The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race

Cliffyoung1983.Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world's most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event.

In 1983, a man named Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone's shock, Cliff wasn't a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners.

The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, "You're crazy, there's no way you can finish this race." To which 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."

When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff didn't even run properly; he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer's safety.

All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours. The thing is, Cliff Young didn't know that!

When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued jogging all night.

Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone's disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.

Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.

When Cliff was awarded the winning 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 ended up giving all of his winnings to several other runners, an act that endeared him to all of Australia.

EYES THREW A DOG!!


I would have to say the day started off sad!!!!
I was just a puppy when I was taken from my momma. I was then put in a big car with a guy I was really just wondering what was going on, didn't know where I was going at all. Then we stop then a girl gets in and just starts to scream and hold me and squeeze me to death! She was so excited to see me it was as if she knew me. On the way to our home I think that is where we were going she was just holding me telling me how cute I was. Soon as we got there there was food and toys and a cat she was really mean to me we fought a couple of times. It was really starting to hurt because she would tug on my ears. But now that I am all grown up I am able to kick her butt but I don't. So now she is not there anymore. I just remember the first day I was with my owners and how much love they showed me and I love them for it.