COMMUNITY BLOG.
While it wasn’t quite the weekend we had hoped for, we made the most of the opportunities presented to us! From Olympic team announcements to virtual marathons, this weekend had it all! As usual, it’s been a pleasure to witness the support from each person involved in this team whether it be in person or via messages from afar. Here’s my best attempt at a review that can perhaps be summarized as creating highs from lows!
The Athletics SA summer season of 2020/2021 produced some of the highest quality track races ever seen in this state. From 1500m to 10 000m, and including the steeplechase, Athletics SA athletes put on some truly world class performances for Adelaide track fans to witness on their own doorstep. For the most part, there were no real surprises. National Junior medallists broke through in the senior ranks, and classy seniors made the most of long blocks of training without racing due to the restrictions of the 2020 Covid pandemic. However, one new athlete did manage to turn heads at April’s edition of the 3000m state championships on the track.
It’s a public holiday on Monday to celebrate a certain monarch’s special day, but that has nothing to do with the title of this review. Happy Birthday to one of the RunAsOne originals Anna Kovac! Anna was joined by a large group of her team mates at Pakapakanthi today to celebrate! Elsewhere, Coach Riley had a great run in Tasmania which provided an added topic of conversation on the group long run, while other conversation was dominated by a review of all things cross country running after round 3 of the Athletics SA winter season took place yesterday. Here’s another weekend in review for RunAsOne!
Wow! What a weekend. It’s been a wet and windy start to winter for the RunAsOne team, which has resulted in an urgent bulk order of RAO gloves being made! However, the last weekend in May of 2021 might go down as our most memorable ever. Now you might be thinking that I say this in every blog; and you’d be correct. However, the efforts and many successes of this team never ceases to amaze me! They’ve continued to show up in some of the most miserable conditions to run, and together, they’ve put in the work required to reap the rewards. So, my statement stands: this weekend was our best yet! Let me tell you why..
On what was perhaps RunAsOne’s busiest weekend so far, runners competed across three main events both locally, and interstate. On Friday, some of our superstar trail runners tackled the 22km event at the Ultra Trail Australia event in the Blue Mountains. Next up, a number of our team mates tested their leg speed over a much shorter, 3 x 3.6km relay at the opening event of the Athletics SA winter season. On the same day, the 50km event at UTA started, before Scott Smith toed the line destined to see 100km worth of what the Blue Mountains trails had to offer! While Scott’s journey kept the RunAsOne social media groups busy, and everyone keeping their phones close for updates, some of the more inspired headed south to the Great Southern Run Fest. Here, we were represented in the 10km and 21.1km events on the incredibly scenic course that started and finished at Aldinga Beach.
May means Mother’s Day, so cheers to all the running mums who all play such a pivotal role in creating and maintaining such a caring, supportive, and motivating community at RunAsOne!
In 2021 the Wings for Life World Run returns to Victoria Park Raceway in Adelaide. The event will once again play host to hundreds of walkers, runners, and wheelchair participants with the same goal of raising funds and awareness for spinal cord research. The team at RunAsOne are excited to be taking part this year, and the event will be a particularly special occasion for our teammate Clair Crowley whose husband Scott has been an ambassador for the event since 2018. Ahead of this year’s event, Scott has been generous enough to offer his time to discuss the Wings for Life Initiative, but to also share with us the incredibly inspiring life he has had, and continues to lead, as someone living with a spinal cord injury.
Recently, I asked a number of RunAsOne athletes to respond to a survey detailing their motivation for consistent early morning group sessions! The surveyed runners ranged from teachers and university students, to business owners and managers, health care workers, and people in marketing! While it is no secret to us that the strength and unity within our group stems from its diversity, perhaps the most significant point to make for a summary of these survey responses is that all respondents lead similarly busy lives! Therefore, I hold hope that this blog serves the purpose of inspiring others to make running part of their lives despite the often seemingly impossible task of finding time to fit it in!