SYDNEY STRIDERS ROAD RUNNERS’ CLUB AUSTRALIA Sep 07 Jan 08 About the Blister Quarterly journal of Sydney striders Road Runner’s Club, Inc. (Founded 1980). PO Box R1227, Royal Exchange, Sydney NSW 1225, Australia. Opinions publishd in this journal, whether expressed by members or non- member, do not neccessarily represent the offi cial policy of the club. Adverti sing rate: $100 per editi on, per page ½ page $50, ¼ page $25. Classifi eds: $5 per editi on, full year$20. Circulati on approx 600 Copy Preferences How many words? As a guide, 1300 words anda picture makes 2 pages. Smaller items and lett ers are most welcome How to send? Email to [email protected] Write in a Word document and send as an att achment to your email Font: Cambria 10pt Photos: If posti ng, it’s best not to send your only copy. Send as a separate jpg fi le when emailing your stories INSIDE ISSUE NO 103: Having three arms couldn’t have helped Tim’s chances, could they? Chicago Marathon Indomitable duo dominate Coast to Kosci claims Mohammed Relatively new Strider, Tim Cochrane set a cracking pace in one of Australia’s longest races to end up, not only winning but breaking the old record by over Callister’s Conquest 4 hours!!! Tim, who also has a pretty smart Marathon time, was chased early of the Comrades on but prevailed. Read his report inside. Colville captures Allison Lilley was first woman home; another great eff ort in a string of recent Kupau credibility accomplishments. She appears to have made the ultra marathon a way of life. Always cheerful, uncomplaining, personable and with an enviable laid-back attitude, she now has a sizeable fan base within the club and we await future Trailwalker tales of results with a degree of confidence. testing triumph Striders ruled this gruelling, 246k uphill event with the solid and reliable Fat Ass fun feature Philip Murphy taking out 3rd place and the amazing Ron Schwebel coming in 5th. Not a bad job for a 56 year old! Urban Max unfolds It seems the Ultra is trying hard to replace the Marathon as a pinnacle of for life - loving Lisa achievement in running. This issue of Blister could easily have included 6 reports on Ultras but that was whittled down to 4 in the interest of avoiding Lots more inside... repetition. Perhaps real runners want to disassociate themselves from the “fun runners” and those who do marathons merely to cross it off a “things-to- do-before-I-die” list. Lots on Ultras inside. Read on, McDuff . BLISTER NO 103 SEP 07 – JAN 08 Club Phone Contacts Printed at President David Bray 9878 0181 PAPERTIGERPRINTING Vice President Tel: 02 9699 1788 Fax: 02 9690 1089 Jim Moody 0411 258 589 297 Abercrombie St Chippendale NSW 2008 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.paper-tiger.com.au MTG Co-ordinator Phil Skurrie 0411 066 348 Secretary & Super Series Blister Printi n g Blister Contributi ons to: Michael Sharp 0439 470 145 Paper Tiger Printing [email protected] At Chippendale Or Striders PO Box Treasurer Charles King 9816 5593 Acknowledgements Database Manager Pauline Evans (proof reading) Keith Bateman, Allison Lilley, Tim Cochrane, Craig Dunn 9380 4583 Pauline Evans, Jim Moody, Tony Fatorini (pictures) Andrew Smith (Archives), Jess Baker (puzzle) Uniforms Managers Darren & Karin Kaehne 0417 109 565 Calendar & STaRs Manager Robin Cameron 9489 2755 Striders ready for 10k Series Director Barbara Becker 9388 8376 M a s t e r s N a t i o n a l s 6 Foot Track Manager Striders runners such as Keith Bateman, Ray Wareham and Dennis Wylie will Kevin Tillet 0419 244 406 be among the more than 600 Masters (over-35s) athletes around Australia looking forward to the 2008 Australian Masters Associati on (AMA) nati onal New Members’ Liaison championships, to be held at Blacktown Olympic Park from March 21-24. Lisa Carroli 0412 970 574 NSW Masters Athleti cs president Mark Johnston heads the organising Social Functions committ ee for the 2008 nati onal championships and says it’s great to see Naomi Frank 0409 500 814 Striders involved in the Masters championships. Chris Truscott 0402 464 047 ANSW Liaison “This is the sixth ti me the AMA nati onals have been held in Sydney and the Glenn Guzzo 0407 453 649 fi rst ti me the event will be hosted by Blacktown Olympic Park, previous events Shelley Howes 0408 643 536 having been held at Hensley Field, E.S. Marks, Homebush and Bankstown,” Caroline Yarnell says Mark. “Blacktown is one of the crop of new tracks built for the 2000 Olympics and was recently refurbished with a new grandstand. In additi on, STaR Maps the track has good outside arena faciliti es for throwing events. Joel MacKay 9517 3042 “A full range of events will be off ered, including walks, cross country and Mailout Manager multi -events. The meet will be run in conjuncti on with Athleti cs NSW and Ross McCarty 0403 557 127 we look forward to a well-organised championships, which also has social Results Manager events, such as a dinner/dance on Easter Sunday, plus coaching and athlete Chris Graham 0419 162 538 forums. Volunteer Co-ordinator “The nati onal championships are a good place to meet other Masters Katie Rowell athletes and develop friendships with people of similar interests. With the World Masters Games in Sydney in 2009, the 2008 nati onals would be a good Seargent-at-arms start for a preparati on for this event. We look forward to having as many Wayne Gregory 0439 895 709 Sydney Striders members as possible att ending.” Archives Andrew Smith For more informati on about the 2008 AMA Championships, and Masters athleti cs in general, go to www.nswmastersathleti cs.org.au. Blister Editor Dennis Wylie 0404 898 661 - SIMON BUTLER-WHITE AMA 2 BLISTER NO 103 SEP 07 – JAN 08 By MOHAMMED ALKHUB “M A R A T H O N M E L T D OW N” THE 2007 CHICAGO MARATHON Marathon Meltdown” was the 3:15 pace. By this stage the headline in the Chicago I started to run/walk and local newspapers the day pour water and ice over my after the 2007 Chicago head at any chance I could, Marathon. Sunday 7th whether it was at a drink Oct 2007 was meant to station, or from a spectator be my first taste of one of with a hose or bottle. the marathon majors, the Chicago Marathon – and The support from people what a taste it was. lining all the way along the course is a great experience It all started early in 2007 and it lifts the runners. when I decided to run the However, this year I don’t Chicago Marathon; and to think it really helped, as commit myself, I entered runners were just trying to the day the online entry survive the heat which was opened. My plan at the now around the 32 degree time was to try to run the mark with humidity at 90 Gold Coast Marathon in 3 percent. hrs and then just enjoy the experience of a “major” By the 35 k mark I was – the Chicago Marathon just trying to survive – with 45000 other runners this monster, reaching from all over the world. this mark in 2:58. Thinking about it now, I believe time wasn’t an object for me anymore – I just wanted to finish, What an experience! The temperature reached around knowing that people were dropping around me from heat 25 degrees before the starting time of 8.00 am and the exhaustion, and staggering along the course, hearing the officials announced that it was going to be a hot day so ambulance siren going all the time was not good. runners should drink a lot of water on the way and keep I pushed and pushed to the 40 k mark in 3:37 and, with rehydrating! Not the start I was hoping for, as I didn’t the last 2 k ahead looking like another marathon, for some go under 3 hrs at the Gold Coast and this was meant to reason I started to run again. Even though it was at a very be the day to do it. From what I had heard, the Chicago slow pace of about 6.5 per k, seeing the finish line gave me Marathon is normally run in cold conditions and near- that little extra energy to run the last 2 k, finishing in 3:51 perfect marathon-running temperatures ... looked like my and in one piece. I will not mention how lucky day was not going to be so lucky after all. sick I was and what condition I was in after the finish but I am sure you can just imagine that ... Despite all that I started OK and my splits were on target until about the 20 k mark, which I reached in 1:27, two minutes below target. But I thought “I can make them up Aroma-sensiti ve locals decided Mohammed really needed a shower in the second half”. How wrong I was – the temperature was rising by the minute and I reckon it had reached 30 degrees by that stage, and no matter how much water I drank at the water stops, it was just not enough. My pace started to slow a bit, reaching the 25 k mark in 1:52, six minutes below target, so I adjusted my target to 3:15, thinking positive and trying to stay as close as I could to my original target.