When and where do you train?
We hold weekly training sessions on most Sundays, rain or shine. We meet on Hospital Road at the rear of the Sydney Eye Hospital at 8.00am.
Occasionally, we meet at Centennial Park as a result of road-closures for events in the CBD.
Additionally, training is occasionally cancelled because of our participation in a major community event.
Transfers and cancellations known to us in advance are listed on the Sydney Events page.
Members will be advised when other cancellations or transfers are necessary.
How do I get to training?
Many of our volunteers drive and parking is available on Hospital Road.
If you are driving, on your arrival please ask us for a parking permit to display on your windscreen. These permits allow Achilles volunteers free parking for the duration of training.
However, if you arrive at Hospital Road before our member with the parking permits, please stay within sight of your vehicle. The Parking Rangers are out and about on Sunday mornings. If they approach your vehicle, you can explain that an Achilles member will be arriving with a permit in the next few minutes.
How long is a training session?
We walk or run for about an hour in the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain. The distance, time and pace that you will run for will be agreed with the member with disability that you are assigned to.
What does training involve?
Able-bodied members are paired with members with a disability. We assign guides according to their interest and ability, so no-one need do more than they feel capable of.
If there are no guides available to match the pace of a speedier member with a disability, that member will be happy to run/walk at the slower pace of any available guide.
As one blind runner said, 'This is 100% better training than a treadmill, and 1000% more interesting'.
If there are more guides than people who need guiding, guides will typically join other groups for a run or a walk.
We aim to make Achilles a social environment for our members to exercise in. So “the more the merrier” for most of our members.
After exercising, we meet back on the Art Gallery steps. We usually provide a cup of tea or coffee to enjoy while everyone has a social chat.
Watch this short video here put together by Achilles International on how to guide
Am I guaranteed a run at training?
No. Your pace at training will be dictated by the members with disability that turn up on the day. If you want to run and there are members who also want to run we’ll try and pair you up. But that run could be a lot shorter and slower than you would normally do. So please don’t rely on our training sessions as one of your usual running days. Typically our runner volunteers treat it as a rest day.
What if I can’t run?
Whether you’re just not a runner or you are a runner carrying an injury we still welcome you at Achilles.
We have a number of members with a disability that don’t run and rely on our volunteers to assist them on a walk instead.
Who are your members?
Our members (volunteer guides and members with a disability) range in age from 18 to 70+. We have anywhere from 10 to 40+ people attending our weekly Sunday sessions. People with disabilities who attend training may be vision-impaired, mobility handicapped etc. They walk, jog or run at various speeds.
Consequently, some of our volunteers need only walk with a member with a disability, while other volunteers may guide one of our running members with a disability.
We have several vision-impaired members who race regularly, have run ultramarathons or completed endurance events such as climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.
Do I have to come every weekend?
No. We welcome all levels of engagement from our volunteers and members. Whilst many of our volunteers and members turn up most Sundays we also have a large base of casual members who come less regularly.
While we occasionally have a roster for volunteer guides for our Sunday sessions, we do rely on others to show up. We have no way of knowing how many members with a disability will turn up at each session, and high attendance often means that we need more guides than those rostered.
So, if you would like to volunteer but can only attend irregularly and cannot commit to a roster, you will be very welcome (and needed).
What else does Achilles do?
Our members regularly participate in walking and running events such as City to Surf, half marathons, marathons and many community events.
We also organise occasional bush walks.
In addition to the weekly training sessions, we can organise extra training runs at other mutually convenient times and locations, especially when major events are coming up.
Sometimes we arrange social events, such as breakfast after the run or dinner before an event if we're staying overnight.
How can I guide in an event?
Our number one goal in events is for our members to feel safe and have fun. This means that they need to be paired with experienced guides who know how to keep them safe in events.
Hence it’s very unlikely that you will be a single guide in an event without having attended at least a few training sessions.
Guides new to events or new to guiding will likely get the opportunity to guide in an event as part of a team with an experienced guide.
I can’t make training but can I still guide in an event?
As mentioned above, our number one priority to our members is their safety and fun in events.
In order to ensure this happens we need our volunteers to be experienced guides.
That doesn’t mean you have to attend every training session but we need to know that you are capable of ensuring the safety of our members in events. We just need to get to know you a little.
What’s next?
As a starting point, send an email to [email protected] advising of your wish to attend an Achilles Sydney training session.
We will schedule a mutually convenient date for your first attendance. [We are still operating under COVID-driven procedures and our old “just turn up” strategy is no longer possible.]
On the agreed date, turn up at Hospital Road. We are very easy to find - we wear bright yellow Achilles Australia tops.
Remember, if you come by car, do not feed the parking meter - we have parking permits which allow free parking.
Just ask for the person in charge of the volunteers on that morning, and he/she will assign you to accompany an experienced volunteer, who will lead you through a training session.
After your first session, you should be able to judge whether Achilles is the Club for you. If it is, you will be invited to join us, using the online registration system.
We hold weekly training sessions on most Sundays, rain or shine. We meet on Hospital Road at the rear of the Sydney Eye Hospital at 8.00am.
Occasionally, we meet at Centennial Park as a result of road-closures for events in the CBD.
Additionally, training is occasionally cancelled because of our participation in a major community event.
Transfers and cancellations known to us in advance are listed on the Sydney Events page.
Members will be advised when other cancellations or transfers are necessary.
How do I get to training?
Many of our volunteers drive and parking is available on Hospital Road.
If you are driving, on your arrival please ask us for a parking permit to display on your windscreen. These permits allow Achilles volunteers free parking for the duration of training.
However, if you arrive at Hospital Road before our member with the parking permits, please stay within sight of your vehicle. The Parking Rangers are out and about on Sunday mornings. If they approach your vehicle, you can explain that an Achilles member will be arriving with a permit in the next few minutes.
How long is a training session?
We walk or run for about an hour in the Royal Botanical Gardens and The Domain. The distance, time and pace that you will run for will be agreed with the member with disability that you are assigned to.
What does training involve?
Able-bodied members are paired with members with a disability. We assign guides according to their interest and ability, so no-one need do more than they feel capable of.
If there are no guides available to match the pace of a speedier member with a disability, that member will be happy to run/walk at the slower pace of any available guide.
As one blind runner said, 'This is 100% better training than a treadmill, and 1000% more interesting'.
If there are more guides than people who need guiding, guides will typically join other groups for a run or a walk.
We aim to make Achilles a social environment for our members to exercise in. So “the more the merrier” for most of our members.
After exercising, we meet back on the Art Gallery steps. We usually provide a cup of tea or coffee to enjoy while everyone has a social chat.
Watch this short video here put together by Achilles International on how to guide
Am I guaranteed a run at training?
No. Your pace at training will be dictated by the members with disability that turn up on the day. If you want to run and there are members who also want to run we’ll try and pair you up. But that run could be a lot shorter and slower than you would normally do. So please don’t rely on our training sessions as one of your usual running days. Typically our runner volunteers treat it as a rest day.
What if I can’t run?
Whether you’re just not a runner or you are a runner carrying an injury we still welcome you at Achilles.
We have a number of members with a disability that don’t run and rely on our volunteers to assist them on a walk instead.
Who are your members?
Our members (volunteer guides and members with a disability) range in age from 18 to 70+. We have anywhere from 10 to 40+ people attending our weekly Sunday sessions. People with disabilities who attend training may be vision-impaired, mobility handicapped etc. They walk, jog or run at various speeds.
Consequently, some of our volunteers need only walk with a member with a disability, while other volunteers may guide one of our running members with a disability.
We have several vision-impaired members who race regularly, have run ultramarathons or completed endurance events such as climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.
Do I have to come every weekend?
No. We welcome all levels of engagement from our volunteers and members. Whilst many of our volunteers and members turn up most Sundays we also have a large base of casual members who come less regularly.
While we occasionally have a roster for volunteer guides for our Sunday sessions, we do rely on others to show up. We have no way of knowing how many members with a disability will turn up at each session, and high attendance often means that we need more guides than those rostered.
So, if you would like to volunteer but can only attend irregularly and cannot commit to a roster, you will be very welcome (and needed).
What else does Achilles do?
Our members regularly participate in walking and running events such as City to Surf, half marathons, marathons and many community events.
We also organise occasional bush walks.
In addition to the weekly training sessions, we can organise extra training runs at other mutually convenient times and locations, especially when major events are coming up.
Sometimes we arrange social events, such as breakfast after the run or dinner before an event if we're staying overnight.
How can I guide in an event?
Our number one goal in events is for our members to feel safe and have fun. This means that they need to be paired with experienced guides who know how to keep them safe in events.
Hence it’s very unlikely that you will be a single guide in an event without having attended at least a few training sessions.
Guides new to events or new to guiding will likely get the opportunity to guide in an event as part of a team with an experienced guide.
I can’t make training but can I still guide in an event?
As mentioned above, our number one priority to our members is their safety and fun in events.
In order to ensure this happens we need our volunteers to be experienced guides.
That doesn’t mean you have to attend every training session but we need to know that you are capable of ensuring the safety of our members in events. We just need to get to know you a little.
What’s next?
As a starting point, send an email to [email protected] advising of your wish to attend an Achilles Sydney training session.
We will schedule a mutually convenient date for your first attendance. [We are still operating under COVID-driven procedures and our old “just turn up” strategy is no longer possible.]
On the agreed date, turn up at Hospital Road. We are very easy to find - we wear bright yellow Achilles Australia tops.
Remember, if you come by car, do not feed the parking meter - we have parking permits which allow free parking.
Just ask for the person in charge of the volunteers on that morning, and he/she will assign you to accompany an experienced volunteer, who will lead you through a training session.
After your first session, you should be able to judge whether Achilles is the Club for you. If it is, you will be invited to join us, using the online registration system.
