runners, Young didn’t plan on sleeping much throughout the event.
Most runners planned a schedule of about 18 hours running / 6 hours sleeping.
Young, however, didn’t feel sleep was necessary because, in his youth, he’d herded about
2000 sheep on a 2000 acre farm (about 3.12 square miles).
Occasionally that would mean rounding them up by literally chasing them around for two
or three days straight with no sleep and constant running.
In his own words:
“See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the
whole time I was growing up– until about four years ago when we finally made some money
and got a four wheeler– whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round
up the sheep.
We had 2,000 head, and we have 2,000 acres.
Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days.
It took a long time, but I’d catch them.
I believe I can run this race; it’s only two more days.
Five days.
I’ve run sheep for three.”
Indeed, after the race, Young told the press he kept himself motivated and focused by imagining
there was a storm coming and he was just rounding up sheep before it came.
He did, however, sleep some during the race.
On the first day, he fell and injured his shoulder and decided to take some rest.
However, due to one of his crew members not wearing his contacts when he set the alarm
to wake Young up, Young ended up only sleeping two hours the first night and was up and running
after that.
In the end, he completed the 543.7 mile long ultra-marathon in just five days, fifteen
hours, and four minutes, while only sleeping for a little over 12 hours during that span.
When he won, Young earned a grand prize for the event of $10,000.
Young lived on a modest income of around $2000 per year and didn’t feel he needed any more
money than that, so rather than keeping the winnings for himself, he split the money with
certain others in the race and his support crew.
After the presentation of the prize, his legs gave out and he had to be carried off the
stage.
A bed was then setup for him at the shopping center which was the destination of the race
and he slept there for just five hours, followed by eating three plates of eggs and toast and
spending the following day giving interviews.
Young again competed in the race in 1984, but due to injuring his left knee a couple
weeks before the race and displacing his hip during the race, he couldn’t keep up with
the front of the pack, led by 28 year old now legendary ultra-marathoner Yiannis Kouros.
Despite both of these injuries, Young still managed to finish seventh out of the nine
who ultimately were able to complete the event.
He entered the competition for the third time the following year, but was forced to dropout
due to pleurisy (inflammation of the lung tissue) and pneumonia.
He spent a week in the hospital following this before being allowed to go home.
As a courtesy, Westfield hired a car to drive him all the way back to Colac after he was
released from the hospital.
Even though he was 61 at the time, Young still lived at home with his mother and was reportedly
still a virgin to boot.
This changed pretty quickly, though.
While he didn’t use his new celebrity status for much monetary gain, he did receive the
benefit of finding a wife, Mary Howell, a woman under half his age.
She later became his crew manager, though this backfired on him in the 1984 race when
her inexperience caused the crew to lose him at one point, resulting in a long stretch
where he had no water or food.
This compounded on the knee and hip injury to contribute to his inability to keep up
with the leaders that year.
Young’s first race wasn’t actually the Westfield run, but an attempt a year earlier
to break Siggy Bauer’s world record of 1,000 miles in 11 days and 23 hours.
He failed in his bid though, quitting after 500 miles and stating that he and his support
staff had been grossly inexperienced for attempting something like that, which resulted in them
being unprepared for what was needed.
While he didn’t manage the 1000 mile record at the age of 60, at the age of 76, he did
attempt to break Ron Grant’s record in running around Australia, which is about a 10,000
mile run.
He attempted this to try to raise money for homeless children.
Somewhat humorously, his failed attempt in this case was not because of him, but because
the one and only member of his support staff became severely ill.
Before this happened, though, Young had managed to cover a little over 4,000 miles of the
run.
About a year after this failed attempt to run around Australia, Young began having health
problems that lasted about five years and ultimately resulted in his death at the age
of 81 from cancer on November 2, 2003.
Remarkably, all six of Young’s brothers and sisters were still alive when he died,
even though they all themselves were quite old: Anne, 85; Helen, 83; Margaret, 79; Barry
77; Eunice, 75; and Sid, 73.
As one of his sisters stated upon his death: “He is the first of us to go, but then he
was always on the go.”
Ultra-marathons take place nearly everywhere on Earth, including Antarctica.
The biggest one held in Antarctica is actually part of a larger “Four Deserts” race.
The event begins in Atacama Crossing in Chile, which is among the driest places on Earth,
comprising mostly of salt lakes, volcanoes, and sand dunes.
Not only is the desert brutal, but it is at an altitude of 8000 feet.
The next stage of the race is in Gobi, China.
This is among the hottest places in China and the race covers sand dunes, dangerous
water crossings, and steep hills.
The third stage of the race is in the Sahara desert, in Egypt.
The daytime temperature during this stage can reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
The fourth and final stage of this race is in Antarctica.
The temperatures here are often below 0 degrees Fahrenheit and the course and time of events
varies greatly from day to day based on environmental conditions.