Vetrunner May 2010 - ACT Veterans Athletics Club

goal is to win the Australian Half MarathonChampionships as an M60 in 2012.Ian McDonald took the bronze medal for being fifthover the line. He says he was ‘lucky to snag it’ and thinks areally good night at the track on the previous Thursdaynight probably helped. He says that Stromlo is a ‘goodtesting’ course but will be better when the grass is fullygrown.Ian is a relative newcomer to serious running,having joined in 2008 as a result of the influence ofRichard Faulks and Peter Cullen with whom he wasdoing long runs on a Saturday morning. He completed hisfirst marathon in 2009 – the Canberra – but is not goingagain this year. Through the week he works for the Dept ofDefence but gets a run in most days with a longer one atweekends. Ian says the Vets is a very well run, wellorganised club with good people, a good atmosphere andgreat camaraderie. And he is continually amazed at howquick some of the ‘older’ members run and hopes he is halfas good as them when he is their age.One of Vets legends, Cathy Newman, came home inthe middle of the pack. This was Cathy’s third handicapsince having a hip arthroscopy late last year, and her aimwas to run under 40 minutes, and she did 39:30, - excellent!Cathy did not favour the grass and actually ‘went over onan ankle’ a couple of times and was glad to get onto thegravel but says it was still ‘hard work’ because she couldn’tfeel ‘any breeze’. On the way back she thought she wasgoing backwards when Steve Appleby ‘shot past’, but wasable to get past Ewen Thompson doing a ‘post 6 foottrack’ shuffle and managed to overtake Ruth Baussmannin the final straight, finally seeing the finish line “notbefore time”. Cathy hopes to continue on her steadycomeback and plans several runs on the agenda for 2010,including the Vets half marathon, although no marathons.Her other goals are continued gym work, swimming,cycling, reading, and coffee and chocolate with friends.Cathy has one Ironman, 10 marathons, and two 6 FootTrack ultras to her credit.Having her first ever run with the Vets, BelindaBounty came home in 62 nd position, although she wasdisappointed she didn’t catch her mum Jenny Gilchristwho finished 40 th . If Belinda is able to drag herself awayfrom her water skiing and do some training she willprobably catch her mum, that is if her dad Rod Gilchrist,gives her a present of membership to Vets.It was fitting for Wilf Deck to win the Lanterne Rouge,although he says he ‘tried not to’. Regular readers ofVetrunner will be aware of Wilf’s argument with a truck inTaiwan in 2006, after which, both he and the truck had toundergo extensive remodeling, and in Wilf’s case, thisrequired two artificial hips, a steel plate on his pelvis, andscrews to hold his bones together in his left knee and rightshoulder. He had all these when he won the gold medal lastyear, when he was claiming to be a ‘beginning’ runneragain, so he says the only excuse for the Stromlo result isthat he just found the course ‘harder than expected’ andhad actually “peaked” for the Phuket Triathlon inDecember 2009.FRYLINK SERIESTony Harrison, one of the most important members inthe club, made it a double with first over the line and goldmedal. A former rugby league player this is Tony’s secondmedal, and was ‘ecstatic’ to win. He did find the surface ofthe course a bit rough and this may have been evidenced bythe fact that he actually finished with blisters on both feet,May 2010 Vetrunner — Page 7also maybe because he pushed himself, (but they were‘worth it!’). Another factor could have been that, because ofthe facilities on-site at Stromlo, Tony did not have to lookforward to his monthly duty by taking away the full‘dunny’ (port-a-loo). Tony’s training is primarily running ona treadmill, but on a Sunday he does do a hard bike ridewith Ken Gordon and a few others, which he says reallytests him out. He says that the Vets is a great club and isonly too happy to do his bit, but if he is really appreciatedfor empting the “dunny” he says the handicapping shouldbe on a “weight for age” basis. Regardless his aim is to runhis second Canberra Times Fun Run this year. That’s if hecan find time away from his kitchen manufacturingbusiness – Tony Harrison’s Kitchens – located inBungendore.Setting a new course record of 0:17: 11 in the M50 GaryBowen came second over the line to win his first eversilver medal, and is now looking for a gold medal. Garysays a major contribution to his good fitness level is theinterval training he has been doing at the AIS. He is also aregular with Geoff Moore’s group. A public servant inDefence, he is a former navy man from both British andAustralian navies and his aim for 2010 is to try for a PB atevery handicap. He enjoys watching his family participatein their various sporting activities, but the highlight ofeach week is breakfast with Patricia on the weekend.Geoff Moore, not going so hard because of flu, wasthird over the line to win the bronze medal. Even though itis one of Geoff’s favourite courses he thought the surfacewas a bit rough and uneven in parts. Apart from playingtennis when he was growing up and learning to swim atthe age of 40, Geoff has mainly been a runner, joining theVets in 1984, where he is well known as the coordinator oftraining groups, and sponsor of the Moore Award for the3000m during the track season. He is also chair of theMember Services Sub-committee and a life member. Aretired IT specialist Geoff has his own blog and also boaststo having his own private “super coach”, although he wasnot prepared to name him.Kylie Gibson was having her first handicap andfinished one place front of Faye Todd, both in the middleof the pack. Kylie did a thing common for first runners –she disappeared! Faye has been a member since 2008 andalready has a gold and silver medal, but says she found theStromlo course a ‘bit hard’ as she didn’t think she ran verywell on the day and is not really used to running on grassyuneven surfaces. A qualified athletic coach anddevelopment officer for Little Athletics she is used to beingaround runners. However she has not been able to achieveone running goal, and that to get her husband StuartTodd to run many handicaps. He has done two!Roger Pilkington was very embarrassed – not forwinning the wooden spoon – but for the reason he won it.He won it because he got the times of daylight savingmixed up and so arrived at the course exactly one hour late,so rather than do his normal Thomas series he decided todo the Frylink, so that he would not delay proceedings atthe end. Part of those proceedings was a warm tribute toMilton Valentine, delivered by Roger. It was poignant,that during the 56 seconds of silence in Milton’s memory alone, fast moving, cyclist rode past creating a very movingbackground noise. Both Roger, and Milton, would havebeen pleased.Continued on Page 10