Oddlet: Cliff Young · 1 min read
May 31, 2026
The Farmer Who Did Not Know
He showed up in overalls and gumboots, removed his dentures, and asked if he could run.
In May 1983, a 61-year-old potato farmer named Cliff Young turned up at the inaugural Westfield Sydney-to-Melbourne Ultramarathon in overalls and gumboots. Officials laughed. He politely insisted. They pinned a race bib to the overalls and watched him remove his dentures, because they rattled when he ran.
Then the gun went and the lycra disappeared up the road.
Cliff shuffled. By nightfall he was hours behind. The professionals pulled into their motels for the night, and Cliff, who had spent a lifetime rounding up sheep across 2,000 acres of the Otways in storms that lasted three days, did not know this was the part where you stopped. So he didn't. He shuffled through the dark, past the sleeping favourites, and by morning he was leading a race he did not know he was winning.
He ran 875 kilometres in five days, fifteen hours and four minutes, beating the record by nearly two days. At the finish line they handed him a cheque for ten thousand dollars. He looked at it for a moment. He had not known there was prize money.
He gave most of it to the other finishers.
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- Wikipedia — Cliff Young (athlete) — Comprehensive biographical entry: full name, birth/death dates and places, family details, farm size and livestock, 1983 race details (875 km, 5d 15h 4m, A$10,000 prize and its distribution), subsequent racing career (1982 Colac, 1997 around-Australia attempt, 2000 age record), Order of Australia honour in 1984, and vegetarian since 1973.
- Wikipedia — Cliff Young Australian 6-Day Race — Confirms the Colac race began in 1983 as the 'Cliff Young Colac 1000' and was renamed in 2004 after his death; corroborates the May 1983 inaugural Westfield Sydney-to-Melbourne win and Young's death on 2 November 2003 at age 81.
- Marathons.com — Cliff Young: The Ultra-Marathon Farmer — Provides the 875 km distance, finishing time of 5d 15h 4m, 10-hour margin over George Perdon, description of the Young Shuffle as a low-impact gait, his Beech Forest farm location, his attire (overalls and work boots), and several direct quotes attributed to Young.
- MedBound Times — Against All Odds: How Potato Farmer Cliff Young Shattered Age and Endurance Limits — Covers race route (Westfield Parramatta to Westfield Doncaster), 875 km distance, his attire, the Young Shuffle technique, and biographical background as a potato farmer from Beech Forest.
- Patrick Wanis — Believe It and You Will See It: Cliff Young
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