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President’s Tan Talk – July 2026
As most VRR members are aware, because of a potential car parking clash with the World Cup Soccer match being shown on live screens at AAMI park and Federation Square, for the July TTT we relocated to our original start-finish location at the Maltese War Memorial in Birdwood Avenue near the rear of the Shrine, and encouraged members to wear their oldest (or most daggy) running tee-shirts or singlets, which many did.
In my pre-run intro I peeled off my layers of old tops, (to the tune of someone ’singing’ the stripper music) showing a 24 year old World Masters Games jacket, a VRR windcheater of similar age, my 36 year old, early days AFL Umpires tee-shirt, original AFL logo) and a 40-year-old VRR long-sleeve tee-shirt with the original VRR logo.
(The difference being that the original logo has a shoelace, and the toe of the shoe is solid blue. The slight re-design was done so that the “vrr” in the shoe logo would be more apparent. The reality is, most people never notice!!)
Unsurprisingly, Stephen Barker had the oldest singlet, dating from the 1982 Melbourne Marathon, with Grant Padula wearing his marathon singlet from 1984. (Congratulations to Grant on celebrating a “big birthday”). As is shown in Helen’s great photos, many members proudly wore their old tops, including Sally Browne wearing one of her dad Kevin’s. In my chat I mentioned that Kevin used to organise the mid-week Tan marathon training runs to run the other way because the blokes used to like seeing all the females running towards them. (Note, this is many years ago, probably wouldn’t be PC these days!)
Lots of interesting reminisces were shared, evidence of how attached we all are to our running memories, and the people we shared them with. There were a few of the original VRR singlets, (narrow horizon stripes on top, perforated bottom half with thick, vertical stripes) which, after many years of regular wear, are now virtually transparent.
On a related story, for the second Saturday in a row I ran into long-time VRR member Kevin Horrigan at South Melbourne Market, (see photo). He had just run 400th Parkrun, congratulations Kevin! The previous Saturday he had told me that, despite not having run with VRR for many years, he is still a member so that he can read Stride Out. When I saw him after the TTT on Saturday he was interested to know how the “Back to the Future” day had gone. (VRR is a bit like Hotel California, you can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!!) There is support for the idea of making the old clothes day an annual event. |
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| 200 Tan Time Trial runner John Rolls was congratulated on his milestone achievement, a great effort over many years. (Ed. Photo below)
And finally, despite our temporary relocation, we had a TTT first-timer, Sebastian Nicht who was welcomed appropriately. (Ed. Luckily, Sebastian arrived at our usual starting position with enough time to spare for him to get across to the relocated position – there were also a couple of members who missed the email but also made the switch in time for the start)
See you next month,
Michael Kennedy,
VRR President |
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VRR President, Michael Kennedy (R) presented John Rolls with his 200th TTT award at the July.TTT.
Congratulations John. |
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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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Start of the July 2026 TTT
( 49 participants in total ) |
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Because of a potential car parking clash with the World Cup Soccer match being shown on live screens at AAMI park and Federation Square, the start/finish of the July TTT was shifted around to our original site at the Maltese War Memorial in Birdwood Avenue near the rear of the Shrine.
This change of location was the perfect opportunity to ‘go back to the past’ and members were encouraged to wear their oldest running t-shirts/singlets.
I’m happy to report that the concept was embraced by many members as you can see from the photos below. |
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| John Morris ‘claimed’ that the t-shirt had ‘shrunk’ |
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| Debra Robb dug out a t-shirt from 1998, |
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| Sally Browne dug out one of her dad’s (Kevin) old t-shirts. |
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| Stephen Barker with a 1982 Melbourne Marathon singlet. |
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| Club photographer, Helen Myall must have arranged a ‘selfie’. Her windcheater is from one of the early Melbourne Marathons. |
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| Grant Padula sporting a 1984 Melbourne Marathon singlet |
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| VRR have received sponsorship over the past couple of months from City Precinct.
City Precinct is a business network for small & medium sized businesses in the postcode 3000, funded by The City of Melbourne.
As membership of City Precinct costs only $100, its membership is really diverse – cafes, tour operators, artists, milliners, jewelers etc.
In particular, VRR has benefited from the support of City Precinct member, Brunetti Oro 1956 located at 250 Flinders Lane in the city. Brunetti Oro and City Precinct have supplied the focaccias that we have been enjoying after the last couple of events.
City Precinct are also promoting VRR to their members on their website.
If any VRR member operates a business in the CBD then please consider joining this business network.
The website address is:
www.cityprecinct.com.au |
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| City Precinct Member Offer |
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VRR members who work in the CBD may be interested in this offer..
Little Lon Distilling Co..are located at 17 Casselden Place, Melbourne.
The describe themselves as ‘A small gin distillery located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. We serve up delicious cocktails from our tiny bar – all in a heritage listed cottage’.
(note they open at 4pm except for Sat which is 2pm – closed Sun) |
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| PUFFING BILLY RUNNING FESTIVAL:
2026 ENTRIES OPENED ON 18 JUNE
Interested ?
Click on the button for all the details |
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VRR LIFE MEMBERS
Stephen Barker, Kevin Browne*, Sally Browne, Tony Doran, Graham Edwards, Jenny Field, Peter Field, Vern Gerlach*, Peter Gunn*, Don Hampshire*, Eileen Helmers*, Frank Helmers*, Betty Horskins, Graeme Horskins, Mike Kennedy, Lynn Kisler, Greig McEwan, Ross Martin*, Vin Martin, John Morris, Helen Myall, Peter Nicoll*, Bill Noonan, Brian O’Dea, Rod Opie, Graham Prossor, Melissa Groves, Doug Stokes, Brian Toomey*, Stuart White, Robert Wilson, Judy Wines*, Tom Worrell* and Val Worrell.
(* dec) |
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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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