Folk heroes come from the most unlikely of quarters. Albert Ernest Clifford “Cliff” Young, a potato farmer from Colac, in rural Victoria, Australia, was one such bloke. Only, Young was as un-Australian as they come – a vegetarian and a teetotaller.

‘Cliffy’ is a feelgood tale of this salt-of-the-earth Aussie’s journey from utter unknown to national hero. Cliff Young was the winner of the first Sydney-Melbourne Ultra Marathon, back in 1983. The tele-movie, released this year to mark 30 years of a feat that still warms the heart, is an affable movie about an affable man. Cliff, not surprisingly, became the toast of a nation, earning words of commendation from (besides others) then Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and also winning the Medal of the Order of Australia.