Service: Army – 1 Royal Australian Engineers Training Battalion
Service number: VX117450
Locality on Enlistment: Beech Forest
Duration of Service: 28 Aug 1942 – 3 Jan 1945
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 8 Feb 1922 Beech Forest
Parents: Albert Ernest YOUNG and Mary Isabella THOMSON
Spouse: Mary HOWELL
School/s:
Occupation: Farmer, Athlete
Date and Place of Death: 2 Nov 2003, Beerwah Queensland
Place of Burial: Colac Cemetery
NOTES: Albert Ernest Clifford `Cliff` Young was a potato farmer and athlete. He lived at the family home in Beech Forest with his mother and brother Sid. Cliff spent just over 2 years as a Sapper in the Royal Australian Engineers during WW2. Cliff is best noted for his unexpected Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultra Marathon win (875 kilometres), in 1983 at 61 years of age. Cliff trained for the race by running in gumboots on his property and is renowned for his ungainly running style. He ran at a slow loping pace and trailed the leaders for most of the course, but by denying himself sleep and running while the others slept, he slowly gained on them and eventually won by a large margin. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (MOA) “for long distance running”. A memorial in the shape of a gumboot in Beech Forest is dedicated to him.