Under Construction

Sport - Cliff Young - The 1983 Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon

Slow and steady wins the race - Aesop - Aesop's Fables

Index

Cliff Young's background

What makes Cliff Young such a great example?

Cliff Young's background

Cliff Young was a 61-year-old farmer, who won the 864-kilometre inaugural 1983 Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon, an event that gained international fame due to Young's unique 'shuffle' running style and his strategy of running through the night while other competitors slept.

The race started at 10:30 am on Wednesday, 27 April 1983, at the Westfield shopping centre in Parramatta, Sydney, and Cliff Young arrived at the Westfield Doncaster shopping centre in Melbourne at approximately 1:25 am on Tuesday, 3 May 1983, in a time of 5 days, 15 hours, and 4 minutes. The race continued for the remaining competitors until 5 May 1983.

What makes Cliff Young such a great example?

19220208 Birth of Cliff Young

The aspects at the time of Cliff Young's birth were

Sun conjunct Venus

Sun trine Jupiter

Venus trine Jupiter

Saturn square Pluto

Uranus trine Pluto

The chart shown is Cliff Young's birthchart, repeated around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are for his birthchart.

What is particularly notable is that not only was Cliff Young born with Venus conjunct his Sun, but Jupiter was also trine both of them, which traditionally would be considered very fortunate.

19830427 Cliff Young and Start of Ultramarathon

What is particularly notable is that the oppositions and trines show where there is involvement with others, while the sextiles show more what is going on for Cliff himself.

The transits at the time Cliff Young started the race were

Transiting Earth trine Cliff Young's Mars

Transiting Mercury opposite Cliff Young's Mars

Transiting Venus sextile Cliff Young's Neptune

Transiting Mars square Cliff Young's Neptune

Transiting Jupiter square Cliff Young's Uranus

Transiting Jupiter trine Cliff Young's Chiron

Transiting Saturn trine Cliff Young's Mercury

Transiting Chiron opposite Cliff Young's Mars

Transiting Uranus sextile Cliff Young's Saturn

Transiting Uranus square Cliff Young's Uranus

Transiting Neptune sextile Cliff Young's Mercury

The chart shown is Cliff Young's birthchart, together with transits for the time he started around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and his birthchart.

19830503 Cliff Young and End of Ultramarathon

What I would point out is that by the end of the race most of the transits were the same as the start, with the exceptions being Earth, Venus and Mars - and of course this event has good timing. What we see is at some point Venus must cross Cliff's Moon, although this could be as early as the start of the race, or a a few days after it finishes. But the more outstanding transit is Mars, which reaches the square to Cliff's Sun and Venus, showing his making that difference that is the acheivement of winning, although at considerable effort, it being a square.

It is also worth noting that at the end of the race for Cliff, the Ascendant [the Earth] in Sydney, the race's starting place, was exactly conjunct his Sun and Venus.

The transits at the time Cliff Young ended the race were

Transiting Earth sextile Cliff Young's Chiron

Transiting Mercury still opposite Cliff Young's Mars

Transiting Venus perhaps conjunct Cliff Young's Moon

Transiting Mars square Cliff Young's Sun

Transiting Mars square Cliff Young's Venus

Transiting Jupiter still sextile Cliff Young's Saturn

Transiting Jupiter still square Cliff Young's Uranus

Transiting Jupiter still trine Cliff Young's Chiron

Transiting Saturn still trine Cliff Young's Mercury

Transiting Chiron still opposite Cliff Young's Mars

Transiting Uranus still sextile Cliff Young's Saturn

Transiting Uranus still square Cliff Young's Uranus

Transiting Neptune still sextile Cliff Young's Mercury

The chart shown is Cliff Young's birthchart, together with transits for the time he ended around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and his birthchart.

It is informative to contrast Cliff Young and Gustaf_Håkansson embarking on their races at good time for them, compared with matador Álvaro Múnera who couldn't have picked a worse time to go to Spain, from his perspective.