Vetrunner September 2009.pub - ACT Veterans Athletics Club

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Page 28 — September 2009 Vetrunnerby Lloyd DonnellyMt Everest Marathon 2009I went to Nepal for the Tenzing-Hillary marathon whichwas run on the 29 th May. No I didn’t compete, but wasthere to support a Nepalese runner, a friend. I met Bhaktaas a result of taking photos of the 2007 Everest Marathon.There are two Everest Marathons. This one is heldevery year on 29 th May which celebrates the day thatTenzing Norgay & Ed Hillarysummited Mt Everest. It startsat the Everest Base Camp(EBC) at 5300 metres &finishes in Namche Bazaar3446m with a detour throughthe villages of Khumjung &Khunde to get the requireddistance. The other is run biannuallyin late Nov/early Dec.(on this year) with the start atGorek Shep, 5km before EBC &the last settlement in that partof the world. For this event torun the required distance theroute, near the end, goes acrossabove Namche Bazaar & out toThamo before returning to Namche Bazaar & the finishline. So for the most part the 2 marathons run the sametrail with both sharing a long steep descent fromThyangboche to the Dudh Kosi river & a very steep climbout that comes at about the 30km mark!! For the Mayevent this climb continues to Khumjung.Upon arrival in Kathmandu I booked an early morningflight for 17 th May to Lukla, the nearest transport hub toEBC. I shared the small twin propeller aircraft with 13Nepali men who were in fact officials for the marathon.Four of whom were ex Olympians!! After breakfast inLukla I walked for most of the day, stopping the night atMonju. The next morning I reached Namche Bazaar, whereI had arranged to meet Bhakta. He hadwalked in from his village some daysearlier to get in some high altitudetraining. After staying 2 nights inNamche to begin the acclimatisationprocess we set off toward the marathonstart point. A short distance along thetrail we caught up to the officials. I sawthem many times over the ensuing days& got to see the start list of competitors.Foreign runners made up about half ofthe field with most coming from India,Germany, Austria, Great Britain, USA,one lone Kiwi & not one Aussie.We slept one night at Thyangboche3867m, two at Dingboche 4343m wherewe met Michael, a German entrant whowas working in Kathmandu & travellingwith a Nepali guide, Ammar, & a porter.Whilst the foreign entrants were being tented enroute tothe start, Michael opted to stay in lodges. He had run about20 marathons. We stayed 2 nights at Lobouche 4930m &reached Gorek Shep 5184m on 25 th May.One of the many factors that sets this marathon apartfrom others is the time it takes to get to the start. To allowthe body to acclimatise to the high altitude, about 10days!!! This year another factor, snow!! On the afternoon ofthe second day at Lobouche it started to snow. The nextday we walked in snow & sleet to Gorek Shep. It kept uprelentlessly for the next 2 days. What’s unusual about this?It is the last week of spring!! With a half metre of snow atGorek Shep & a reported one metre at EBC, this causedconcern for the officials. Yaks to the rescue!! With the lastof the climbing parties exiting EBC & the many yak trainswalking the trail, by race day a“reasonable” path had beencleared. On race day themarathon runners had tocontend with snow, ice, slush &yak shit for the first 14km. Notideal conditions for runningshoes. At least one competitorwore boots!!We woke to a glorious morningon the 27 th . That afternoon Istarted my trek back to NamcheBazaar to be there for themarathon finish. The trail wasicy & very slippery & later a peasoup fog enveloped me. It was atotal whiteout & the occasionalyak & porter would suddenly appear out of the gloom. Atthe same time it was eerie, but very beautiful. I stayed thenight in an isolated lodge close to where the snow peteredout. The next afternoon I reached Namche. This night Islept soundly, snug & warm. The marathon runners weretented at EBC in deep snow.The marathon was won by a 21 yr old Nepali who hadfinished second to the same winner in the previous twomarathons. His nemesis did not enter this year. The first 3females, all Nepali, finished 16, 19 & 20 th overall. Myfriend Bhakta came home in 18 th . He was very excited to bepresented his medallion & certificate by Amelia Hillary,granddaughter of Sir Ed. This man is most revered in thispart of Nepal. Not because he climbedSagarmatha, but for all the schools &hospitals he built, to ensure the Nepalipeople a better future. Nepalis filled thefirst 22 places. Runners from India filledthe first three foreign placings 23, 24 &33 rd overall, followed by a Britain in 39 thplace. Michael, who has run some 20marathons & in around 3.30, took 7.20 forthis one!! He placed 55 overall & 10 thforeigner. Ammar, who is not a runner,only decided to enter a few days beforethe start, after garnering enthusiasmwhile enduring many hours of runningtales shared between Michael, Bhakta &myself. After all, what else is there to talkabout when one is snow bound in a lodge,high in the Himalaya, enroute to amarathon!! Astonishingly Ammar beatMichael!! By about 4 minutes. His firstmarathon & no training. Go figure!!That night those of us who did not run, & some who did,danced the night away at a Nepali pop/rock concert held inthe grounds of the Namche school. Following a rest dayBhakta & I walked 5 very long days back to his village. Onday 5, from 5.30am to 5.30pm. This was my marathon.
By Jack PenningtonThe Greatest in 60 yearsAt my age I am now almost lost for words after sixtyyears of writing for athletic magazines-ref." A Life onthe run" 1995.I want readers to know that I thought the August2009 issue of "The Vetrunner" was the best clubmagazine I have ever read, because it was so wellbalanced and chock a block of good sense. I not onlycommend your editor but I commend all contributors,especially Bryan Thomas with his reports oncompetition and his contemporary history.Bryan by the way has become the editor of ourassociation's history which is due at the printers in thenot too distant future. I would even give your presidentan award for his erudite message 'Life’s journey — onesmall step' he is without doubt a 'wordsmith'.I very much enjoyed John Lamb's "Back on track", heis certainly worth a regular page of common sense. Ialso find Geoff Moore's, "Effective training methods',just the right mix for those who follow the creed of"Fitness through fellowship". Geoff is a tried and true'Veteran' even though he thinks he is a "Master", hereally passes on his experience which is not easy to do.The other contributors are to be read and digested,especially Jodie Barker's piece on diet. I did not intendthat pun. I was particularly saddened by the loss ofShirley Brasher the original pioneer for Veteran womenfrom the early 1970s. Bryan mentioned our oldesthonorary 'member' Anton Tesija with whom I havecorresponded on a monthly basis since 1974.Anton came to Australia as the throwing coach of theYugoslav Olympic team in 1956. For some reason hethought he could become a professional coach. Hearrived at the Ainslie oval athletics in 1960 and foundthe throwing coaching monopolised by Dr EugeneMagassy but was soon the coach of Warick Selvey ourOlympic discus competitor and Australian champion formany years; later I introduced him to a high school boynamed Ken Lorroway who not only became junior andsenior national champion at the triple jump but alsowent to the Moscow Olympics and jumped an Australianrecord of 17.42m. In 1964 I took Anton to the firstnational coaches conference where we bothdemonstrated our knowledge. In 1971 we were bothcompetitors in the first N.S.W. Veteran championshipsand both winners. In 1972 we were members of theteam of thirty five to represent Australia in the USA,UK, and Germany where we competed in the first trackand field World Championships for men over forty yearsin ten years age groups. Anton won and set the worldSeptember 2009 Vetrunner – Page 29best for the M60 hammer throw and incidentally we alsoshared a double bed with a doona at a farm outsideMunich when we attended the 1972 Olympics. [You cancheck with Rad Leovic because he was also in the teamas a sprinter of 46 years up against those aged 40, Radis now the epitome of what a Veteran should be and Iam full of admiration].Anton Tesija went back to Croatia in 1974 aftercoaching and competing in Canberra for fourteen years.He soon formed an athletic club in his town on theAdriatic coast. and he continued coaching andcompeting until the age of ninety five years whenunfortunately he was driving down a one way street inthe wrong direction and wrote his car off and also puthimself out of action. Since Xmas 2008 he has beenunable to reply to my letters. His son had phoned to tellme "Dad is ok I look after him but he cannot write".Nevertheless I continue to send him our results andnews of the throwers.In his early youth Anton was a gymnast and even atninety five he was able to demonstrate the hammer,shot and discus. He holds the Australian M85 hammerrecord at 28.1m. Anton for thirty years competed in theEuropean Veteran championships as an Australian andsince 1980 has worn our club vest. He was here fortwelve months in the 1990's during which time hecoached our throwers at Masson Street. Ray Green andSharon went to see Anton a couple of years ago and canconfirm what I have written, especially as Antonreferred to me as 'His best friend in the world'.On my visits to Europe in 1975, 1979 and 1983 Iwas able to enjoy a week each time with him on theAdriatic coast and on the 1975 visit he asked me totake a local school teacher who was a marathon runnerof about thirty years of age for a training run. I wasthen of course over fifty and so I ran as hard as I couldalong the Adriatic coast road and back for about anhour. I asked Anton what the bloke had to say aboutthe run and he said the bloke said "That man wouldkill me", and so I told Anton to tell him that he shouldnot run any slower in any training run.The quality of our magazine is not only the result ofthe input by our editor but it is also a good example ofthe efforts made by our printer Dave McInnes whorecently had a road in Stromlo Forest park named afterhim.
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