Vetrunner May 2010 - ACT Veterans Athletics Club

in a race.Marathon running suited Milton down to the ground.Marathon running rewards many of Milton’s strongesttraits. Goal setting, discipline, hard work, routine, focus,consistent training and preparation. When you added hisabsolute determination and sheer bloody mindedness youhad a good package. We never missed a training session –if it was 40 degrees we went for a run, if it was minus 5and sleeting we still went for a run. I checked back at myrunning diaries and I reckon that we probably rantogether more than 2000 times and of those at least 300would have been long runs. We trained and prepared as ifwe were Olympians. We used to joke that the only thingthat held us back from Olympic glory was a lack of talent.Our long runs became legendary. A core group ofpeople formed and for many years we met virtually everyweek for a long run. We only missed if we were running amarathon somewhere. The run was always a 6am start atCameron Offices. In winter, that meant that the first hourwas run in the dark and often freezing cold. Due to variouswork and family commitments, the long run eventuallymoved to being weekends and then was usually followedwith a leisurely breakfast. People came and went a bitfrom the group, but Milton was always at the core. Miltonwas the one we got advice from (wether we asked for it ornot). Milton paced many of us to our marathon PBs. Hehad the right mix of motivator and slave driver that couldget you to lift when the marathon got hard, which italways did.Mountain runningWhen mountain running kicked off, Milton became akeen participant. He was always looking for another wayto challenge himself, so why not make running a bitharder by racing up hills. Again, it was a tough sport, sohe was good at it. In 2006 he was 3 rd in over 50s section inthe Australian Championships, and in 2008, only a fewmonths before his cancer was diagnosed he repeated thatplacing in the over 55 section.Any talk about Milton’s life has to have a few warstories.Warrumbungles marathonOne day in 2004 Milton pointed out that while we hadrun in a number of the same marathons, we had neveractually run one and finished together and we should. Forsome reason we decided to go to Coonabarabran to run theWarrumbungles marathon. This was a bush course in theMay 2010 Vetrunner – Page 33National Park and they had multi events on that allstarted at the same time. As well as some short runs, therewas a marathon and a 50k run. We of course entered themarathon.We settled down in about 7 and 8 th position andenjoyed the scenery. At about 25km, the marathon & ultracourses split, with the 50k runners required to do an extra8km side loop. We arrived at the checkpoint and asked theofficial how many marathoners had gone through. Wecouldn’t believe it when he told us that everyone else hadheaded off on the 50k – without even trying to - we were inthe lead! We high fived each other and took off along thetrack into the bush with a real skip in our step.Milton the coach immediately came to the fore –‘its notover yet, we’re in front, but we gotta keep focussed’. It wasa remote narrow bush track and there was no-one around.We discussed at length our options as to what we would doif someone ran us down from behind. Suffice to say, arange of options were discussed, of varying degrees oflegality. I was pretty sure Milton was joking, but ... myheart leapt into my mouth when with about 3km to go Ifirst heard footsteps behind us. I was stuffed. The option ofpicking up the pace was beyond me. I urged Milton to goahead, but he insisted that we would finish together andthat he would drag me to the line. The footsteps got closer.How serious was Milton about our other ‘options’?The footsteps drew alongside and we were relieved tofind it was the leader in the 50k event who had caught us.We wished him well as he passed. We were still in front inthe marathon. Milton continued to coax, cajole and bullyme to the finish line - we crossed together in equal firstplace. The time was awful, but we didn’t care. Missionaccomplished.It is hard not to resort to clichés when summarisingMilton. In the last few days, I have heard friends use a fewphrases such as ‘Larger than life’, ‘One of a kind’, ‘theybroke the mould after they made Milton’ and ‘when thegoing gets tough the tough get going’. In Milton’s case theyall actually do apply.Milton was a very good athlete. He was a better coachand mentor. He was the most determined person I haveever known. Milton was just a super bloke, the best friendyou could have and I’ll miss him enormously.Don’t forget to come to theACTVAC AGM.25 May 20107:30pmSouthern Cross Club WodenSpeaker: Dick Telford