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Cliffy: The Cliff Young Story
When a 61-year-old potato farmer from Colac came out of nowhere to win the most arduous road running race ever attempted in Australia, a new national folk hero was born. A lovable farmer, a surprising athlete-a national icon?
- GenresBiography
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 22, 2013
Well researched and genuinely surprising as a story. Cliffy wasn't just a gumboot wearing caricature who could shuffle a bit. He was a genuine athlete who could run a 3.01 marathon at 59. Full of lovely detail. Who knew Cliffy had a hang gliding phase.
February 9, 2017
‘I know the others are faster than me. But I can keep in front if I keep moving.’
Albert Ernest Clifford "Cliff" Young (8 February 1922– 2 November 2003) was an unlikely Australian sporting hero. He is best known for his unexpected win (at 1.35 am on Tuesday, 3 May 1983) of the first Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultra-marathon in 1983 when he was aged 61. The Ultra-marathon was 875 km in length.
‘It took Cliff 5 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes, shattering the previous Sydney to Melbourne record by almost two days.’
The 30th anniversary of Cliff’s win is just a month away, and will be the subject of a telemovie (on the ABC, later this year). It’s a timely reminder of heroic sports achievements, especially now when the integrity of Australian sport is under the microscope. There’s no mention of peptides, steroids or any other drugs in Cliff Young’s story. A vegetarian from 1973 until his death, his performance-enhancing diet during the run consisted largely of Weet-Bix, boiled potatoes, boiled pumpkin, canned pears, and cold tinned spaghetti. No fluoro, brand-covered Lycra for Cliff either: instead he wore full-length pants to hide his varicose veins. Cliff’s shuffling gait developed as a consequence of running in gumboots: part of his training involved chasing dairy cows around the paddock at the property he lived on with his mother outside Colac in rural Victoria.
Ms Jameson also tells us that Cliffy hated running with his false teeth in (they clattered in his head) and ‘was a virgin in his sixties’. Hmm. I remember the race, and how Cliff seemed such an unlikely participant as he lined up with 10 professional marathoners at Westfield Parramatta. He was asked, at a pre-race press conference, where his gumboots were. ‘Gumboots? Bah’, Cliff said. ‘These running shoes are great. They’re so god it takes me 200m to slow down and stop.’
Ms Jameson re-creates the drama of the race, and the two very disparate running worlds inhabited by Cliff and his support team, and those of the professional runners. Cliff’s support crew was drawn from friends and relatives around Colac, and the support vehicle was a rusty panel van driven by a man known as ‘Wobbles’ because he’d suffered polio as a child.
We soon all realised that Cliff was no joke: he hit the lead within the first 24 hours and with minimal sleep moved further ahead. Interest in the race grew, and in every town after Gundagai (where he led by 40 km) Cliff was met by big crowds and rapturous applause. A police escort was required by the time he reached the outskirts of Melbourne.
After the race, Cliff became a hero for a while. He married (and five years later divorced), and continued to run. Ms Jameson writes: ‘The point is that Cliff’s was a life well-lived, even though it began at age sixty-one.’ From reading this account, it seems that Cliff spent many years finding what he was good at. He may have only been in the public spotlight for a brief period, but there was more to Cliff Young that that epic run.
I enjoyed reading Ms Jameson’s account of Cliff Young’s life. It really doesn’t feel like 30 years have elapsed since Cliff Young won the Sydney to Melbourne Ultra-marathon, and Australian won the America’s Cup. Those were the days.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Albert Ernest Clifford "Cliff" Young (8 February 1922– 2 November 2003) was an unlikely Australian sporting hero. He is best known for his unexpected win (at 1.35 am on Tuesday, 3 May 1983) of the first Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultra-marathon in 1983 when he was aged 61. The Ultra-marathon was 875 km in length.
‘It took Cliff 5 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes, shattering the previous Sydney to Melbourne record by almost two days.’
The 30th anniversary of Cliff’s win is just a month away, and will be the subject of a telemovie (on the ABC, later this year). It’s a timely reminder of heroic sports achievements, especially now when the integrity of Australian sport is under the microscope. There’s no mention of peptides, steroids or any other drugs in Cliff Young’s story. A vegetarian from 1973 until his death, his performance-enhancing diet during the run consisted largely of Weet-Bix, boiled potatoes, boiled pumpkin, canned pears, and cold tinned spaghetti. No fluoro, brand-covered Lycra for Cliff either: instead he wore full-length pants to hide his varicose veins. Cliff’s shuffling gait developed as a consequence of running in gumboots: part of his training involved chasing dairy cows around the paddock at the property he lived on with his mother outside Colac in rural Victoria.
Ms Jameson also tells us that Cliffy hated running with his false teeth in (they clattered in his head) and ‘was a virgin in his sixties’. Hmm. I remember the race, and how Cliff seemed such an unlikely participant as he lined up with 10 professional marathoners at Westfield Parramatta. He was asked, at a pre-race press conference, where his gumboots were. ‘Gumboots? Bah’, Cliff said. ‘These running shoes are great. They’re so god it takes me 200m to slow down and stop.’
Ms Jameson re-creates the drama of the race, and the two very disparate running worlds inhabited by Cliff and his support team, and those of the professional runners. Cliff’s support crew was drawn from friends and relatives around Colac, and the support vehicle was a rusty panel van driven by a man known as ‘Wobbles’ because he’d suffered polio as a child.
We soon all realised that Cliff was no joke: he hit the lead within the first 24 hours and with minimal sleep moved further ahead. Interest in the race grew, and in every town after Gundagai (where he led by 40 km) Cliff was met by big crowds and rapturous applause. A police escort was required by the time he reached the outskirts of Melbourne.
After the race, Cliff became a hero for a while. He married (and five years later divorced), and continued to run. Ms Jameson writes: ‘The point is that Cliff’s was a life well-lived, even though it began at age sixty-one.’ From reading this account, it seems that Cliff spent many years finding what he was good at. He may have only been in the public spotlight for a brief period, but there was more to Cliff Young that that epic run.
I enjoyed reading Ms Jameson’s account of Cliff Young’s life. It really doesn’t feel like 30 years have elapsed since Cliff Young won the Sydney to Melbourne Ultra-marathon, and Australian won the America’s Cup. Those were the days.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
February 5, 2016
Having recently seen the ABC telemovie of the same name, I was eager to read this book when I came across it.
It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago that a 61 year old potato farmer from Victoria won the heart of the nation when he not only "shuffled" his way from Sydney to Melbourne in Australia's first ultra marathon - but won by a huge margin. Suddenly this shy, unassuming man was thrust into the national spotlight and the legend of Cliff Young was born.
As with any overnight sensation, there were many rumours and exaggerations that abounded after Cliff's win. Chief among these was that the only training he had ever done was chasing cows on the farm in his gumboots. In reality Cliff had always been a runner, often running forty or fifty kilometres in a session and had completed other marathons before he embarked on the Sydney to Melbourne. Yet his feat was still beyond amazing, given he was so much older than the other participants and had no sophisticated running gear, sports drinks or special high energy foods (as any runner today would have). In fact he survived mainly on a diet of cold spaghetti and baked beans, pumpkin and potatoes. With his trainer believing too much water would cause a stitch, his fluid was also restricted!
This book is written simply but well and was very engaging right from the start. I enjoyed learning of Cliff's background and was interested in his life experiences (which were more varied than I realised). Having served in World War Two (although he did not leave Australia), Cliff regularly left the harsh winters in Victoria to find work in the tropical north before migrating back home around spring.
It was quite amusing to read just how disorganised the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne race was and how "dangerous" by today's standards. Back then the Hume Highway was mainly a two lane road and as the main thoroughfare between Sydney and Melbourne, hundreds of trucks rumbled along it every day. Yet the runners had no safety gear - no high visibility vests or any kind of barrier between them and the oncoming traffic. In fact Cliff was almost hit by a truck as he made his way from the Westfield Shopping Centre where the race began! There were no official checkpoints and the runners were on the honour system, with race officials having no way of knowing that they had officially completed the distance. It was a reminder of just how things have changed in the past three decades and gave rise to a feeling of nostalgia.
The book also touches on the post race years - Cliff's brief marriage to the much younger Mary and further attempts to run other ultra marathons. Although motivated, Cliff never managed to recapture the 1983 experience.
All in all this is a wonderful tribute to a humble, unassuming man who proved you are never too old to chase a dream or inspire others to do the same.
It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago that a 61 year old potato farmer from Victoria won the heart of the nation when he not only "shuffled" his way from Sydney to Melbourne in Australia's first ultra marathon - but won by a huge margin. Suddenly this shy, unassuming man was thrust into the national spotlight and the legend of Cliff Young was born.
As with any overnight sensation, there were many rumours and exaggerations that abounded after Cliff's win. Chief among these was that the only training he had ever done was chasing cows on the farm in his gumboots. In reality Cliff had always been a runner, often running forty or fifty kilometres in a session and had completed other marathons before he embarked on the Sydney to Melbourne. Yet his feat was still beyond amazing, given he was so much older than the other participants and had no sophisticated running gear, sports drinks or special high energy foods (as any runner today would have). In fact he survived mainly on a diet of cold spaghetti and baked beans, pumpkin and potatoes. With his trainer believing too much water would cause a stitch, his fluid was also restricted!
This book is written simply but well and was very engaging right from the start. I enjoyed learning of Cliff's background and was interested in his life experiences (which were more varied than I realised). Having served in World War Two (although he did not leave Australia), Cliff regularly left the harsh winters in Victoria to find work in the tropical north before migrating back home around spring.
It was quite amusing to read just how disorganised the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne race was and how "dangerous" by today's standards. Back then the Hume Highway was mainly a two lane road and as the main thoroughfare between Sydney and Melbourne, hundreds of trucks rumbled along it every day. Yet the runners had no safety gear - no high visibility vests or any kind of barrier between them and the oncoming traffic. In fact Cliff was almost hit by a truck as he made his way from the Westfield Shopping Centre where the race began! There were no official checkpoints and the runners were on the honour system, with race officials having no way of knowing that they had officially completed the distance. It was a reminder of just how things have changed in the past three decades and gave rise to a feeling of nostalgia.
The book also touches on the post race years - Cliff's brief marriage to the much younger Mary and further attempts to run other ultra marathons. Although motivated, Cliff never managed to recapture the 1983 experience.
All in all this is a wonderful tribute to a humble, unassuming man who proved you are never too old to chase a dream or inspire others to do the same.
April 1, 2013
Those of us who remember Cliff Young can remember the feeling of elation we had when this 61 year old potato farmer shuffled his way to victory in 1983. Jameson reminds us of that great race and tells us about the rise and fall of an unlikely sports star.
October 10, 2018
Love this book. Such an amazing story of a great runner and inspirational to all of us in our second half of life!
January 31, 2014
Cliff Young lived a relatively quiet life for his first sixty one years. A potato farmer from rural Victoria he worked hard on the family farm, was a supportive brother, son and uncle and liked to run in his spare time. Not just casual jogs, but twenty or thirty kilometres at a time. Although he had entered a few races and had even run a marathon or two he was still considered a very outside chance, a joke even, when he entered the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne ultra-marathon in 1983. Yet in less than a week he was to prove not only other race goers but the whole of Australia wrong.
Cliff went into the race without much specific planning beyond running as far as he could each day. With his family along as his support crew he made do with basic meals like tinned spaghetti and pumpkin and ran in his customary tracksuit pants and regular sneakers. Unassuming by nature Cliff couldn't believe the amount of public support that came his way as the race progressed and it became clear he was going to win.
This is an easy to read book that concentrates mainly on the Sydney to Melbourne race, but also touches on earlier periods of Cliff's life, including his army service during world war two and his regular jaunts to the warmer weather of Queensland during the harsh Victorian winters. It also follows his marriage to the much younger Mary after the race and how they struggled at times to cope with the public exposure that followed Cliff.
I thought this was a great tribute to Cliff Young and the extraordinary feat he accomplished at an age when most of us are considering retirement. Simply told it is also a very inspirational story that shows very clearly that age is no barrier to achieving anything you want to in life.
Cliff went into the race without much specific planning beyond running as far as he could each day. With his family along as his support crew he made do with basic meals like tinned spaghetti and pumpkin and ran in his customary tracksuit pants and regular sneakers. Unassuming by nature Cliff couldn't believe the amount of public support that came his way as the race progressed and it became clear he was going to win.
This is an easy to read book that concentrates mainly on the Sydney to Melbourne race, but also touches on earlier periods of Cliff's life, including his army service during world war two and his regular jaunts to the warmer weather of Queensland during the harsh Victorian winters. It also follows his marriage to the much younger Mary after the race and how they struggled at times to cope with the public exposure that followed Cliff.
I thought this was a great tribute to Cliff Young and the extraordinary feat he accomplished at an age when most of us are considering retirement. Simply told it is also a very inspirational story that shows very clearly that age is no barrier to achieving anything you want to in life.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews