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I had been looking around for marathon options early in the year for a couple of reasons. First because my usual fixture of Gold Coast marathon is out for me this year because of holiday plans, but also because I wanted a solid block of training without the work travel that I typically have in May and June each year. So after tossing up a few I came up with Canberra. The last time I had been to Canberra was 13 years ago and not really great circumstances. After being away overseas for 7 weeks I found out on the way home in Singapore that my Uncle from Canberra had suffered a stroke and was critical in hospital. Unfortunately I got the news that he had passed away when I got off the plane in Brisbane and so promptly booked a flight down to the capital to be with my family. It was a pretty sad time because he was only in his mid 50s and I remember him as being my Dad’s eldest brother and a big strong Canadian fellow. So it was kind of strange going down there because I had been there quite a bit as a kid to see my Uncle and cousins but life got busy in the meantime and I hadn’t been back. My kids had also missed out on the usual Canberra trips for school because of changing schools so Emma and I thought we would all go down and have a look around. We did that and it was great to see places like the Parliament Houses (the old one is better), Questacon, Telstra Tower and the Australian War Memorial which was a highlight. It was even greater to see my Aunty and cousins.

I also had a marathon to run and a goal which was 3:10 or a pace of 4:30 per kilometre which would get me well within the 3:15 that I need to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Continue reading “Jason hits the Capital” →

Congratulations to all that ran a tough run out at St Lucia for Twilight last weekend and hopefully everyone has recovered well.  It is always a challenging event and everyone who took part should be congratulated for their efforts.  In an effort to stimulate some healthy interest and competition amongst our members this year we have decided to keep you all updated as we progress through the Championship events on the points tally and so here it is so far.  Not much in it of course but it is early days.

Current Leaderboard

After two rounds of the 2016/17 Club Championships the tally is as follows (and in no particular order:

Yvonne Baylis                 10 points

Louise Dunn                   10 points

Kelly Bobir                     10 points

Ryan Moore                    10 points

Peter Lewis                    10 points

Paul Gourlay                   10 points

Brad Lacey                     8 points

Jenny Cawood                 8 points

Liz Gordon                     8 points

Stan Fetting                   8 points

Jesse Kohn                  6 points

Clodagh Kusemamuriwo       6 points

Corne Grotius                 6 points

Who’s ready for round 3, “PINNACLES Trail Race” fast approaching on 2 April closely followed by round 4, “GREAT SOUTH EAST RUN” the following weekend 9 April 2017? Got to be in it to win it

Good Luck Everyone …. Get out there and run!

I would encourage everyone to have a look at the Club Championship Calendar and plan out some events this year.  Having goals and milestones throughout the year helps to keep you motivated and your motivation will in turn help to motivate others.

Next up is Round 3…for all those trail running fans out there, Pinnacles is a cracker.  18 hills over 18 km and don’t underestimate those hills!  But… it is definitely worth it.  So, if events are your thing, get online, hit enter, and lets see how the leaderboard stands after round 3.   Good Luck everyone!

A small contingent of Striders competed in the first race of the 2017 club championship calendar. Corne Grotius, Ryan Moore, Stan Fetting and I were the keen few to take on this rather brutal 22k trail run. I’ve completed the 18k Pinnacles trail run a few times and assumed this was only 4k longer, it couldn’t be much harder. Hmmm I was a little deluded. If you’ve seen the elevation of this course on strava you’ll know what I mean.

The race starts at White Cedar picnic ground about a 20 min drive past the summit of Mt Glorious and finishes opposite the Maiala picnic ground on Mt Glorious.

The race started at 7am Continue reading “And the Race is on…. Race Number One of the Club Championship- Mount Glorious” →

Trails… in the dark…. Yvonne and Jason took on the challenge of Wild Horse at Night last weekend and for anyone considering it, heres a bit of an insight.

Saturday 18th June at 6pm a whole bunch of crazy people lined up to run the Wild Horse @ night events put on by Run Qld. There were three race distances run, 10k, 16k and 25k. I believe only two Striders ran, Jason Manktelow in the 10k event & myself in the 25k.

The conditions were much tougher than I’d anticipated. The terrain was continually changing. There were long sections of soft sand, patches of slippery mud, lots of large deep puddles, sections of very uneven rocky track and generally lots of rough uneven surface. 100% concentration on where you placed your feet was essential. Remember this is also in the dark, no moon, no light other than the lamp on your head which seemed blindingly bright in my living room!

The 25k event started first, followed 10 min later by the 16k runners & another 10 mins later the 10k runners. I started near the front group and managed to stay near the lead for the whole race. Although for most of the race it seemed I was out in the dark in the forest by myself. No sign of anyone in front or behind me. The only clue I’m going the right way the reflectors hanging from tree branches every 200m or so. It’s not a race for the faint-hearted or those scared of the dark…like me. It was a huge incentive for me to push hard & get back to the finish as quickly as possible. Needless to say I was very happy when I started to catch up with the last of the 16k runners in the last few kilometers of the race and then approach the finish.

Jason ran an incredible race finishing in 43:19 and placing 2nd overall & 1st in his category.

I was very happy with my 12th place overall and 5th female in 2:14:39.

Yvonne

After looking at the possibility for a few years Striders is making the jump to join up with Queensland Athletics. This brings a range of benefits for club members: Continue reading “Striders Joins Queensland Athletics – changes to club membership” →

The 2016 GCM Training Plan is ready for download. The plan builds up to the key focal point for many Striders. The SE QLD running calendar is rapidly changing and some key races have shifted to much later. This has provided a few complications for 2016 as we can no longer rely on the usual schedule of races to build up from 10km, to Half and then to marathon. Continue reading “Gold Coast Marathon Training Plan 2016” →