Cliff Young

Albert Ernest Clifford Young OAM (8 February 1922 ) was an Australian

Early life Young was born the eldest son and the third of seven children of Mary and Albert Ernest Young on 8 February 1922. He grew up on a farm in Beech Forest in southwestern Victoria. As a child, Young helped to round up the stock on foot, as the family were very poor during the Great Depression and could not afford horses.

Running and ultramarathons In 1979, at the age of 56, he competed in the Adidas Sun Superun race which crossed the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne. He ran the race at a very respectable 64 minutes and was interviewed by the media.

Cliff then ran the Melbourne Marathon with a time of 3:21:41 in 1979. He would go on to compete in 1980, 1981, and 1982, setting a personal best of 3:02:53 in 1980, aged 58.

In late 1982, after training for months around the Otway Ranges, Young attempted to break New Zealander Siegfried "Ziggy" Bauer's then world record for of 11 days and 23 hours. The attempt took place in Colac's Memorial Square. Young had to abandon the world record attempt just after halfway at . Reflecting on the failed attempt, Young wrote that he and his support team were inexperienced and ill-prepared. Young arrived to compete in overalls and work boots (though he ran the race in a new pair of runners somebody gave him), without his dentures (later saying that they rattled when he ran). He ran at a slow and loping pace and trailed the pack by a large margin at the end of the first day. While the other competitors stopped to sleep for six hours, Young mistakenly woke up at 2 am, several hours earlier than intended, and began running, taking the lead while the other runners slept. Young then decided to avoid sleep as a strategy, and finished the rest of the race without sleeping at all, eventually finishing in 1st place 10 hours faster than the runner who came in second.

Before running the race, he had told the press that he had previously run for two to three days straight rounding up sheep in gumboots. He said afterwards that during the race he imagined he was running after sheep trying to outrun a storm. The Westfield run took him five days, fifteen hours and four minutes, Despite attempting the event again in later years, Young was unable to repeat this performance or claim victory again.

In 1997, at age 75,

In 2000, Young achieved a world age record in a six-day race in Victoria. He lived at the family home with his mother and brother Sid. Cliff had never married, but after the 1983 race, at 62 years of age, he married 23-year-old Mary Howell. The race sponsor, Westfield, hosted the wedding for the entertainment of shoppers. Renowned for his ungainly running style, Young ran more than 20,000 kilometres during his competitive career.

Cliffy (2013 film) ABC1 broadcast Cliffy, a movie about Young's victorious 1983 run. The film starred Kevin Harrington as Young, with his race support team played by Roy Billing as his coach Wally, and Joshua Hine as Paul. Krew Boylan featured as Mary Howell. Young's mother and sister Eunice were played by former A Country Practice stars Joan Sydney and Anne Tenney.

Cast Kevin Harrington as Cliff Young Roy Billing as Wally Joshua Hine as Paul Krew Boylan as Mary Howell Joan Sydney as Mum Anne Tenney as Eunice Martin Sacks as Sid Denise Roberts as Molly Stephen Curry as Griffin Gyton Grantley as Powell Marty Fields as Ted Spencer McLaren as Race Official Peter Cousens as TV host

Prisoner Cell Block H TV drama Young also appeared briefly as himself in one episode (No. 479) of the television drama Prisoner: Cell Block H. He was there as a special guest to support the prisoners who were completing a dance marathon world record attempt as part of a storyline to raise money for a children's deaf charity.