May, 2003 - ACT Veterans Athletics Club

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Page 24— May VetrunnerI received a note with my pay slipasking if anyone would be interested inparticipating in a 24 hour Relay for Lifein aid of cancer. As my company wouldbe mainly walking I thought oforganising a Vets team of runners.Asking people at Vets track and fieldthe response was very pleasing with atleast 10 people showing real interest.With only three weeks to the run I madecontact with the ACT Cancer Council fordetails of the event. The relay started at6pm on Friday, March 27 and finished6pm on Saturday, March 28. 10 to 15runners would be needed and pay$11.00 each and try to raise sponsorshipmoney. I finally ended up with 21runners. I thought I would have troublegetting runners for the very late andearly hours but no trouble at all.The big day arrived. Up at 5am forwork and finishing at 2pm, home for ashower, load the car with air mattress,sleeping bag, table and chairs andrunning gear, food and drinks arrivingat the AIS track at 4pm. Next to erectthe Vets tent on the infield. Twomembers of another team helped meerect the tent for which I was verygrateful just in time as it started tosprinkle. The AIS track was coveredwith tents of the 40 odd teams.At 6pm a few speeches then thecancer survivors walk a lap of the trackthen the relay starts. Our first runnerwas M50 Trevor Jacobs running at afairly easy pace until passed by anotherrunner. Trevor then left him in his dust.Trevor ran for 44 minute covering 26laps. Next was W50 Maureen Rossiterrunning from 7pm till 7.30pm covering16 laps, a great effort and the most lapsshe has ever run on the track. W65 CoryCollins was up next from 7.30pm till8pm covering 12 laps being very happywith her run. The very fast M45Michael Leahey ran from 8pm till9.30pm covering a total of 55 laps.Michael provided two cartons ofGatorade, which was very welcome.Then it was the first of my four runsfrom 9.30pm till 10pm. I managed 17laps. Next was 'ironman' M40 MickCorlis running from 10pm till midnight(two hours), 19 laps first 30 minutes, 19laps, 2nd 30 minutes, 17 laps 3rd 30minutes. Mick, not well before the startof his run began to slow a great dealcovering onl y 14 laps in the final 30minutes “for a total of 69 laps” lookingvery unwell and of much concern. Nextwas W35 Lisa Wilson running from12am till 12.30am covering 16 laps. Myturn again from 12.30am till 1amcovering 17 laps again. Lisa ran again“RUN FOR LIFE”By Jim Whitefrom 1am till 1.30am this time covering15 laps. My turn again from 1.30am to2am, eight laps into my run my rightknee stared to hurt pretty badly so I hadto back off a bit but still managed 15laps.2am it was time for the very fastmiddle distance runner M40 JohnMorton. Running from 2am till 3amJohn covered 33 laps. 3am till 4am M40Mick Horan covered 33 laps. M55 KenEynon running for 90 minutes from 5amtill 5.30am managed 49 laps. My timeagain 5.30am till 6am, three laps intomy run I experienced a very bad pain inmy right knee but needed to keep goingto allow Mick as much rest as possible. Icovered a very painful 15 laps, for atotal of 64 laps. Mick Corlis was going torun a second two-hour stint from 6amtill 8am. Very worried team memberswatched as he ran. 17 laps first 30minutes, 17 laps 2nd 30 minutes, thenafter another 10 laps cannot continue soKen Eynon 14 laps, then Mick Horan 9laps completed Mick’s run. In his tworuns Mick Corils covered 113 laps(45.4km). M40 Craig Wisdom ran from8am till 9am covering 18 laps first 30minutes then 20 laps for the second 30minutes for a total of 38 laps. Great runCraig. W60 Val Chesterton ran from9am till 9.30am covering 10 laps. Racewalker M60 Robin Whyte from 9.30amto 10am walked a fantastic 14 laps.10am till 10.30am Val Chesterton ranand race-walked another 10 laps. RobynWhyte 10.30am till 11am another great14 laps. M35 Peter Cullen 11am till 12noon ran 31 laps. M45 Ewen Thompson12noon till 1am ran 31 laps. M55 ColinBridge 1pm till 2pm. Colin ran 18 and17 for a total of 35 laps. Next was thevery fast M50 Peter Clarke from 2pm to3pm with 18 and 19 laps for a fantastictotal of 37 laps.Three hours to go and I have notslept. M55 Geoff Barker 3pm till 3.30pmcovered 15 laps. M50 Neil Boden 3.30pmto 4pm ran 17 laps. Very good. GeoffBarker again 4pm till 4.30pm ran 16laps. Great run. Neil Boden again4.30pm to 5pm, 15 laps. M50 Geoff Sims5pm till 5.30pm 16 laps and finally W50Kathy Sims 5.30pm till 6pm a very good17 laps.Progressive totals:1st 3 hours – 91 laps2nd 3 hours – 104 laps3rd 3 hours – 96 lapsThe 24-hour “Run for Life”. Top: JillBrown coming round to complete yetanother lap.Above: Nev Madden, left, lapping withPeter Cullen.4th 3 hours – 97 laps5th 3 hours – 105 laps6th 3 hours – 79 laps7th 3 hours – 103 laps8th 3 hours – 96 lapsTotal – 771 laps (308.4km).What a great event, at least 40 to 50runners and walkers on the track forthe whole 24 hours. Spit roast fordinner, sausages and eggs for breakfast,live bands, pipe band, very happy peoplehaving a great time for a great cause.I would like to thank all teammembers for a great effort, especiallyMaureen Rossiter for helping with lapscoring from 6pm on Friday till 9.30amSaturday and keeping me company.Trevor Jacobs raised $680. Well doneTrevor. I did not sleep from 5am onFriday morning till 9pm on Saturdaynight (40 hours) and enjoyed everyminute.I plan to organise a team for nextyear, so join me for a good time.
Thanks for a great seasonTo the EditorI am writing to thank the AthleticsEvents Sub-Committee for organisingsuch a great track and field season.As someone who just turns up fairlyregularly to participate and does heronce only official duty I was impressedwith the program and the way thingsseem to happen without fuss and in avery relaxed manner.I am very aware that this does notoccur without lots of effort by manypeople, not only those rostered on.Besides the ‘big- four’ who were justlyawarded the Johnson Trophy, Iobserved that there were many regularhelpers every Thursday night who justdo what has to be done and areavailable to help as required before orafter their own event.This year the weather was good, hotuntil the sun went down and then quitebalmy with beautiful clear skies. It’sgreat to have a run in those conditions.The program was comprehensive,particularly convenient having distanceevents at the beginning and end of eachnight.To all those Monthly Handicaprunners and walkers, if you happen toread this, think about coming out to thetrack next season in October and doinga 3km, 5km, a spiral handicap run or awalk – I guarantee you’ll go home on ahigh.For some of us, a few more slowerrunners would be particularly welcome.I’m sure those who do the walks, thethrows and the jumps would alsowelcome more participants!Thank you again to Neil Boden andhis team.Cory Collins, Campbell.Where is our club going?To the Editor,I don’t normally get involved inpublic comment (it’s not my nature) butI felt it was time someone did. Therewere several times over the past 18months where I wanted somebody to saysomething but nobody did so finally Iam.I’m not trying to push anybody’sparticular point of view (includingmine), name names or anything likethat; all I want to achieve is to getmembers to think about what the clubmeans to them and where they think itshould be going.I remember thinking when I joinedthe club nearly four years ago what aprogressive and alive club it was. Therewas lots of enthusiasm, active memberLETTERS TO THEEDITORparticipation and generally the club wasvery active and demonstrated a clearvision to move forward.I was particularly impressed withthe club’s grasping of new technology toenhance the members’ experience andresults feedback (eg a really goodwebsite featuring results, course info,notices etc).This was all backed up by severalmembers who it seemed to me “lived forthe club” judging by the number ofhours they put in to ensure the smoothrunning of the club and itsinfrastructure.I don’t know if it’s just me but latelythings seem to be going around in everdecreasing circles, displaying a generallack of vision and purpose. There alsohas been significant membershipturnover and running participationseems to be declining.This is especially true amongst thebackmarkers where the ranks aregetting really thin and its quite boringrunning for ages before you see anybodyelse. I personally would like to see someeffort made to attract a few of the goodrunners back, OK so this may mean abit more of a competitive side to the clubbut its got nothing to do with elitism. Tome this would enhance my socialexperience of the club, which should beoffering both competitive, and socialdimensions so that members can choosehow much of each they are interested in.I think that things started to gowrong after all that unpleasantness atthe AGM two years ago where somemembers set out to air their ownpersonal agendas under the “guise” offree speech.The right to free speech only extendsThe Star newspaper in South Africareports of the new M55 world record in the800, which age-grades to an open equivalentof 1:41.73, an awesome performance:Stan Immelman from Central GautengMasters Athletics, competing in the EPMasters Championships in December inPort Elizabeth, bettered the men's 55-59world record in the 800 with a time of2:03.70.The existing record, currently held byTom Roberts of Australia, stands at 2:05.07and was set back in 1989.Immelman set a cracking pace with afirst lap in 58 seconds, maintaining a steadyMay Vetrunner — Page 25only up to the point where it infringeson others’ rights, after that its termedlibel and slander. What happened wasclearly in the latter category andbecause nothing was done about it bythe executive it set a general badprecedent where the club is still beingused by some members to push theirown agendas and vendettas. Honestly,sometimes I feel like shouting out “getreal you bunch of old phogies”.The fallout from this was severe onthe club’s functioning, several memberswere so badly offended that they leftand never came back while otherssimply stepped into the background andstopped contributing the enormouseffort they had been putting in.I could just do what several otherrunners have done and vanish, lets faceit you can collect a few mates and go fora run anywhere, anytime; you don’tneed a club to do it but that’s not what Iwant. I joined so that I could interactwith people who had a zest for life andbetter things to do than sitting aroundwith a beer watching the footy.So all I’m asking is for members tothink seriously about what the clubmeans to them, what they think itshould offer and what they themselvescan do for it and other members. Wehave a diverse range of members, fromthose who mainly want just the socialaspects of the club through to those whowant to be individually competitive.Most members sit between theseextremes but the club needs to offersomething for everybody to besuccessful.So think about whatever issues arerelevant to you and make yourselfheard, with the AGM coming up soonwhat better time or make yourself heardsome other way. (Don’t worry, this isn’ta pitch for me running for office, I’m aback row cynic and it’d ruin my style)Steve Bradford, Deakin.WORLD RECORD IN SOUTH AFRICApace throughout and running virtually onhis own.At the WMC held in Brisbane, inAugust, 2001, Immelman (then a M50) ran aPB of 2:02.56, finishing third in the final.He has his sights set on a sub twominute800m this season, which ends withthe South African Masters Championshipsin Bellville in May next year.Stan has been awarded the Male Athleteof the Year for his world record in the M55800m and being the highest age-gradedpercentage of 98.4%.Story from Ken Stone, Runner's WorldOnline at. http://www.masterstrack.com
Page 1 and 2: V E T R U N N EREditorial Email add
Page 3 and 4: You will see in this Vetrunner(Page
Page 5 and 6: and with only one more meet before
Page 7 and 8: The other record of the meet camefr
Page 9 and 10: M50 Kevin O'Keeffe 77M40 Bryce Ande
Page 11 and 12: consistent performers. She has alre
Page 13 and 14: 33 vets participated in this month
Page 15 and 16: someone to get a message back to th
Page 17 and 18: THOMAS SERIES AT O’CONNOR RIDGE
Page 19 and 20: THE FRYLINK SERIES AT O’CONNOR RI
Page 21 and 22: 1444 John Suiter 1291573 Will Foste
Page 23: May Vetrunner — Page 23A VERY SPE
Page 27 and 28: More winners from track and fieldMa

May, 2003 - ACT Veterans Athletics Club

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