Our Marathon Man!  

As reported in the Mercury,  Ben Hirst (SVC 2001-04) is the race ambassador for the Devil’s Lair Front Yard Ultra which will take place at the Peter Murrell Reserve in Blackmans Bay in December.

A ‘backyard’ ultra is an ultra-marathon race where competitors must consecutively run a 6.7km course in less than an hour until there is only one runner ‘left standing’.

Once each lap is complete the runners use the remaining time within the hour to recover before the next lap begins on the hour.

The demanding event often last upwards of 30 hours / laps is a gruelling test of fitness and determination.

This is the first time this event has been held in Tasmania.  Ben, 33, has already competed in this type of event eight times – on the mainland.  He is very keen to win the inaugural Tasmanian event!

OVAtions has recorded the following previous big efforts by Ben:

• 2016  -  Ran from Burnie to Hobart (340 Km ) over a four day period.
• 2018   - Ran for 48 hours on a treadmill covering the equivalent of 272.3 km – with only one power nap of 20 minutes and half a dozen toilet breaks.
• 2019   -  Ben ran 2348 laps of the playing field at GYC Barrack St (330m lap).  The significance of the 2348 – this was the number of male suicides in Australia in 2017.

Through all of the above, Ben raised a considerable amount of money for the Speak Up! Stay ChatTY Foundation.  Ben works as a counsellor at Relationships Australia along with Mitch McPherson (SVC 2000-2003), the founder of Stay ChatTY.