Deborah De Williams Explained

Deborah De Williams
Birth Name:Deborah Anne Cook
Birth Date:1969 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Perth, Western Australia
Nationality:Australian
Known For:First woman to walk around Australia
First woman to run around Australia
Occupation:Ultra-marathon athlete
Alma Mater:Monash University

Deborah Anne De Williams (born 10 September 1969) is an Australian ultra-marathon athlete. She is the first woman to walk around Australia and the first woman to run around Australia.

Biography

Deborah De Williams was born in Perth, Western Australia. In 1997, De Williams graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts). In the same year she married Glyn Martin Williams and changed her surname to De Williams.

In 2001, De Williams participated in her first ultra marathon. In Oct 2004, De Williams became the first female to walk around Australia[1] raising funds for Kids Helpline and broke Nobby Young's record for the longest continuous walk, walking 16,825 km in 365 days. In March 2006, the same day De Williams ran in the Commonwealth Games Queen Baton Relay in Melbourne[2] she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After treatment, De Williams founded the charity Running Pink and embarked on another circumnavigation of Australia on foot,[3] to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

In May 2011, De Williams became the first female to run non-continuously around Australia. She broke Sarah Fulcher's record for the longest continuous run across Australia from Bondi to Perth by a female,[4] running 18026.4 km in 408 days.[5] De Williams is the only person who has both run and walked around Australia.

In Nov 2010, De Williams was awarded Tasmanian Australian of the Year 2010[6] by the National Australia Day Council for her athletic achievements and fundraising efforts. In Jan 2015, De Williams was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia, for significant service to the community through contributions to a range of cancer support organisations, and to ultra marathon running.

Walking

On 17 October 2003, De Williams left Melbourne, Victoria to attempt to become the first female to walk around Australia and to break the longest continuous walk record set by Nobby Young in 1993/1994. Under the rules of the continuous walk record, the athlete must travel the whole distance on foot, and must walk every day, with a minimum daily requirement of 20 kilometres.[7] During her walk,[8] De Williams walked in a clockwise direction, mainly following the National Highway 1, route. On 23 September 2004, at 4.45am (AEST), in Martin Place, Sydney, De Williams after walking 15,644 km in 343 days broke Nobby Young's previous 1994 record for the longest continuous walk.[9] De Williams continued to walk back to Melbourne where on 15 October 2004, after walking 16,925 km in 365 days, De Williams established a new world walk record and become the first female to walk continuously around Australia.[10]

Running

On 25 October 2008, De Williams set out from Hobart, Tasmania to run continuously around Australia and to break Sarah Fulcher's record for the longest continuous run by a female.[11] [12] Under the rules of the continuous run record, the athlete must travel the whole distance on foot and is required to run every day, no days off, with a minimum daily requirement of 20 kilometres. During her run,[13] De Williams ran in an anti-clockwise direction, mainly following the National Highway 1. The run raised funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.[14] After tripping and sustaining an injury to her feet, on 6 June 2009 at GPS co-ordinates S 13° 03.130' E 131°06.663', De Williams ended her attempt to run around Australia after 224 days and 10,824.8 km.[15] De Williams had raised over $100,000 for the National Breast Cancer foundation and became the first female to run from Hobart to Darwin.[16] [17]

On 27 March 2010, after recovering from surgery to both feet, De Williams started her second attempt from Hobart. De Williams ran in the opposite direction from her first attempt, travelling clockwise through Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.[18] On 4 October 2010, at 5.35am (ACST) after running 192 days and 8839.4 km De Williams reached GPS co-ordinates S 13° 03.130' E 131°06.663' the point where she had abandoned her run in 2009.[19] At this point De Williams became the first female to run the around Australia, non–continuously.[20] [21] [22] De Williams continued back down the east coast of Australia, along the same route she travelled on her first attempt.[23] [24] During her run De Williams experienced extreme heat, a tropical cyclone[25] on Christmas Day 2010 in Townsville and the 2010-2011 Queensland Floods.[26] On 6 May 2011, at 1.12pm (AEST) after running 17925 km in 405 days, at GPS co-ordinates S 42° 46.435' E 147°07.591', De Williams broke Sarah Fulcher's 21-year record for the longest continuous run by a female.[27] [28] De Williams ran a total of 18026.4 km in 408 days to achieve a new record for the longest non-continuous run by a female and is also the first female to run non-continuously around Australia.[29] [30] [31] [32] The first woman to continuously run around Australia with a distance of 14,772km, averaging 63.2 km per day over 238 days was Sarah Mycroft for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) on 26th November 2010.[33]

During both attempts to run around Australia, De Williams raised over $200,000 for breast cancer research.[34]

Local government

De Williams was elected to Sorell Council in 2014, and has served as a sitting councilor since. She had a code of conduct complaint upheld against her in 2020.[35]

Other achievements

References

Sarah Mycroft completes run around Australia 26 Nov 2010 in 238 days.https://www.smh.com.au/national/mum-finishes-charity-run-around-australia-20101127-18b5q.html

Deborah De-Williams non-continuous run around Australia - 2 legs completed March 2011 in 408 days.https://cms.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/deborah-de-williams#:~:text=Deborah%20De%20Williams%20is%20the,non%2Dcontinuous%20lap%20around%20Australia.

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Rachel. Wells. March ends in October – after 365 days on the trot. The Age. 16 October 2004.
  2. News: Our Baton Heroes. Herald Sun. 16 March 2006. 8 May 2012. 11 May 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200511072409/http://www.newstext.com.au/support/db.asp?doc=DHS-20060316-1-061-4211580V6%40VIC-METRO-2006-2005&k2docdate=16%2F03%2F2006&querytext=%28deborah+de+williams%29+%3CAND%3E+%28PUB%3DDHS%29+%3CAND%3E+%28%28SDate%3E%3D03%2F5%2F2002%29%29&Auth=1&site=ALL&Pick=ONE&dtype=4&v=1. dead.
  3. Morley. Harriet. Heroes of Running. Runner's World Magazine. February 2010.
  4. Book: Morris, David Burl . Sarah's Long Run . Crazy Feathers Publishing . Jamestown, North Carolina . 978-0-615-48216-3.
  5. News: Vowles. Gill. Marathon of joy and pain. The Mercury. 12 May 2010.
  6. Web site: Australian Day Council, November 2010, Media release . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120316230642/http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/?m=deborah-dewilliams-2011 . 16 March 2012.
  7. Web site: Walk around Australia – Journey for kids - walk itinerary . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120321170250/http://www.walkaroundoz.org.au/itinerary.asp . 21 March 2012.
  8. Web site: About Deborah De Williams & the walk around Australia . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120321170326/http://www.walkaroundoz.org.au/thejourney.asp . 21 March 2012.
  9. News: Walking Record Broke. Sydney Morning Herald. 23 September 2004.
  10. News: Walk on the Wild Side. Herald Sun. 15 October 2004.
  11. News: Deery. Shannon. effort for cancer aid. Herald Sun. 14 December 2008.
  12. Burdon. Hilary. Running For Pink. Tasmanian Life Lifestyle Magazine. November–December 2008.
  13. Web site: About Us .
  14. Carter. Matt. Round Oz Epics. Outer Edge Magazine. April–May 2009.
  15. News: Barry. Evonne. Busted Feet, No worries?. Herald Sun. 6 April 2010.
  16. Web site: Essam. Phil. Deb De Williams stops run around Australia attempt. 28 June 2009.
  17. News: Henke . Fran . Deborah takes a break . https://archive.today/20120731010631/http://www.frankstonweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/deborah-takes-a-break/1641762.aspx . dead . 31 July 2012 . Frankston Weekly . 6 October 2009 .
  18. Web site: Deborah De Williams World Record Run Around Australia - itinerary .
  19. Web site: Deborah De Williams runs around Australia RunningPink1. . 4 October 2010.
  20. News: Betts. Alyssa. Step aside Forrest Gump. https://archive.today/20120904145350/http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/10/07/185031_ntnews.html. dead. 4 September 2012. Northern Territory News. 7 October 2010.
  21. Web site: Gazlett. Deborah De Williams runs around Australia RunningPink2. .
  22. News: Deb's record run for breast cancer . Sunrise . 6 October 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111103031059/http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/factsheets/article/-/8077802/debs-record-run-for-breast-cancer/ . 3 November 2011.
  23. News: Tennant Creek to Darwin . Making Tracks, Episode 7, Channel 10 . 8 January 2011 . dead . https://archive.today/20120804121216/http://www.makingtracks.tv/episodes/season-one/episode-7/ . 4 August 2012.
  24. News: Schmidt. Lucinda. Money Section Profile: Deborah De Williams. The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 March 2011.
  25. News: Stafford. Lizzie. Running into the Record Books. The Courier Mail. 10 February 2011.
  26. News: Wilson. Rae. Flood tale touches runners heart. Sunshine Coast Daily. 4 February 2011.
  27. News: Richards. Blair. A fund of Good Feeling. https://archive.today/20120911203528/http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/05/01/226641_tasmania-news.html. dead. 11 September 2012. The Mercury. 1 May 2010.
  28. News: Hope. Emma. Fund run world record. https://archive.today/20121230205923/http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/05/07/227951_tasmania-news.html. dead. 30 December 2012. The Mercury. 7 May 2010.
  29. Web site: Deborah De Williams . . 30 April 2024.
  30. News: Woman of Courage - Record breaking runner. Sunrise. 9 May 2011.
  31. Norris. Megan. I ran around Australia. New Idea Magazine. October 2011.
  32. Book: Norris, Megan. Pink: The Deborah De Williams Story. 2012. Five Mile Press. 9781743006894.
  33. News: Mum finishes charity run around australia. 27 Nov 2010. Sydney Morning Herald.
  34. Williams. Sue. Triumph over Adversity. Pink Magazine. October 2010.
  35. News: Sorell Councillor Deborah de Williams calls out code of conduct process after tea room complaint was upheld against her . 23 June 2022 . News Corp.
  36. Web site: Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team Australia. Sri Chinmoy 12-Hour Results 2005.
  37. Web site: Bruny Island Ultra Marathon - Solo Hall of Fame. 8 May 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130517103658/http://brunyislandultra.blogspot.com.au/. 17 May 2013. dead.
  38. Web site: AURA – Australian Records . ultra marathon association . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120606143050/http://www.aura.asn.au/records.html . 6 June 2012.
  39. Web site: Skvaril. Vlastik. Ultra marathon with purpose – Run around Tasmania. 25 April 2007.
  40. Web site: Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division. https://web.archive.org/web/20150128114017/http://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/ad/ad2015/Media%20Notes%20-%20AM%20(A-L).pdf. dead. 28 January 2015. 25. Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia. 26 January 2015. 27 January 2015.
  41. News: Australia Day 2015: Deborah Anne De Williams AM. The Mercury. 26 January 2015. 26 January 2015. 28 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150128155835/http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/australia-day-2015-deborah-anne-de-williams-am/story-fnj4f7k1-1227196256525. dead.
  42. Web site: Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women . Tasmanian Government Department of Premier and Cabinet. 17 August 2017.
  43. News: Tassie Heroes' Time to Shine. https://archive.today/20121231020631/http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/09/04/358651_most-popular-stories.html. dead. 31 December 2012. The Mercury. 4 September 2012. 13 September 2012.
  44. News: National Breast Cancer Foundation, 2011 Patron's Awards . Media Release . March 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120425020258/http://www.nbcf.org.au/content/upload/files/home/NBCF_Patron_Awards_for_2011.pdf . 25 April 2012.
  45. Reinhold . Leigh . Australia's next national Living Treasures . Woman's Day . 30 January 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120502194226/http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/celebrity/celebrityprofiles/8406132/deborah-de-williams . 2 May 2012.
  46. Web site: Community Achievement Awards . 9 August 2018 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120513121141/http://www.awardsaustralia.com/CAA_tas_win11.html . 13 May 2012.
  47. News: Nomination. Examiner Newspaper. 17 June 2011. 9 August 2018.
  48. News: Caruana . Patrick . De Williams A Tireless Campaigner . https://archive.today/20120719061011/http://www.australianews.com.au/story?cityid=d1de82e1-fce9-4f45-9541-79d83e888155&storyid=ce2126d7-8dcb-474d-bcda-b17175f37d56 . dead . 19 July 2012 . Australian Associated Press . 19 January 2011 .
  49. Web site: The 19th Cliff Young Australian 6-Day Race. World Run Project. 9 August 2018.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Deborah De Williams".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.