This is probably one of the most common questions we get from prospective guides. For a simple question, it’s a complex answer. It depends on the situation and location.

In short, the answer is, no, we don’t have “enough” guides. This is because we believe that all people who love running/walking, have a good level of vision, and the ability to communicate verbally should have some knowledge of sighted guiding. There are often times when our athletes with a disability are not able to find sighted guides.

One of the easiest physical activities to do to get active is to go for a run. There’s nothing like being out in the open, your feet pounding the pavement and the rush of energy you feel from running or a brisk walk. But if you live with vision impairment, it’s not just a matter of strapping on your shoes and heading out the door. Often, you need to travel somewhere to meet someone, arrange for a support worker to look after your dog guide, make sure you know where to send your rideshare or taxi driver, know how to navigate public transport to a mutually agreed meeting point and know how you’re going to store your belongings (e.g. white cane, a change of clothes, water, towel, valuables etc.). And after all of that, there’s the worry of matching pace and being guided by someone you get along with. Even the task itself of an athlete having to ask for a sighted guide can raise feelings of embarrassment or guilt that the athlete must push aside. There’s a lot to consider for someone with vision impairment when they go for a run.

Why is it such an effort to go for a run when you live with vision impairment? One reason of many, is because we don’t have enough guides.

Imagine this: one of our runners/walkers with vision impairment wants to go running or go for an energetic power walk. They could join any social running club or event because there would be someone who could run with them. Or if they weren’t into club running, or had awkward schedules that didn’t align with social runs, they could ask a neighbour or someone in the local community to simply turn up at their doorstep to go for a run.

If we ever reached this sighted guide running nirvana, then yes, we would have “enough” guides.
Despite your interest to become a sighted guide, you might not live near someone with vision impairment. If this is you, we’d still encourage you to learn to be a sighted guide. While there may not be someone near to you to guide now, perhaps sometime in the future, someone might move into your area, or you might move somewhere where you know someone with vision impairment. Perhaps you’re friends with a keen runner who does live near someone with vision impairment. With your connection, you could be the one that connects a guide with a person with vision impairment. 

Sometimes at our Sunday training sessions, a lot of our members with vision impairment seem to be simultaneously busy, and we can be inundated with guides. In these situations, we encourage you to get to know your fellow guide as Achilles is just as much social as it is about sighted guiding. On the contrary, sometimes we face a dearth of sighted guides. This can particularly happen when there are people with vision impairment with specific needs (e.g. extremely fast pace or extremely long distance). Here, we definitely don’t have enough guides!

Achilles operates on a casual basis so there’s no obligation to guide in an ongoing relationship. While some people may form good friendships in their guide-athlete dyad and run often together, it’s best if a person with a disability has a community of guides to call upon. Perhaps John is the Monday guide, Jane is the Tuesday guide, and Bilal is the Wednesday guide…you get the idea! But then perhaps Jane is injured or on holidays (lucky Jane!). Having a situations where we have “enough” guides would mean that Jane is instantly replaced by another guide while she’s unavailable.
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At the end of the day, our message to you is this: give guide running a go, and if you can’t work it into your schedule, tell 10 friends about it. Actually, tell those 10 friends about sighted guiding regardless of your situation. If we have enough people talking about sighted guiding, then perhaps one day we’ll have “enough” guides.

This blog post was written by Amanda Kwong - Founder and current co-Vice President of Achilles Melbourne. 

By Maddy Seiter, President Achilles Melbourne 

With 2023 behind us it’s time to reflect on what has been a bumper year for Achilles Melbourne.
It has been yet another busy year for Achilles Melbourne filled to the brim with training opportunities and events. During 2023 we have had the opportunity to take park in a large number of events both near and far including  but not limited to The Tim Gates Fun Run, the Beer Mile, Stadium Stomp, Run 4 the Kids, Pride Run, Melbourne Marathon, Connors Run, Run Prix, Sydney Marathon, Puffing Billy, Bright Running Festival, Shepparton Running Festival, City2Surf, Gold Coast Marathon, HBF Run for a Reason, Mother’s Day Classic,  Canberra Marathon and our biggest event for the year Run Melbourne where we had more than 100 participants from all Australian Achilles chapters come and take part. A big thank you must go out to Amanda K, Bronson, Rhiannon, Vincent, Max C, Maddy, Max, Simon, Jermaine and The Wharf, City of Melbourne and our interstate chapter organisers Ellis J, Brian O, Peter R, Aaron B (Canberra's Max), Robert J.

We also had Claudia, Jack T, Maddy, Karen B, Nicole M, Joo,  Deb C and Jacinta W venture over to the USA where they were able to take on New York Marathon.
With thanks to Nat B, Bupa and Trailbus we were able to hit the trails multiple times where we explored George Bass Coastal Trail, Werribee Gorge, Yarra Ranges National Park and Lake Mountain.

We also had a good turnout for our 6th annual Tan Handicap where we introduced a second race for our guides. In our VIP event first place was taken out by Jack T and in the guide event Max C took out first place. A big thank you to all who helped put on the event including Emily H, Peter E, Amanda K, Julie C, Jez and Vincent.

Wednesday strength continued to remain strong both virtually and in face to face at Tom’s Block and Kathleen Symes Library. Strength welcomed a number of new participants and worked hard to support all participants.  A big thank you needs be given to our strength Coaches Deb and Karen for running the sessions and to Peggy and Julie C for covering while Deb and Karen were away in NY.

We also teamed up with our friends at parkrun on numerous occasions including a successful guide training session at Pakenham parkrun and filling all volunteer roles with athletes with a disability or guides at Parkville parkrun in honour of International Day of People with Disability.

Throughout the year our volunteers shone bright as always. Whether guiding, coordinating Sunday training sessions and events, running guide training sessions, assisting at expos or just being there to lend a helping hand your time and effort is appreciated.
 
We brought attention to the contributions from our volunteers of the month for 2023 Amanda K, Vincent, Maz Strong.  We also had a change in our committee where we welcomed Emly H and Peter E as new committee member and thank our current ongoing committee Vincent H, Claudia S, Simon B, Max C, Nessa S, Amanda K and Madeline S. 

But of course, our biggest thanks goes out to you, our members. Your enthusiasm and support for one another and our club shines through. Yes it has been a big year, but when you’ve got members from the best running club (slightly biased opinion), it makes everything we do worth it.