Atkinson wins 200-mile Delirious WEST epic as Denmark’s Winter is sixth woman; Kylie Bell fifth in 100-miler

You probably have to be delirious even to start the race, but 32 runners ran through the night and across challenging terrain to complete the 200-mile ultramarathon Delirious WEST, which finished in Albany on April 12.

Only 18 of the 50 starters failed to finish after setting off from Northcliffe on April 8, with another 47 completing the 100-mile course, snatching rest and snacks whenever they could in a personal challenge for the ages.

The race takes in sand, bush tracks, forest tracks and a jet ski ride across the water at Peaceful Bay before heading to Muttonbird and Lights beaches and a finish in Albany.

Home first in the 200-mile epic was Queenslander Chris Atkinson, just over four hours ahead of WA’s first man home, Perth’s Kevin Matthews.

Atkinson crossed the line at 2.30am on April 11 after taking two days, 19 hours and 30 minutes to reach the South Coast Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade base on Frenchman Bay Road.

Mathews completed the job in 2d. 23hr. 47min. 35sec. reaching the finish line at 6.47am on April 11.

The first woman was South African Carien Du Toit, who was third overall in 3:02:01.34, less than three hours behind the runner-up in a mammoth effort.

Denmark’s Becky Winter completed the 200 miles in 18th place overall, and as the sixth woman to finish.

Her time was 4:01:44.00, reaching the finish line on Sunday, April 12 at 8.44am.

She covered 88.6km on the first day, moving for almost 16 hours, and followed that effort by completing 77.99km on day two, stopping for less than an hour along the way.

A stint of more than 18 hours on the move on day three covered 71km, leaving her with 30km to complete the challenge on day four.

The top six finishers in the 100-miler were all from WA, with Justin Mulhair leading them home in 1:00:32.04, just under two hours ahead of Shane Aris, whose time was 1:02:19.42.

Dominic Mattes was third home five hours later, arriving on the morning of April 11 at 2.30am.

Bekka Staal was the first woman, and fifth overall, with a time of 1:08:25.37.

Albany’s Kylie Bell was the fifth female finisher, and 12th overall.

She took 01:11:27.23 and crossed the finish line at 6.27am on April 11.

The oldest competitor in the field was Albany’s Sue Robertson, who came 34th in the 100-miler, finishing in 2:02:08.01.