2022 August Tan Time Trial Results

Firstly, let’s deal with just the numbers. When sharing this achievement with some other long time VRR runners after the Tan including Syd Bone and Rowan Cole, there was talk of the good old days, when our times were incredible and the bodies all in one piece. Most of the time. We talked about simple stats and what they might reveal. So here is the table of each of the groups of 100 tans. That makes percentage stats very easy.

* It should be noted here that sometimes 400 is not 400. To explain this conundrum, there was a challenge thrown out in the early days of the handicap Tans. A number of runners were on large handicaps, in some cases over 20 minutes. What do fit, competitive runners do for a challenge? They suggest running a 4km lap quickly, then back up for the handicapped 8km. Effectively 12km, at pace in one day. I am almost certain it was Peter Fields idea. So I was one of the first runners to accept the challenge. This means I have 16 4km runs which count towards my 400 total, as well as my 8km runs. My best time for the 4km? 14 minutes 10 seconds in my first run. Followed by an 8km in 32 minutes and 18 seconds. So effectively 46 minutes 28 seconds for 12 km. This happened in December 1994.

I have only ever run one 4km Tan, when 8km was an option. That was in November 2010. I walked the whole way. The reason? I suffered a heart attack in September and was just beginning my recovery following open heart surgery. I often joke now that it took less time to get back to running after that, than when I had my ACL operation in my football days.

What else can be said about 400 tans? I still clearly remember my first one with Road Runners. We were completing the second lap of the 8km. I had been keeping pace with another VRR runner. It was actually Greig McEwan. It had been a struggle to keep up with him and a real effort to draw level, with an aim to hopefully pass him before the end.

The next action, from Greig, is why the Road Runners are such a special group. Instead of putting on a burst or gritting his teeth, he simply turned to me and said, “If you want to break 30 minutes, then you will need to catch Rowan. He’s the next runner ahead of us.” So I left Greig and did chase down Rowan Cole. And yes I did break 30 minutes!

The number of times I have been trying my hardest to pass or catch a runner and at the end there has been that sort of comment. “Well done you pushed me hard today.” Or “Thanks I needed your help on the hill.” Simply supportive and yet still competitive. That’s the way I love my sport, not just running.

Over the years, there have been some unusual happenings. At one stage, we had to run the tan as an out and back. One of the majestic trees lining the course had been affected by the weather and had started to tilt over. So it was up to the tree, turn around, complete the loop and return around the tan. Unfortunately, someone’s car was under the tree. Not a pretty sight at all. On another occasion in 1995, the Tan event was moved to Fawkner Park, for either Moomba or another major event. A couple of VRR die-hards refused to be beaten, going to the Tan to complete an unbeaten run. Have you ever heard of the B 46s? It was a running group that ran before the real Tan. As far as I know, it consisted of helpers for the Tan including one former president. There were others who just wanted the challenge of extra laps to build up the kilometres in their legs. You may have heard Mike’s boast about dry weather at 7:30am on the first Saturday of every month. We do have an almost perfect record for the Tan. But there was a day where the weather was so bad that even when a number of people turned up, the run was officially cancelled. The date was not the middle of winter, but February 5^th 2011. The track itself was the reason, with huge washed out areas, making it a challenge to run safely. As I joked with Mike, maybe a Bakers Dozen t-shirt was a possibility with those who turned up completing the rescheduled Tan on March 19^th as well.

I have run or walked the Tan with all of my 3 daughters at least once. Many of the VRR members would know Petrice who has run many of the Tans with me before going on to beat me more often than not. Age offers no favours. My new partner Julie is aiming to make her Tan debut soon and perhaps her son Asha as well. The first one will be special.

The attraction the Tan holds is hard to explain. The challenge it presents still draws you in. Can you run well? Do you stick to a pace or just try to get to the finish line? The warm up, the welcome to new runners, the old friends you can chat to all add to the special place it has for me and so many others. Who knows how many more are still to be run?

• Right ankle sore
• Sore right calf
• Tight left calf

In the February 1995 Tan, I pulled a hamstring at 6 km (approx. Gate H of the Botanic Gardens).   I hobbled to the end (the car was parked there) in a time of 66:19 ☹.  Finally, a month later, I was diagnosed with a prolapsed disc, which put me out of running for the best part of eight years.  Initially I was told I would require surgery, and would likely never run again.  I remember though, that Greg McEwan and Syd Bone in particular encouraged me, and suggested that I would ultimately return to running.  I dutifully did stretching and strengthening exercises day and night for years, and avoided those who suggested surgery.
I started running again in 2003, having gained over 20 kg., attending only intermittent Tans due to recurring injuries.
Whilst trying to return to consistent running, I had constant issues with sore / swollen Achilles and calves.  At one point I followed concurrent advice from a physio and chiro to get orthotics, which may have eased some problems, but created others (foot sitting too high in the heel counter, blisters), and wore ‘motion control runners’ that felt like straight jackets for my feet.  With a variety of exercises, they helped me run until 2018, at which time I experienced tears in my calf and soleus in separate events – more on that to come later.  My running was more consistent from late 2007, with times ranging up to 46 minutes (5’45”/km), and a PB for the new millennium of 37:54 (4’44”/km) in 2012.
Standout memories of my time running with VRR include:

• Mum driving me to the first Jells Park run, because I was on my learners.Being a ‘flatland’ (Bayside runner), I found the Jells Park hills somewhat challenging.It’s curious what some runners like and don’t like.I’ve learnt to train for and tolerate hills, because lots of runs have hills, especially the Great Train Race.Because I have run at the beach for the whole of my life, I take wind as being normal (a non-windy run is a bonus), whereas I know some other runners who live and train in the protection of hills hate the wind.
• Dad coming with me to time trials (with me driving on L or P lates), and then going to Georgiana’s restaurant at the St Kilda Travelodge afterwards for a full hot breakfast.
• I ran a Time Trial on the morning of my wedding in 1993 (surely a pretty normal thing to do) and orchestrated the honeymoon ever so slightly to return in time to run the next month.
• Being pushed, achieving more than I ever would by myself, when competing with other VRR members in a variety of VRR and non-VRR events
• I clearly remember pacing with John Hall in the 1984 DOXA fun run, 12.73 km from Albert Park to Elwood Beach, which led me to a faster time than I ever imagined of 47 min 40 sec (3’45”/km) – if the distance is true.
• At the other end of the spectrum, I unwittingly participated in the 1983 Apex and Lions Clubs Mount Abrupt Fun Run (near Dunkeld in Western Victoria).After staring on the local horse racing track (which was full of divots), like the other participants I made like a mountain goat and went up and down the fire trails of Mt Abrupt, with the time of 2 hours and 2 minutes for the (I think) 10 km course (12’12” per km!).
• There was also a series of VRR “Track Trots” in conjunction with the Box Hill Athletics Club. During the 1984/5 season. in a 5,000 m, I remember being the leading VRR member, valiantly chasing the trailing Box Hill member!It is hard now to imagine that I ran 16’10” for 5,000 m. Two weeks later the best I could do in the same event was 17’36 for 5 km.Although 16’10” is clearly written in my diary, I do wonder whether it is a lap (approx.. 40 seconds) short.
• I remember various Winelands and Princes Park Half marathons
• The Flinders fun run, through the golf course there (about the only time I’ve been on a golf course), with wind coming off Bass Strait and hills
• I remember winning a medal (2^nd open male for the season) at a VRR presentation night in the 1980s– the first and only athletics medal I have ever achieved.I’m sure that a younger me, and no one at school, would ever have believed that.
• Whilst not a VRR event, I also have fond and other memories of the Train Race.Really rather a simple race, there is only one hill, which starts soon after the downhill start and goes most of the way until the end (ok, there’s a bit of poetic licence in there).I managed to beat the train on a few occasions, but it beat me more times.One year I tripped on my own laces (long story), to the extent that I fell over quite spectacularly.Having got up, dusted myself off and started running again (with encouragement and support of the runners around me), stuff me if I didn’t do the same thing and trip over myself again about a km down the road.One of the loops of my laces had been stretched and was flapping more than normal, and I threaded my toe thru it, so over I went again, only heavier this time.At this point I was really annoyed with myself (insert multiple expletives) and tied my laces in macrame knots never to be undone again, and stormed off angrily to the finish.When I got home, my wife asked why I had run in pink socks.I looked down to see both grazed knees had bled enough to turn my white socks pink.
• At another Train Race, I had willed myself to the start line, thinking that I had done enough to prepare myself for the hills.Nature proved otherwise, it was a very rare ‘DNF’, as I pulled out a few kilometres into the race (before Menzies Creek) with two very swollen Achilles (to the extent that they needed medical attention from St John’s Ambulance).That took a long time to recover from.
• I managed to run one Sydney City to Surf in 2004.I caught a 6:00 am flight on the morning of the race wearing a track suit over my running gear, and took a taxi to my strategically chosen hotel which was across the park from the start line.In the lobby I stripped off to my running gear, popped my track suit in my luggage and checked it in at the concierge (I was there for work for the next two days), and jogged across to the start line in plenty of time.The first few km was a mass of people and as much walking as running.It was also a lot warmer and more humid than training had been in Melbourne winter.

In the 1980s and 1990s, I tended to run at night during the week, after work or after dinner, sometimes when it was quite late after studying, often when it was dark, going out at anything up to 11 pm.  I only tripped over once, on the beach track I know so well.  I miss counted the 13 steps on the way to Sandringham Yacht Club, tripped on the last one, skinned a knee, and finished off the 6 km of the 8km that I had started.  I went home, showered, went to bed and headed off to work the next morning.  My wife phoned me at work to ask what had happened, because it looked like some had been murdered in bed.  In the Naughties (early 2000s), I reverted to running in the morning during the week (Tuesday and Thursday), which is dark in the winter.  I tripped at exactly the same location some years later, and taped a handkerchief over my bloodied knees under my suit when I went to work.
There was the Sandy Point to Point 10 km, where the wind (and rain) was that strong it below over the trestle tables at the drink stations (let alone the paper cups filled with water!).
I travelled extensively for work between 2005 and 2019, and took my running kit if I thought there was an opportunity to run.  As a result, with work I have run in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Leonora – Gwalia, Kalgoorlie, Solomon Islands, Simberi Island in Papua New Guinea, Miami, at altitude in Denver (elev: 1,600 m ‘mile high city’) and Beaver Creek (elev: 2,460 m) in the USA, London and Zurich.
As some know, since late 2018 I have been transitioning to minimalist or barefoot running.  I’ve had a couple of significant setbacks (with 5 months off running late in 2021), but the vital signs are promising.  I ran my first 8 km Tan since 2018 recently, with hopefully many more to come.
Running has helped me navigate stressful times during my life, providing thinking and alone time and, quite simply, makes me happy.
Thank you to everyone associated with starting and maintaining VRR.  It would be hard to image the last 40 years without you.