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A friendly reminder that fees for 2025 are now due.
VRR charges a nominal membership fee as it does not receive any sponsorship but needs to cover such costs as public liability insurance (~$1,200), tea and coffee for Tans, 12 TTT and milestone tee-shirts, plaques for milestones and trophies. The Blue Bucket at the Tan for voluntary donations helps also helps to cover costs.
The membership fee for 2025 is unchanged at $20 for individuals, $10 for juniors, $40 for families (2 adults plus all children) with country members (greater than 100k from the GPO) half of these fees. Junior members are those aged under 18 years as at 1 January 2025.
Payment via EFT is preferred, to:
VRR
Westpac
BSB 033-034
A/c 628622
Please include your full name and membership number in the reference field.
For completeness, please also send a confirmation email with the subject “VRR Membership Renewal” with your details to vrrcontact@gmail.com.
Alternatively, you can pay by cash (no cheques!) in a sealed envelope with your name and membership number at the Tan and pass it to me or one of the Committee. If you need one, a membership form is available at www.vrr.org.au/membership/.
See you at the Tan!
Many thanks and happy running
Rowan Cole – VRR treasurer |
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President’s Tan Talk – March 2025
The first morning of autumn (which so far still feels mostly like summer) was a great morning for a run around the Tan.
200+ Tan Time Trialler Bryan Kelly, who for some years has lived in Wollongong, joined us for the TTT, as he does when he visits Melbourne.
The 2024 Tan Twelve Timer t-shirts were delivered, and we ask recipients to wear them for the April Tan so that we can get a photo.
The big question for the morning was whether the VRR caps that we are having made should be white with blue printing or blue with white printing, with the vote being close to 50/50. Wait and see what we go with…
Members were advised that this year’s Angela Taylor Memorial Run/Walk will be on Sunday 13 April, at the now usual location at Albert Park Lake. We created the run in 1989 in memory of Police Constable Angela Rose Taylor, killed in the Russell Street bombing, and this year’s run is the 36th. We need about 10-12 volunteers to marshal the course, which can have more than 1,000 participants, so we would greatly appreciate you volunteering. We need marshals to be there at 7:15am, finishing around 10:15am. Please text me on 0411191115 to advise that you can help us out.
As noted elsewhere, our AGM will be held at the April Tan. The financial info is set out below, effectively we broke even, are in a good financial position, and the year went well. The AGM should not take more than a few minutes. We would welcome any member who would like to join the committee, or to give us a hand informally. We actually need a secretary, which would not be overly time-consuming.
See below the brief story about the Comrades Ultramarathon, which a number of our members have run over the years.
See you next month,
Michael
VRR President |
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| Ed. VRR President, Michael Kennedy competed in a triathlon event the day after the TTT and placed third in his age group.
Congratulations, Michael. |
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| The photos below are just a few of the ones posted on facebook by the club photographer, Helen Myall (thanks heaps, Helen) |
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| Some very determined faces at the start of the March 2025 Tan Time Trial |
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Bryan Kelly is a longstanding VRR member who we only see occasionally when he is visiting Melbourne from his base in Wollongong.
Great to see you, Bryan. |
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Cynthia Ellery is a regular participant in the 4km walk/run. |
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| Liz Wrigley (L) and Kim Owens (R) look to be in deep discussion climbing the Myer music bowl mountain dogleg. |
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| Wearing an eye-catching top like that, Russell Bulman was an odds-on favourite to have his photo included in Stride Out! A good choice, Russell. |
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The VRR Annual General Meeting for the year ended 31st December 2024 will be held immediately after the April TTT.
It’s a very (very) short meeting and all members would be very welcome.
Below are the draft Financial Statements that will be presented at the meeting. |
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Over the years, a number of VRR members have travelled to South Africa to participate in the ‘Comrades Ultramarathon’.
Comrades is run over an 88km course between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, with the direction alternating each year.
The event is famous for its scenery, hills, traditions and camaraderie.
Here is an interesting story which we thought that VRR members may enjoy reading.
In 1959 David Martin ran the Comrades Marathon (Down Run) for the first time. “I entered the night before the race with my friend Billy James on an impulse, having never run a single yard in training. We were in high spirits after sharing a few beers”.
In those days, the race had to be completed within 11 hours. “I really thought it was doable.” However, David recalls that: “Midway down Fields Hill, my friend Billy seized up. That hill damn nearly eliminated me too because I collapsed at the bottom and couldn’t stand up. It seemed the race would end there, but some pals who happened to be at that spot flatly disallowed me to quit”.
David managed to make it to Kings Park, and he finished at 10:55:28 with a few minutes to spare. In 70th position (out of 103 who started the race) he was the last to finish and was awarded the Geraldine Watson Trophy.
David recalls that the next day while hobbling into a shop on Church Street in Pietermaritzburg, the shop owner remarked: “That man ran the marathon yesterday”. to which a customer responded, “My God, and he’s a cripple too!”.
David is now 89 years old and living in Stellenbosch. Thank you for sharing your story with us David! |
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VRR LIFE MEMBERS
Stephen Barker, Kevin Browne (dec), Sally Browne, Tony Doran, Graham Edwards, Jenny Field, Peter Field, Vern Gerlach (dec), Peter Gunn (dec.), Don Hampshire (dec.), Eileen Helmers (dec), Frank Helmers (dec), Betty Horskins, Graeme Horskins, Mike Kennedy, Lynn Kisler, Greig McEwan, Ross Martin (dec), Vin Martin, John Morris, Helen Myall, Peter Nicoll, Bill Noonan, Brian O’Dea, Rod Opie, Graham Prossor, Melissa Groves, Doug Stokes, Brian Toomey (dec.), Stuart White, Robert Wilson, Judy Wines (dec.), Tom Worrell (dec) and Val Worrell. |
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Can you ask your running friends if they are receiving their email copy of Stride Out.
If they aren’t, can you get them to send me an email (gprossor@bigpond.net.au) asking to be put on the distribution list. |
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| RUN CALENDAR AUSTRALIA
Run Calendar Australia now list VRR runs plus lots of other runs.
Visit their website at runcalendar.com.au
or tweet them – @runcalendarau |
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| RUN CALENDAR AUSTRALIA
Run Calendar Australia now list VRR runs plus lots of other runs.
Visit their website at runcalendar.com.au
or tweet them – @runcalendarau |
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