Achilles Running Club Sydney - helping people who would like to walk and run -

Dec 2010 Newsletter

The Achilles Heel

Newsletter of the Achilles Running Club - Sydney

PO Box 240, Randwick, 2031:
info@achilles-sydney.org.au
www.achilles-sydney.org.au

December 2010 Edition

In this Edition:

Presidents End of Year Message

· Picnic in the Park and the Andrew Bristow Memorial 2010 Awards

· Trek or Treat?

· Charlie Comes Down to Earth With a Splash.

· Prize Fighters

· Orange is no Lemon

· Volunteer Roster

________________________________________________________________

PRESIDENT’S END OF YEAR MESSAGE

How the time flies when you are either busy or having fun (or both)! This is certainly true of 2010 - a wonderful year for our great Club. During the year there have been a number of new and innovative happenings in at Achilles, largely thanks to the excellent input of our super committee. The numbers of members attending Club events (in particular Sunday training) have grown and the general happy and relaxed atmosphere at Achilles is very evident.

There are certainly exciting plans for 2011, our 15th year of existence. So, watch this space!

I wish all of our members and friends and all of their families a wonderful Festive Season and a fun and well deserved holiday from Achilles. Here's to a wonderful happy and healthy exercise filled 2011. I have no doubt we will all be "raring to go" come our first training session on 30 January.

Ellis

PICNIC IN THE PARK and THE 2010 ANDREW BRISTOW MEMORIAL AWARDS

The End of Year picnic was held on 5 December after the penultimate Sunday training session for 2010. Showers were predicted, but thanks to great organising and a little good luck, we had great weather. About 40 members and friends were there to catch up socially and enjoy food and drinks. As happens at this time of the year, many members could not make it to the picnic given other social and work commitments, but sent their regrets.

During the picnic, everyone was welcomed by Ellis, the Club President. Unfortunately Mrs Brenda Bristow was not present to award the Andrew Bristow Memorial Awards for this year.

The Disabled Athlete of the Year Award was given to Bronwyn Fitzpatrick, one of members who has been coming to Achilles training and events for many years, and is very unassuming but very dependable. Despite being busy with work and other sport (blind golf), she is highly committed to Achilles.

The Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Michael Levy, another long term member who very regularly attends Achilles training and events, is always quietly helping with all sorts of things behind the scenes and has been very committed to the Club. Congratulations to Bronwyn and Michael, our worthy award winners.

Others who are regular attendees at training and contribute to Achilles were commended and thanked by Ellis.

Our former Treasurer and long-time member, Ted Magen, was given a special mention. We attempted to make the same award a year ago, but Ted was not present, so we were finally able to congratulate him in person.

Trek or Treat?

In September, Achilles members Charlie McConnell, Nick Gleason, Rozanne Green and Brian O’Dea headed to Nepal for a trek to Everest Base Camp. They were joined on the journey by Nick’s long-time friend, Vina Accomazzo, who lives in North Carolina. [Vina had guided Nick in the 2009 New York Marathon, as featured in the January Achilles Heel newsletter].

Charlie, Nick and Rozanne had, along with Achilles President Ellis Janks and guide Lucas Trihey, been part of the Blind Ambition team that had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2001.

Rozanne did a superb job of selecting routes, dates, the tour company and making the bookings. Charlie was trainer-in-chief and organised hikes in the Blue Mountains and in Ku-Ring-Gai. (Nick actually organised the first session. He reasoned that, as the real trek would take the team from tea-house to tea-house at high altitude, the team should practice going from coffee-shop to coffee-shop at the high end of town. After arranging a pleasant stroll around the Eastern Suburbs, Nick was fired.)

Nick training with Rozanne and the incomparable Cheryl Bart (Climber of Mt Everest)

The team spent weeks reading about and preparing for altitude sickness, food poisoning, hepatitis and frostbite. Inoculations were received stoically and pills ingested with a grimace. Bags were packed with all sorts of medications and enough antibacterial hand-wash to float a battleship.

Travel writer and ecologist Charlie Pye-Smith, in his 1988 classic, Travels in Nepal, wrote somewhat disdainfully about tourists that were “here long enough to give their Pentaxes a bit of action and their bowels an unpleasant surprise.”

There was no hiding the fact that Brian had a Pentax, but the team felt that everything else was under control.

After a few fun-filled days in Kathmandu, including an extra day because bad weather had grounded all planes, the team flew to Lukla and started the 12-day trek to Everest base Camp and back. This involved hiking from the warm, lush fir-filled valleys to the grand, glacial peaks of the Everest region.

Brian, Vina, Nick, Rozanne, Charlie and friends at Kathmandu

Although the temperature dropped markedly, the warmth of the people stayed constant. This could be said about the locals and trekkers.

In the next couple of weeks, Brian will be putting a more detailed account on the Achilles website. It will include the following:

The greatest challenge of the journey was that faced by blind trekkers, Charlie and Nick. Their constantly cheerful determination in difficult terrain and in sometimes tough conditions seemed to inspire everybody that we met. I will never forget the spontaneous burst of applause from the Australian trekking group, The Friday Warriors, as they lined a stone bridge to let us through.

More poignantly, a young German trekker saw Nick and Charlie being guided down a steep, rocky path. She watched for a moment then said with a sigh, “This is so beautiful that I want to cry.” Then she sat down on a rock and did exactly that.

The account will also explain why Rozanne became known admiringly as “Boss Lady”, how Vina kept everything on an even keel, why Charlie was fined for blaspheming during a private audience with a Lama, and why Nick is suing Brian over an incident with a new but sub-standard trekking pole.

Travel writer and climber, Jamie McGuinness is more sympathetic to tourists than Charlie Pye-Smith. In his “must read” book, Trekking in The Everest Region, he wrote:

Trekking is physically demanding but certainly not beyond the majority of moderately fit people. The most important thing is knowing that you enjoy the concept. Bring along a traveller’s curiosity and a sense of humour and, before you know it, you will relish the thought of another trek.

For Blind Ambition II, that described the trek in a nutshell.

Charlie Comes Down To Earth With A Splash.

During the trek to Everest Base camp, Charlie McConnell was always aware of the group’s height above sea-level. Each evening, Charlie would know the elevation of the lodge at which the team was staying.

Since his return, Charlie has been keen to stay at sea level – literally. With the help of fellow-trekker and Achilles member, Rozanne Green, Charlie competed in a one-kilometre swim at Coogee.

In an interview with the on-line community newsletter, J-Wire, Rozanne said, “Charlie and I trained at Bondi Beach and once in the pool……Charlie did not want to be touched. He wanted to swim completely on his own without tethering. We developed a technique by which I simply shouted instructions at him.” [Editor: This system was bound to work. There were good reasons why, on the Everest trek, Rozanne had earned the nickname: Boss Lady.]

[Read the full J-Wire article here.]

On the day of the race, the sea temperature was recorded as an unseasonably low 16 degrees. Over 1,000 swimmers had entered either the 1K or 2K race. 90 (including Rozanne) had chosen to swim both. The tough conditions caused a number of entrants to withdraw from the racing. Over 100 were pulled from the water during the racing, with many suffering from hypothermia.

This makes Charlie’s effort even more remarkable. He completed the swim in 41 minutes. His own thoughts on the race:

“I did not want to let on but I was very nervous and a little uncertain and
half way through I said to myself I would never take this on again.
Once I calmed down9 helped by the encouragement of Rozanne and the Water Safety team, I felt a little more comfortable and got some energy back. It was a challenge for me but once I
completed I now know I have a time to beat. I was pleased they did not try to pull me out as I was too slow. So enjoyed it and the space blanket was a little over the top but better safe than
sorry…... They told me that a lot of people were pulled out as they were to cold so that is a bit of a victory for me.
I love the time; something to beat next year. 0:41:42 only 3 minutes behind the field. Will catch them next year.”

Well done, Charlie and Rozanne!

Prize-Fighters

This edition carries news of the Annual Andrew Bristow Awards. It is also worth noting that members of Achilles have been attracting accolades in other circles.

In November, Matt Levy was nominated as a finalist in the NSW Institute of Sport Awards. Although Matt did not win the award, he can be proud of being in such exalted company as Matthew Mitcham (the eventual winner) Jeff Huegill and Kurt Fearnley. (Matt, a world-class swimmer, has competed at the 2004 and 2008 Paralympics. In Beijing, he won Gold as part of the 4 x 100m relay team.)

Club President, Ellis Janks, was nominated for the 2010 Jewish News Community Hero Award. Ellis would never campaign on his own behalf. Despite this, he polled an impressive number of votes. To read more, connect via this link.

Earlier in the year, The Australian Fitness Network named sight-impaired John Domandl as the inaugural winner of the 2010 Inspiration of the Year Award. John (usually known as Johnny Dangerous) spent 2010 running the Six-Foot Track Marathon, The Gold Coast Marathon and the City to Surf (guided by Ellis). He also rode from Sydney to Brisbane on the back of his tandem bike. Rising to greater heights, Johnny skydived from 14,000 feet.

At the time of writing, Eamonn Kenihan is under consideration for a Macquarie Staff Community Award. Eamonn was the leader of the team that won the Sydney Tower Run. In doing so, the team won $5,000, which they promptly donated to Achilles. Since then, Eamonn and his team-mates have become Achilles volunteers. The Tower Run was featured in our October Achilles Heel newsletter.

Orange Is No Lemon

In March, the Achilles Club sent a team to the Orange Running Festival. (The trip was covered in the April newsletter.)

We had such a great time that it was agreed that we should make it an annual event for the club. In 2011 the Festival will be on Sunday 6^th March.

The featured events will be a half-marathon, 10K and a 5K family run/walk. This family-friendly Festival is organised by the Orange Runners. Their official website is here. However, at the time of writing, the Festival details have yet to be posted. During the coming weeks, event details will be added to the site. In addition, Achilles will keep members fully informed.

We plan to arrive in Orange on Saturday 5^th. In order that we can arrange the bus hire and the Orange accommodation, we will need to have a list of entrants by the end of January. We will contact you early in January to advise how to confirm your interest.

So, if you have not already booked yourself into the Women’s Day Concert at Hollywood Bowl or the Showtime Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in Amsterdam, write “Orange Running Festival” in your diary for March 5^th/6^th 2011.

VOLUNTEER ROSTER

Below is a provisional volunteer roster. If there are any members who are not on the roster can but wish to be, please let know by email - info@achilles-sydney.org.au .

Jan 30 - Marilyn Gould, Ian Cohen, Dan Barnett, Karen Parker. Volunteers Required

Feb 6 - Mark Houlihan, Stephen Lenn, Martin Ruane, Nikki Caminer.Volunteers Required

Feb 13 – Brian O’Dea, Peter Dabble, Diane Mcewin, Tori Ames. Extra Volunteers Required

Feb 20 –Colin Bradford, Ted Magen,Ian Cohen, Dan Barnett. Extra Volunteers Required

MISSION STATEMENT

"To enable people from all walks of life, including those with physical impairments, to enjoy the health giving benefits of walking and running in a supportive, social and encouraging environment."

LATEST EVENTS:

2nd-3rd March 2012 - Hollows Foundation Coastrek 2012

4th March 2012 - Orange Running Festival

14-15th April 2012 - Canberra Running Festival

29th April 2012 - Nissan/BRW Triathlon

13th May 2012 - Mothers Day Classic

20th May 2012 - Sydney Half Marathon

12th August 2012 - City to Surf