Over the next few months we will feature links to interesting articles about running and training.

However, we will not just look at numbers like distance x reps x times. Like anything in life, mental approach and the all manner of surrounding factors (eating, sleeping, support, etc) play a huge part.

The first such article is a follow up to the video posted on this site a week ago. It features an interview with Herb Elliot, focusing in particular on his eccentric coach, Percy Cerutty. It was first broadcast on Radio National in 2001, but this transcript is taken from coolrunning.com.au. It includes plenty of interesting facts about Cerutty's approach and other insights about what it took to reach the top of the athletics world, including:

"...I've never seen anything quite so remorseless, or quite so unstoppable as that. And it inspired me, all the nasty bits, and I thought 'Oh, I wouldn't mind doing that to somebody'..."

"...he seemed to be more interested in using your sport to develop you into a better human being, than he did in using your sport to become a world champion. I mean he somehow or other put your sport into a much larger context than just running around in circles faster than anybody else...And he showed me a way that I could be a better person, which was to use the skill that I had which was running, and provided that, and this is where I asked him the question. I said, 'Well how do I become a better person by running round in circles?' And he said, 'You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone.'"

"...there are two things which all champions have in common, maybe more than two, but two I can talk about straight off. One is that every champion is a person who accepts responsibility totally for their own sporting destiny; and the other one is the quality versus quantity issue...'You have to be utterly and totally independent and you must accept total responsibility for what it is that you're going to do on that day and all of the processes that we're going to get you there.'"

To read the full article click here. More to follow in the weeks ahead...

Ten St Kevin's athletes ran the 10km Orchard Handicap at Albert Park Lake on Saturday in very mild conditions.

The stand out efforts were the two Top 10 finishers on scratch: Mark De Luca, with the 3rd fastest time of the day, in 33m50s and Chris Bridge, with the 9th fastest time of 35m59s.

Also good to see the return of Nick O'Halloran after a 5 year absence from winter competition. It is fair to say that Nick might have felt a little pain in the last couple of kilometres, but his 45 minute time was not too shabby and he is well on his way back. New to the APSOC competition was Vincent Mah, jumping straight into one of the longer events and putting in a solid debut effort.

Sadly, the handicap was not so kind to SKAAC, with Mark also our best placed athlete in that category, in 13th place, while most of our athletes finished lower in the handicap than in the scratch results. The exceptions were Nick O'Neill and Stephanie McDonald, whose outperformance on the handicap evidences their improvement this season.

Full results for SKAAC athletes (placings in brackets are scratch/handicap) were:

Mark De Luca - 33m50s (3rd/13th)
Chris Bridge - 35m59s (9th/31st)
Dino Imbriano - 41m22s (28th/73rd)
Andrew Thomas - 41m57s (30th/45th)
Nick O'Neill - 43m17s (39th/21st)
Nick O'Halloran - 45m19s (47th/85th)
Patrick Noonan - 47m30s (59th/88th)
Lincoln Mah - 53m30s (84th/97th)
Vincent Mah - 53m31s (inv)
Stephanie McDonald - 56m39s (92nd/34th)

Full results are available on the APSOC Results Page

Next up this Saturday is the AV SKINS 10km Road Race at Sandown, one of the biggest AV events of the year.

The following Saturday is the 8km McPhail at Yarra Bend. As a genuine cross country course, in a very accessible location and over a very do-able distance, we encourage everyone to get along to this one. Although it's not a teams event, it's a great chance to catch up with those who might otherwise struggle to make it on Saturday afternoons - the earlier start (9.30am!), while admittedly a little painful, leaves the rest of the day free for other commitments.

One from the history books for middle distance devotees.

These days, he is chairman of the Fortescue Metals Group. But 49 years ago, Herb Elliot was a 22 year old who had never been beaten over 1500m or the mile.

Olympic gold in world record time, leading from half way, winning by the biggest ever margin in the event at any Olympics:

A great effort by several of the club's junior members at the the All Schools Cross Country Relay Championships (running for St Kevin's College), with the highlight being the U16 team's win:

This Saturday's event is the Ken Orchard Handicap at Albert Park Lake.

As a 10km handicap event (rather than a teams race) it does not have quite the same competitive element of some other races. Instead it offers a good solid hit out at another classic Melbourne running circuit around the lake.


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Club member Brosie McCann is putting together a team for the RunMelbourne event on 28 June as part of fundraising efforts for CanTeen Australia. If you are thinking of running the event, we encourage you to answer Brosie's call and get on board with the CanTeen team:







"A shout out to all those in the SKAAC community who are or were thinking about participating in the RunMelbourne event on 28th June at Federation Sq.

I’m currently putting together a team to run or walk in the event representing the CanTeen Organisation and in the process raise money for this charity that supports young people whose lives have been affected by cancer.

CanTeen not only supports young people who have cancer themselves but also those who have a family member who had cancer or who has passed away from cancer.

If you decide to challenge yourself and want to help make a difference to these young lives then please join me by signing up for the CanTeen Team by registering yourself at www.everydayhero.com.au/event/runmelbourne09 and then book your spot in the event at the RunMelbourne official site.

It only takes a little effort but every time one person gets involved it makes the life of someone else that much better!

If you have any questions or help you can offer please don’t hesitate to contact me at brosie.mccann@canteen.org.au or 0403226216"

Mark De Luca was the fastest athlete home in the the grueling Hare & Hounds cross country event in Berwick on Saturday with other top ten performances for St Kevin's by Peter Shearman (9th) and Regan Logan (6th female).

It was also great to see St Kevin's have two athletes finish high up in the handicap results. Stephanie McDonald and Mark De Luca in 2nd and 3rd placings, respectively.

Times were as follows:

De Luca, Mark - 28:27.5
Shearman, Peter - 31:54.1
Kozica, Jason - 34:34.5
Keel, Christian - 35:21.4
Neylon, Robert - 35:31.5
Logan, Regan - 37:03.5
Mah, Lincoln - 37:45.1
O'Neill, Nick - 38:14.8
McDonald, Stephanie - 48:42.6

Full Hare & Hounds results are now posted on the APSOC Results Page.

Training continues on the ovals at St Kevin's College each Tuesday and Thursday evening. Last night's session was attended by about a dozen athletes, with the first group starting at 5.15pm and a second group of late arrivals starting shortly after 6.00pm.

It goes without saying that, no matter what your standard, running with a group and having an expert coach on hand is a much more enjoyable and effective way to get fit and reach your goals. Several club members have existing training arrangements, but for everyone else we encourage you to come down and join in for a session of two (or more) - all welcome!

The next training session will be on Thursday evening, followed by each following Tuesday and Thursday - meet at the old grandstand on the No 1 oval (just beyond the pavilion along the driveway). For any queries, feel free to call Peter Kehoe on 0420 959 406 or Patrick Noonan on 0419 882 707.

A great run by Geoff Holden at the Athletics Victoria 8km Cross Country Championship race at Warragul, finishing 3rd in the 55+ age group with a time of 32m42s. Full results are available at the AV Results Page.

Full Dyson results are now posted on the APSOC Results Page.

Some great individual results, with top 10 performances from Mark De Luca (7th), Regan Logan (9th woman) and Xavier Chapman (10th). Times were as follows:

De Luca, Mark - 11.59
Chapman, Xavier - 12.05
Shearman, Peter - 13.27
Logan, Regan - 14.10
Kozica, Jason - 14.46
Keel, Christian - 14.48
Murphy, Nicholas - 14.52
Neylon, Robert - 14.59
Lynch, Joe - 15.05
Mah, Lincoln - 15.07
Thomas, Andrew - 15.09
O'Neill, Nick - 15.26
Noonan, Patrick - 15.51
McDonald, Ben - 16.32
Cornwell, Chloe - 16.35
McDonald, Simone - 18.50
McDonald, Stephanie - 20.18

Overall, we had the equal 4th largest contingent among the 9 clubs. However, in the absence of several of out best athletes, we lacked depth. Our No 1 team (9th in Div 1) in particular could have comfortably improved 4 or 5 places with just one more top athlete - a little disappointing, but we should improve on this at the next teams race on 13 June. Our No 2 team (9th in Div 2) and Women's team (8th) finished with solid times, but also down the rankings this time around.

This weekend it is the AV 8km and 6km cross country championships in Warragul, followed by the APSOC Hare & Hounds next weekend in Berwick, before a return to the city, with the Orchard Handicap at Albert Park on 23 May.

A promising effort at the Dyson, with 17 athletes filling 3 teams (two men's teams and a women's team), with a couple of extra athletes joining in the "all in" run at 70 minutes.

Highlights included:
- Regan Logan's first leg for the women's team, in 14m09s, improving her PB by 21s;
- Mark De Luca leading the men's team out in 11m59s, followed by Xavier Chapman with 12m05s, to be in second place overall at the second change;
- Great intent shown by the likes of Nick Murphy, Christian Keel, Jason Kozica, Peter Shearman and Andrew Thomas, not all at peak fitness by their own standards, but putting in solid times;
- Chloe Cornwall's PB (admittedly, Chloe Hardman ran faster, but not by much and that was 17 years and a couple of babies ago); and
- Joe Lynch, returning after so long that even the APSOC computer had forgotten him (in a very casual looking 15m05s).
Full results will follow as soon as they are available.