If You Think You Can't, Read This And Think Again

WRITTEN by ANNE ENSOLL

Cliff Young. You’ve almost certainly never heard of him, unless you’re Australian or an ultra-runner. He became famous for winning a 543 mile ultra-marathon in record time, without doing any special training or even wearing ‘normal’ running kit. Oh, and he was about thirty years older than the other competitors. If you’re facing a challenge that seems insurmountable, there’s a lot to be learnt from his story.

The annual 543.7 mile ultra-marathon from Sydney to Melbourne is considered among the world's most grueling ultra-marathons. It takes at least five days to complete, and those who take part are almost all world-class athletes in their prime, who have trained hard for months, and are sponsored by well-known companies.

On 27th April 1983, 61 year old Cliff Young turned up in Sydney looking like many of the other spectators, or maybe a maintenance man, in overalls and wellies. But to everyone’s amazement, he collected his race number and joined the other competitors. When he was questioned by the other athletes and members of the press, and told that there was no way he could finish the race, he replied,

"Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn't afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I'd have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I'd always catch them. I believe I can run this race."

His last act of preparation was to remove his false teeth, because he didn’t like the way they rattled when he ran. When the race began, Cliff was very quickly left behind. His unusual shuffling gait was slow and looked laborious and inefficient. And it became apparent that Cliff’s race plan was very unusual too. The pro athletes knew they needed to run about eighteen hours a day and sleep for the other six hours if they were going to finish the race in seven days. At the end of the first day, Cliff was miles behind everyone else. But when they resumed running on the second day, they found that Cliff hadn’t stopped to sleep - he had been shuffling all through the night. When asked about his tactics for the rest of the race, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping. No-one believed he could do it.

But Cliff kept running. Each night he chipped away at the gap between him and the other runners. By the final night, he had passed everyone, and he was first across the finish line. He had broken the record by almost two days, finishing in five days, fifteen hours and four minutes. Only five others completed the race.

Cliff was very surprised to be awarded the prize of $10,000. He said he didn't know there was a prize, and insisted that he did not enter for the money. He divided the money up between the other five finishers, keeping none of it for himself.

I first heard about Cliff Young when reading Finding Gobi: the true story of a little dog and an incredible journey. If you’re a doggy person, or interested in what makes us keep going when we face seemingly impossible odds, it’s a great read.

You might not be an ultra-runner, but there’s loads to learn from Cliff Young. It doesn’t matter what other people are doing or thinking. Believe in yourself even if you’re not doing it the accepted way. Good kit is often important, but it’s not everything. Whatever you’re doing, it’s about personal achievement, not about the prize.

Leave us a comment below and tell us what stands out for you from Cliff Young’s story, and what you can take away from it. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!