SYDNEY STRIDERS ROAD RUNNERS’ CLUB AUSTRALIA EDITION No 107 J A N - APRIL 2009 Maestro musters magnificent mile mastery he club’s open results don’t show it but Keith of the struggle to break the 4 minute mile. The 1500 only Bateman is effectively Striders’ top runner. World reduced in importance as popularity arose for the 100 Masters (An association for athletes over 35 years metres when getting through the 10 second barrier T th of age) ranked Keith 1st for 1500m, 13 for 5000m and became an issue. But today, there is no shortage of good 7th for 10000m last year. Those are World rankings, folks. older runners lining up for the old mile equivalent given This is no mean achievement especially given that the that they all lived through the times of the mile greats. 1500 replaced the former one mile distance, one that And today, with the 3¾ laps of the track taking 4minutes carried glamour and mystique from the 1950’s because 11 seconds, our Keith can beat them all! Having The 1500 has always had its champions completed and their names are unforgettable: the “out Bannister, Landy, Elliot, Snell, Bayi, Walker, and back” Cram, Ovett and more latterly the great El Marathon Garouj. These were the main ones. There course in were more. record time, Keith Although 3000m is more usually a felt obliged to steeplechase distance, it seems to be do several Keith’s preferred running distance. He has laps of broken the Australian mark twice since honour. first knocking off Ron Peters’ record last year. Peters still holds several other Australian records but Keith is not far behind. He is now National record holder in his age group for the 3000m, a distance that really has his name written all over it. He has hammered it with regularity for 3 years, gradually bringing his time down until the huge breakthrough on 31 January where he took a massive 10 seconds off the old (his own) record! Continued on page 2 INSIDE BLISTER 107 Wise words on World Masters Athletics 100 days ways pays, Rob says Parisian chaps punctuate cheery chill Swish Skort seems set to suspend pants Horrie’s feat: sorry, sleet! Sharon stays the 100k’s Orlsortsa uthastuff BLISTER 107 JANUARY - APRIL 2009 Club Phone Contacts President Jim Moody 0411 258 589 Vice President Brian Ogilvy 0410 694 875 Secretary Blister Printing Blister Contributions to: Ross McCarty 0403 557 127 Paper Tiger Printing [email protected] At Chippendale Or Striders PO Box Treasurer Charles King 9816 5593 Website manager Acknowledgements Linda Barwick Lorraine Spanton, Andrew Smith, Darryl Chrisp (Research) Brian Ogilwy, Cool Running (photography) Jess Baker, Amanda Underwood (Puzzles) Database Manager TBA About the Blister Results Manager Chris Graham 0419 162 538 Quarterly journal of Sydney striders Road Runner’s Club, Inc. (Founded 1980). PO Box R1227, Royal Exchange, Sydney NSW 1225, Australia. Blister Editor Opinions published in this journal, whether expressed by members or non-member, Dennis Wylie 0404 898 661 do not neccessarily represent the official policy of the club. 10k Series Director Advertising rate: $100 per edition, per page ½ page $50, ¼ page $25. Prefferd Barbara Becker 0402 967 697 suppliers listings, $45 for a whole year. Circulation approx 600 + on line 150 10k Timing & Results Copy Preferences James Moody 0411 258 589 Adam Moody 0410 766 5866 How many words? As a guide, 1300 words anda picture makes 2 pages. Smaller Paul Hannell 0412 042 950 items and letters are most welcome How to send? Email to [email protected] 6 Foot Track Manager Write in a Word document and send as an attachment to your email TBA 6 Foot Track Run Manager Font: Cambria 10pt James Moody 0411 258 589 Photos: If posting, it’s best not to send your only copy. Send as a separate jpg file when emailing your stories Super Series John Van Yzendorn 9874 6927 ANSW Liaison Continued from cover Glenn Guzzo 0407 453 649 He also holds several other State Masters records (see Simon Butler-White’s Dale Thompson 0418 114 067 article within). MTG Co-ordinator Phil Skurrie 0411 066 348 Back in November last year, Keith was given the honour by his fellow team STaR Maps mates of being last runner in our 200+relay team that broke a State record for Tony Kellner 0409 463 861 4x1500m. When you break a record, you beat all comers over all time; not just the ones you are up against on the day. Uniforms Managers Samantha Isbell 0404 913 800 Last year Keith had the highest, single occasion, age and gender points for the Social Functions year, in the club. Everyone in the club gets them for every race, so, on his best Chris Truscott 0402 464 047 performance for the year he beat the best performance of anyone else for the Jo Cowan 0410 594 189 whole year. Internal Events Fran Boorer 0421 985 328 Putting Keith’s 1500 performance in another way, it is possible through the use of calculators (available from Masters) to determine how Keith, now 53, would Volunteer Co-ordinator Liz Woodhams 0412 396 881 be performing if he were a younger runner. If he were 25 again (he can only hope), Keith’s 1500 time (4minutes 11 seconds last year) would be New Members’ Liaison approximately 3minutes 41 seconds. He would miss out on Olympic B selection Pauline Evans 0400 392 976 by two seconds and Olympic A qual by 5 seconds. He could overcome this by Calendar either: disguising himself as a woman and entering as a female, probably Rob Chalmers 0410 933 140 winning but subsequently failing the sex test, or: insure a B Qualifier by just running a bit harder ( he needs half a second per lap). I reckon you’d opt for the Mailout Manager Tina Campbell 0488 774 744 latter if you were that close to Olympic selection. Having said that, if we moved back in time and Keith was running as a 25 year old and running as well as he is Sergeant-at-arms now, on present results he probably would have gone to the Olympics because Denise Wilson 0417 693 350 the qualifying standard would have been lower back then. 2 BLISTER 107 JANUARY - APRIL 2009 By SHARON CALLISTER NOVEMBER 8TH 2008 ITALY INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ULTRA RUNNERS 100km W orld Cup Wow ….100km Race Training road race, it’s a tough gig and Training for not for the faint 2008 Comrades hearted! So why and Trailwalker did I do it? had given me a How did I get fantastic base selected? How fitness and did I train…and strength, what was the however doing experience like? both of these Those events within questions and the space of 10 more are weeks had answered Shy Sharon requested that the lights be dimmed so that the ever present paparazzi really taken it’s below. could not film her trademark cartwheel across the finish line. Such pictures are only for toll on my sale from her website. ageing (47 year old) body. Why did I want to be part of this event? There was approximately another 10 week gap between Trailwalker and the World Cup, so I decided to do a Apart from sheer stupidity and or insanity as so many of maintenance program but to also try to add a bit of speed my friends thought, there were some very good reasons into the schedule. This is where my troubles began as for wanting to be part of this race. Firstly it was a great every time I tried to put the work in I seemed to get opportunity for me to represent Australia. A few years injured. ago I never would have thought such an opportunity would come my way, so when it did, I jumped (or ran) at I look back now and it is clear my body was in need of a it. The second reason was that in my two previous ultra rest but of course I had other ideas, just one more race road races, Comrades 2007 and 2008, I felt I had for 2008! So, in the space of eight weeks I had two calf underperformed, so I wanted to use this opportunity to strains, bilateral planter fasciitis and a suspected tibial improve on those results. Thirdly I can’t resist a stress fracture. Three weeks before we left for Rome I challenge and this one was huge. had a bone scan which thankfully showed all clear. Now I know you probably think I am crazy for pushing on, but How did I get selected? given the money we had invested in this (did I say there is little sponsorship) and the appeal of running for my The Australian Ultra Runners Association or AURA, as it country, I felt I had to give this a shot. I probably would is better known, is responsible for selecting the never be in this position again. Australian Team for the World Cup. All hopeful athletes apply for selection and the qualifying event was held in So for my pre race preparation I had to be mostly July 2008, the Gold Coast 100km. You must also be a satisfied with rest (and, of course, worry from not member of AURA to be selected, something I would training!). By the time we got on the plane to Rome, you recommend regardless of whether you do this distance could say I was absolutely terrified about what I had to or shorter ones; it’s a great association and complements do on so little training, I definitely do not recommend what Sydney Striders provides to its members.