By Rhiannon Boulger

After a speedy and sweaty lap of the Tan for the Achilles Christmas break-up Tan Handicap, a group of Achilleans stepped into the darkness at Dialogue in the Dark - a sensory experience tour of Melbourne in complete darkness.

I was looking forward to dipping a toe in to the city of Melbourne as experienced by a person with vision impairment, and what happened was a fun and educational, full-on sensory experience.
Our guide, Kate warned us that other senses may be heightened in total darkness, and that's true. We laughed as we accidentally walked into things and each other (sorry Jeff!)

In the moments we weren't given any direction, I would just stand back, feeling somewhat exposed and, at times, vulnerable in the unfamiliar environment surrounding me. This made me think of how motivated Achilles athletes are to hit the ground running without hesitation, but here I was, nervous to move.

I felt I had to ask Kate how she knew where we each were and how to direct us, and she said that she knows her surroundings so well, she could sense where we were. That in turn made me worry that perhaps my incessant warnings to Achilles athletes while running may be too much. Could it be overwhelming to try and comprehend my direction amongst the sounds and sensations they felt?

Throughout the tour you're encouraged to touch and feel the things around you, and even the ground under your feet feels patchy and uneven. At the end, Kate encouraged us to ask questions and discuss our experience. When asked if the ground in the exhibition reflected how it felt out in the city, Kate said it was pretty accurate. This again made me think of the experience of Achilles athletes, and perhaps too many warnings are better than not enough?

I learned a lot, as most of the tour was relevant to the knowledge needed as a guide. The experience and insight gained has given me the opportunity to reflect on the guide/athlete dynamic in a way that will help me to contribute to the success of our wonderful club to cover more of the city trails, and beyond.

...and here are a few more quotes from our Achilles guides who were on the tour: 

"Being plunged into total darkness makes you rely on other senses and has highlighted to me how important verbal communication is. Our facial expressions add emphasis to our words and when that is not there, you need to be careful of word choice (ie. no-one saw my cheeky wink when I said we all stank after running around The Tan  )"
- Maegan

"It was thought provoking, challenging, & somewhat confronting and it leaves me a little in awe with what the VIPs go through each day with their lives.
Ifeel very humbled that I have the privilege to be Achilles Guide the last year or so.
I'll definitely want to spruik DITD as I feel it is important that everyone should be more compassionate to our fellow people with any special needs, be it physical or mental issues."
- Monica

By Adrienne Knell

It started just like any other Sunday at the tan: everyone meeting at the usual Rotunda. Although this time, bags weren’t put down and K9s weren’t attached to chairs.
 
Shortly after 8:30am we packed up and took the short walk to the Pillars of Wisdom. What many didn’t know was that in just over an hour it would be a flurry of yellow shirts making a sprint finish along the very same path.
 
Arriving at the Clock Tower, the puppies got used to their new cage tethering spot and people eagerly checked the weather app to ensure that the rain was going to hold off for us.
 
After our Welcome to Country, the highly anticipated teams for the handicap were announced. VIPs met with their team mates and were put through a delightful warm up which provided insight into the Wednesday night strength class.
 
Then it was time.
 
Pairings were done. The BBQ was sizzling away in the background. And for many, they learned where the official start line of the tan began.
 
Haylee and Jeff were the first to set off on the 3.89km journey and were sent off with a roar from the crowd as the first count down was completed. Ness took off shortly after with Maegan, Sharon and Catherine.
 
Brooke was the third to head out on the track and had Amir and Sarah hot on her heels. Peggy had a short wait and felt the nerves building on the start line before she took off with Marie and Nicki with some PBs to smash.
 
The next moments were a hot mess at the start line with 4 competitors all flying off within 3 minutes of each other. Francois took off with powerhouse guides Nat and Sarah N knowing that just a minute behind him, new member, Bill, would be facing off with champion group Simon, Lara and Michelle.
 
Kevin was off in the next minute leaving Andrew with a two minute wait at the start line. Andrew and Emily were eager to set off, and Rhiannon had a strategy to use her Jingle Bells and Christmas cheer to those they would pass.
 
One person remained. Adam was cool, calm and collected as his guides took the time to warm up. A hill sprint here, a stretch there. Finally, 23 minutes after the initial gun, Chris, Jen, Sami and Adam were off and they had their work cut out for them.
 
All that was left at the start line was the time keeper and the paparazzi. Suddenly, around the corner came a sea of yellow shirts. It was impossible to tell who had the lead and the blur of yellow got bigger and bigger before out of the haze was Hazel & Josie guiding Bill to a strong win. Closely behind was Brooke with strong support from Monica and Jacinta and hot on her heels was Kevin with strong duo Tanya and Cayla.
 
And then it was done. There were many out of breath competitors showing that everyone had given it everything they had. But mostly, what I saw were a lot of smiles and comradery. Participants reported that there was overwhelming support for their friends out on the Tan track, and even though it’s cliché to say it, we were all winners out there. And now, we all have PBs to smash, a trophy to win and a title to defend.
 
I’d really like to thank everyone so much for giving it a go and getting behind the handicap. It was a wonderful day and I’m so proud to be part of Achilles.
 
Results:
Will – Handicap Time: 36 min 48 sec. Personal Time: 21 min 48 sec. 
Brooke – Handicap Time: 37 min 12 sec. Personal Time: 33 min 12 sec. 
Kevin - Handicap Time: 37 min 17 sec. Personal Time: 21 min 17 sec. 
Andrew - Handicap Time: 37 min 54 sec. Personal Time: 21 min 17 sec.
Simon - Handicap Time: 38 min 26 sec. Personal Time: 23 min 26 sec.
Amir - Handicap Time: 39 min 22 sec. Personal Time: 31 min 22 sec. 
Adam - Handicap Time: 39 min 28 sec. Personal Time: 16 min 28 sec. 
Francois - Handicap Time: 39 min 34 sec. Personal Time: 25 min 34 sec. 
Haylee - Handicap Time: 39 min 42 sec. Personal Time: 39 min 42 sec.
Peggy - Handicap Time: 40 min 53 sec. Personal Time: 28 min 53 sec. 
Ness - Handicap Time: 41 min 16 sec. Personal Time: 40 mins 16 sec.
 

By Andrew Close

On Sunday (4TH November), Achilles traveled to Nagambie and competed in the Four Vines Running Festival. It was a great day, with all competitors finishing their fun run. I would like to thank all the guides for a fantastic job they did - I would like to mention  Mel E and Ashton B on their first fun run and Andrew G for his first time guiding.  Ashton is the son of Chris and Amy he is only 3 years old and competed in the 2k with his dad and Andrew G (guide).  After the fun run, we went to Nagambie rowing hotel and had a great lunch.  The day was a great experience.  Also, I would like to thank Amanda, Katherine and Amy for organizing this event without them it would not have happened.

Congratulations to:
10k runners:
Chris B and Julie B (guide)
Peggy S and Amanda K (guide)

5k runners:
Andrew C and Andrew G (guide)
Melanie E and Catherine N (guide)
Amy B and Robin B (guide)

2k kids runners:
Ashton, Chris and Andrew G

Dash for cash sprinters:
Andrew C and Cayla O

Photo 1: 5k starters Catherine, Mel, Amy, Andrew C, Andrew G, Robin and Ashton next to nokkon flag
Photo 2: all starters minus Andrew C. Left to right: Robin, Andrew G, Mel, Julie, Chris, Catherine, Amy, below: Georgia in pram, Peggy, Amanda and Granby the dog guide.
Photo 3: Ashton, Chris and Andrew run over a gravel path in between dense trees
Photo 4: Andrew and Andrew run side by side next to vines with a long road extending behind the, blue skies above
Photo 5: Andrew and Cayla sprinting down the home stretch of the dash for cash
Photo 6: Catherine and Mel running on a gravel path in thick forest.

When the weather gets better, so does the training! This month was an epic training month for our club, with a large number of runners ramping up their hours to prepare for Melbourne Marathon. And the increasing hours means increased dedication from our volunteers. So for September, we are excited to be acknowledging our volunteer of the month winner, Adrienne! 

"Adrienne organised Achilles Melbourne's entry for Connor's Run on 16 September and thought of everything to make sure the event ran smoothly and enjoyably for everyone! She also helped Simon with his long training runs to prepare for the Berlin marathon and didn't stop there. Adrienne helped Simon to explore running nutrition options too! She has such a holistic approach as a guide which has benefited so many of us at Achilles"

Thanks so much Adrienne for all that you do for our members! 

Pictured: Adrienne (wearing visor) taking a selfie with Peggy inside the MCG.

For August, we are so pleased to announce the selfie queen, Rhiannon Boulger, as our volunteer of the month! 

“As a guide, Rhiannon can walk, jog or run. Varying running speed as a guide isn't easy and needs adaptability, flexibility and focus. Rhiannon manages all this...plus selfies along the way! She's probably the one who has gathered the most number of selfies with the most members of the club! Thanks for being so versatile and cheerful Rhi!!"

Rhi has been a long time active member of Achilles Melbourne. Our member's forum is always filled with her awesome photos and words of encouragement. Now, its our turn to showcase a selection of her selfies with you all...

July. Its the month that has an array of commitments and celebrations...Dry July, Christmas in July, 4th July, Bastille Day to name a few. For us, Deb is the reason we celebrated. A top supporter of the club, Deb was nominated because..

"Deb really knows how to have fun in everything and you can feel how passionate she is to help people. She has written up individualised training programs for runners preparing for long distance runs, drives vision impaired athletes into Sunday training and is always happy to give advice as a running coach. She even stayed the entire morning as part of the cheer squad for the Run Melbourne teams. So grateful to have her part of the club"

So much energy and palpable love for Achilles - thanks Deb!!!

​Pictured: Deb standing in front, searching for the Achilles 10km team at Run Melbourne....hmmm

By Sophie Thomas

“You have night blindness don’t you Soph?”

“Yep, that’s right”

“Why don’t you do Wings For Life? It’s run at night”

“errr…because I have night blindness?!”

As we all know, Amanda loves to challenge athletes with vision impairment. Little did she know that this conversation actually sowed a seed of confidence in me, after years of telling myself it would be too hard. I’ve had countless mini debates with myself about whether I’d rather be losing my sight, or the use of my legs. To be honest, the legs win every time. I can’t imagine not having the ability to run, or even walk. Using a wheelchair seems to have so many challenges. So the Wings For Life event has always interested me, as it’s solely focused on raising funds for spinal injury research. There are also three totally different things that make this running event stand out from the others:

1. There’s no distance limit. You’re chased by a car and when it catches you – that’s the end of your race!
   
2. It’s run by many thousands of people all around the world at EXACTLY the same time (how cool is that?!)…
   
3. …which leads me to the third thing, and the main challenge for me: in Melbourne, the race starts at 9pm, so it’s NIGHTTIME, which means we have to run in the DARK!
   

I have Retinitis Pigmentosa, which means I have some central vision, but my field of vision reduces to very little in low light conditions. So I naturally had some misgivings about signing up for a run which is held at night. But that seed that Amanda sowed grew a little more when I found out one of the Achilles guides, Lara, had already signed up. She offered to guide me, and her enthusiasm and excitement was all I needed to sign up too!

The logistics of picking up my race pack on the day were made so much easier by Catherine, another Achilles guide who had also signed up to run. She picked me up during the day and we headed over to the hub, handed over our disclaimer forms and collected our race bib, fluoro t-shirt and head-torch. Yep, you had to wear a head-torch! (which clever me turned on while I was looking at it aargh BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT *stars and floaty blobs*). Then she dropped me home again for a few hours before arranging to collect me again in the evening.
Those hours were weird. I felt too nervous to nap, I was trying to hydrate (cue lots of toilet visits) and also work out when/what I should eat etc. I kept myself busy by writing on my t-shirt BLIND RUNNER as I couldn’t wear my usual Achilles one. Before I knew it Catherine was back to pick me up and it was go-time!

We had to park quite a way from the event hub. It was already dark at this point, so I clutched Catherine’s trusty arm and went with the flow. We caught up with Lara, Brooke, Paul and Jacinta at our meeting spot and calmed our nerves, posing for photos and having a giggle. Then it was time to go! Everyone had to make sure their head torches were on. We were marshalled along a footpath which led under the freeway, all lit up with neon lights and music pumping (although Lara was not impressed with the song choices “this is NOT music!”), round the path wound and then …wait, we’re actually on the freeway now!? Woah, cool. There we waited, dutifully throwing our arms up for the Mexican wave on demand. I’d taken my hearing-aids out at this point so I was in my little quiet world, however I had no problem hearing the loudspeaker while everyone around me was literally putting their fingers in their ears! We had 5 minute, 2 minute and 1 minute warnings, then the horn sounded! It was awesome to think that the same thing was happening all around the world at the exact same time.

Running on the freeway in the dark was a really cool experience. I wasn’t scared at all. Lara did an awesome job of guiding me around people and then pretty quickly the race spread out and we had loads of space! The street lamps provided enough light so I didn’t feel I was running in total darkness, and Lara kindly went at a pace that was easy for me to keep. After 30 minutes I knew the car would have set off, so I started wondering how much further we’d make it. There were buses stationed along the course to pick up people whose race had finished. I think we managed to pass three buses so I was feeling pretty chuffed but pretty tired. At the drink station they were handing out Red Bull, which was exactly what I needed! After that there were no more street lamps so I’ll be honest, a bit of fear crept in, but then Lara started singing “I got you babe” and I knew I was all right. I suggested we have another little walking break, but then all of a sudden we heard people saying the car was behind us! Noooo not yet! Lara and I sprinted (I don’t know how I did this!), but then she got pushed into me by a guy on a bike telling us to move over, and it was lucky he did because the catcher car went by super close! On it drove, beeping its horn and shutting down people’s races up ahead.  

We forgot to track our run but heard from someone near us that we’d made 8km, not bad! Then it was a little walk to the next bus where we grabbed some water and a space blanket (secretly I was thrilled to get this, it made me feel like a marathon runner). The buzz on the bus was immense, it was clear everyone loved it! Lots of people planning to enter again and get further next time!

Back at the event hub there was a huge screen up showing runners all over the world: Germany, Korea, Austria, Brazil and so many more. Forget being parkrun tourists, we decided we wanted to be Wings tourists! Travel to cool and exotic places and do the run in a different spot each year!

But would it really have the same impact if I ran it during the day? I feel so proud of overcoming my fears of running at night, and it was made possible due to Amanda’s confidence in me, and the sheer brilliance of Achilles guides Lara and Catherine. I’m so grateful to them for giving up their time and energy to help me achieve this milestone.

I highly recommend this event – I’ll be there next year, come and join me!
 
(Pictured below left - right: headshot of Lara and Sophie with their head torches on smiling pre-race)

By Penny Stevenson

Penny reflects on her journey from the 2018 Mountain to Mouth - Geelong's multi-award winning extreme arts walk - an 80km biennial journey of discovery over two days...

Most events are about the distance and this is no exception! However in this event there is no time keeping, no records to be set or broken just amazing land to be traversed.

Along the path there are art installations to consider or reflect upon or just laugh at (Oompaloompas with squeaky rubber chickens spring to mind)...

You were encouraged to be aware of your environment with sensory activities provided along the way.

The route was largely flat and on made tracks, gravel, concrete or bitumen. I did it without a guide using my cane and walking pole and following walkers. There were some sections where the path was so good and empty I didn’t even need my cane.

There were shuttle buses to transport people between stages so you could pick and choose which stages you did.

It was pet dog friendly but because I was doing the whole distance I chose not to bring my guide dog.

The artworks were mostly pretty tactile although some audio description of the ceremonies would make the experience better.

I am looking forward to 2020 for the next one!

-----
Discover Geelong, our land and our waterways,  walk with us, follow the ceremonial sculptural ‘Canoe’ and enjoy the amazing ephemeral artworks at Walking Circles along the 80km contemporary songline route.

M~M begins at the You Yangs mountain range, crosses Geelong’s industrial heartland at nightfall and arrives in the city centre to collide with Geelong After Dark, a night of extreme and unexpected arts.
In the tradition of Wadawurrung traditional owners, M~M creates a contemporary songline across the Geelong and Queenscliffe regions. Artworks installed in Walking Circle landmarks feature at the 12 Songline Stations along the way.

M~M offers walkers the opportunity to register for the experience of their choice - the distance, the challenge, the terrain. M~M offers experiences that are free to all -  ceremonies marking significant points along the walk.

visit https://www.mountaintomouth.com.au for more informail

Pictured below: Penny and her walking buddies walk over the famous Seachange bridge into Barwon Heads as the sun sets in the distance.

Who can believe we are already in April, with both Easter gone and daylight hours reduced? Feels like things are starting to get dreary...except with our volunteer of the month winner, things have been far from dreary with her around! This month, we congratulate Hazel! Hazel's nomination read:

'She did an excellent job organising the hike for us and thought about everything. From organising how people will get there, to picking a medium level course. She even arranged a few of her volunteer firey friends to be extra guides which gave us the opportunity to have a rest at the Callista Fire Station. But it didn't stop there, she also arranged lunch, bringing in delicious home-made muffins, fruits, hydrolytes and purchased rolls from the local cafe for everyone'

All these additional activities outside the Sunday training truly brings joy to our members, thank you so much Hazel!!!

Pictured: Hazel (in the middle), with Deb and Tim. Hazel also is part of this Eastern lifts roster team and drives club members to be able to attend Sunday training. 

By Jane Britt
President, Achilles Brisbane

On behalf of our members, I am excited to announce that Achilles Brisbane was founded today.

Achilles Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to create an Australia where people with disabilities can enjoy the social, recreational and health benefits of an active lifestyle. We facilitate training and participation in running and walking events in an inclusive, supportive social environment where people with disabilities can achieve life changing goals with the assistance of guides.

Achilles Brisbane is joining the Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne chapters of Achilles Australia and the many other chapters of Achilles International.

A unanimous vote at the inaugural meeting led to an historic milestone for sports accessibility in Brisbane. Achilles Brisbane is to be formally incorporated under the leadership of President Jane Britt, Treasurer Birgit Rainbird, and Secretary Barbara Clarke, and already enjoys the support of several Brisbane parkruns, the Brisbane Road Runners Club, and the Intraining Running and Triathlon Club.

Barbara, an athlete with vision loss who joined our informal running group last year, says the formation of Achilles Brisbane is exciting: "It will make exercise and participation in events a reality for people with a disability that currently struggle find the funds and/or an exercise buddy to help them. It opens a whole new world of opportunity for people with a disability to fully participate in their communities.".

Achilles Brisbane connects individuals with disability with guides to pursue activities such as walking, running, tandem bike riding, rock climbing and many other activities. This is a step towards empowerment and independence for many people who may have previously felt unable to participate in these community or individual activities.

Achilles Brisbane will use membership fees, corporate sponsorship, grants and fundraising to financially assist its members with a disability with entering official events with their guides.

The formation of the association formalises the dedicated informal work undertaken in Brisbane over the last year in supporting vision impaired athletes with guides, the goal being to expand this work to all athletes requiring assistance.

For more information please contact Achilles Brisbane via email: [email protected].

This month, we not only applaud, but also sadly bid a temporary farewell to our February recipient, Simone Albiston. We received a heartfelt nomination that read:

"Simone is a great person who is passionate, thoughtful and humble. She has assisted me to get on with my life, and taught me how to slow down and relax. She gave me opportunities to learn and assisted with tasks beyond her running responsibilities. She is a truly caring person who is always smiling during times of struggle. I have always had the idea to live with passion and I found this in her, I am so grateful for her friendship"

Simone has donated her time to develop personalised training programs for our athletes in preparation for running events as well as providing transport to and from Sunday training. We will miss her immensely as she heads overseas seeking new adventures. Thanks for everything Simone! We look forward to hearing all about your travels!!!

Pictured: Simone, third from the right, at her farewell dinner with some of the Achilles crew.

Taking out the first volunteer of the month for 2018 is Tanya Martin! Tanya was nominated for all the behind the scenes work that she does for Achilles Melbourne!

"Tanya has essentially covered most of the administrative tasks that the club needs - seeking sponsorship, event coordination, Sunday coordination and guide training, completing all these tasks without any hiccups! Not only is she reliable and super organised, Tania does all this whilst staying cool, calm and collected" 

Tanya's calming presence is much appreciated by all in the club, thanks Tanya!!!!

​Pictured: Tanya standing with Simon at the 2017 end of year Christmas BBQ

 By Amanda Kwong

Being only our 2nd year in operation in Melbourne, 2017 packed a punch with running events, saw our club grow throughout the year, and friendships, old and new solidified with our Sydney and Canberra sister clubs. Let's take a look back at the joys brought to us by 2017 with Achilles Melbourne...

January
Still recovering from post-Christmas and New Years feasts, we kicked off the year, officially engaging with our first parkrun at Highlands parkrun, Craigieburn. Parkruns have been integral to engaging guides who live close to our Achilles athletes.



February
Our first events went underway for 2017 with Francois and Kevin, guided by a team of Adrienne, Tanya, Nat and Amelia at the Sunset Series in both the 4k and 8k events. We also participated in our first regional event, the Wangaratta Marathon and running festival, with Adam completing his first marathon event for 2017, guided by Martin, and Simon shaved minutes off his previous 21k time with guide, Lara.

March
Parkrun participation was increasing rapidly with participants as far as Balyang Sanctuary (Geelong) joining our ranks. While we didn't have many events we were participating in, this month was massive for our personal awards cabinet. Nominated for a VicSport award, Achilles Melbourne was awarded the VicHealth Outdoor/Active Recreation Initiative of the Year. Francois and Amanda also made an appearance at the Art Centre's Fun Run event, where Francois was interviewed about his running "career" to date.

April
The month our 2017 event calendar started to ramp up, with Run for the Kids and the Great Train Race. We had a healthy team of participants for both events across varying distances, and some media appearances by Adam and Tanya in the Herald Sun ahead of Run for the Kids and Adam and Tim appearing on the evening news for the coverage of the Puffing Billy Great Train Race.

May
An exciting annual event, the Melbourne Coastrek was tackled by two of our keen-bean members, Ness and Peggy, guided by Sami and Jacinta. These girls had perfect weather conditions to tackle their 30km walk along the picturesque Mornington Peninsula.

June
Our events continued with Stadium Stomp at the MCG with some of our vertically fit ladies taking on the full and half courses. Most were first timers for this event, but Brooke, who also featured in an ABC radio interview, tackled the full course with guide, Sarah - both also appearing on the news. The media exposure didn't stop there, with Maddy having a special write-up in her local Numurkah times paper about her stomp participation. We also held our first major fundraising event for the year, our inaugural Bunnings BBQ, raising just over $600 for the day.

July
Crunch time for most for the year. We had our first athlete participating in an interstate event: Adam, completed his second marathon in a shave over 3 hours, 30 minutes at the Gold Coast Marathon. He was tailed by guide, Tim, with complete faith in a first-time guide, and previous GC Marathon winner. We also had a record number of Achilles athletes participating in the 2017 edition of Sole Motive's Run Melbourne across half marathon, 10k, and 6k distances.

August
Our second fundraising activity for the year - our inaugural trivia night, and boy was it a successful night! Our Achilles community came together over a night of laughs, wit and useless information. We also started a special bond with nokkon, who assisted us with boosting our pool of guides.

September
One of our highlights of the year, the Sydney Running Festival. We joined forces with Achilles Sydney and Canberra to create the ultimate sea of yellow to run together across the harbour bridge. We had entrants across all events, including first timers Haylee and Christine in the 3.5k bridge run, through to veteran marathon runner, Simon, completing his yearly marathon with Sydney guide Wayne.

October
This month saw us turning our sights to one of the biggest events on the Melbourne running calendar: the Melbourne Marathon. We had several teams over all distances again, with Andrew participating in his first ever fun run with guides Lucy and Michael.
We also held our second AGM and thanked outgoing Secretary Julie, Treasurer Jacinta and Volunteer coordinator Francois to welcome in new Treasurers Nat and Maddy, Secretary Ness, and Volunteer Coordinator Peggy.  

November
This was crazy event month! We packed in one event for every weekend in November: The New York marathon, with Adam, guided by Tim and Nigel, and Francois, guided by Adrienne, Tanya and Tammy completed the holy grail of all marathons. We also ran in City2Sea, the Eureka Climb, AND entered two teams into the Sri Chinmoy Tan marathon relay. How's that for a busy month!! To top it all off, we even managed to squeeze in a bush hike at Sherbrooke Forest into this month as well!

December
We finally made it to the end of the year, but we weren't slowing down at all. We kick started the month with the Carman Women's Fun Run in dubious weather conditions that should have been the storm of the century. We were also visited by Flex Sports Physiotherapy who ran a series of workshops to help our athletes improve their running technique and running weeks in preparation for another big 2018 year.

What an exciting jam-packed year 2017 was. On behalf of all the committee and members at Achilles Melbourne, thank you everyone for volunteering, guiding, being enthusiastic every Sunday morning, and helping this club grow in our second year running!

by Liz E

(pictured above: 18 Achilles 10k and 21k runners stand together for a group photo outside the MCG Gate 2)

Sunday was my first time at the Melbourne Marathon, and I loved it! It was also my first time guiding a runner who is blind.

I traveled over from Gippsland to Melbourne on Saturday morning with four friends from my local running group - Sale and District Runners. Things didn't start so well when I took the first sip of my coffee in my travel mug and I realised I'd made it without actually boiling the kettle. I guess is was a true indication of how tough things can be before the first coffee of the day...Anyway lucky it was McHappy Day so we stopped to grab another one. Bib pick-up went well. I spent some cash on new running essentials, and then had a mandatory dinner at Spaghetti Tree in the CBD with my other running buddies.

Bronwen (one of my friends I'd traveled down with) and I arrived at the MCG on Sunday at 6am for her to drop her bag ready for the marathon (she killed it - also it almost killed her so kind of even) and queue at the loos.

BUT then the exciting part!!!!! At 6.30, I met Chris Baillie and his family for the first time! Chris is a runner who is blind. He has been close to totally blind since birth but only running since May this year, when he hooked up with Achilles Melbourne.  Achilles is a group that trains people to guide people with vision impairment/who are blind and then links them up with people with vision impairment to be running buddies. I joined Achilles about 2 months ago when I attended at a training day at The Tan Track where I learnt to be a guide. As a part of the training I was blind folded and guided along. I wouldn't call what I did while being guided running, because it was so nerve wracking that I really just shuffled my feet along the ground.

I was linked up with Chris and Amanda (another guide) to complete the 10k course. At all times, either Amanda or myself was with Chris, while the other was "bulldozing" a clear path for Chris to safely run.

I started with the task of bulldozing. It was a tough gig. I had to spot and point out in advance gutters, low trees, bollards, parked cars, and anything else that was a potential hazard so that Amanda had enough time to safely guide Chris around them without dropping speed. However, the one hazard that was tough to control were the other runners on the course. I ran a few meters ahead calling out "blind runner" "move aside for a blind runner" "Thankyou!". For the most part, people were more than accommodating once they could hear me. It was a job made tough by the fact that so many runners wore earphones with the music turned up and had no idea what was happening around them. Anyway, a gentle push got them moving over, and on we ran. I quickly found that yelling while running is tiring! Chris suggested I should have a megaphone!

(pictured below: Chris and Liz run towards Birrarung Marr next to Federation Square in a crowd of fellow runners)

At about half way I swapped into the role as guide. Talk about hyper-vigilance! Such a responsibility. Chris was 100% relying on me to stay safe. He critiqued my instructions – short, sharp and to the point! He was very patient with me, and for that I am grateful. Apart from verbalising all our movements, I described the scenery as we ran past so Chris knew where we were and what was going on- and it is definitely the most attention I've ever paid to what was going on around me. Exhausting stuff! As we were running I asked Chris if he had ever been inside the MCG before. He had: to represent Australia playing cricket! I ran Chris straight past his wife, Amy, who was trying to take our photo on the course without even noticing her, and I had thought that nothing was escaping my attention!

Chris had a goal of sub 60. We smashed that time with 56.37.

It is the most rewarding run I've ever done. Allowing Chris the freedom to enjoy running as much as I do, something I have always taken for granted.

Sunday’s run was tough for me and I was exhausted from having to be so switched on to everything, but I have a lot of improving to do. My voice was a bit hoarse from yelling all through the run, and then cheering everyone else along the way. As a person who had always had full vision, I cannot imagine the courage and determination it would take for a person with vision impairment to start running. I am truly blown away by the whole concept and just wrapped that I found out about this group of amazing people and am able to participate. I will definitely continue to be involved with Achilles.
 
If you get the chance, I would highly recommend jumping on board with Achilles to help give people with vision impairment/who are blind the freedom to run when they otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity.

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Achilles saw 13 teams from both Melbourne and Sydney clubs participate in the 2017 Medibank Melbourne Marathon. We congratulate the following teams:
Full marathon:
Team Mel from Sydney (with guide Phil from Melbourne) congratulations for completing her first marathon!
Half marathoners:
Team Andrew v d S from Sydney (with guide Julie B from Melbourne)
Team Adam (with guides Nigel and Matthew)
Team Kevin (with guides Emily and Emma)
Team Francois (with guides Tanya and Bella)
10k’ers:
Team Chris (with guides Liz and Amanda)
Team Peggy (with guides Lisa and Karin)
Team Sophie (with guide Jermaine)
Team Maddy (with guides Catherine and Melinda)
Team Brooke (with guides Susie and Maeve)
Team Ness (with guides Julie C and Rhiannon)
5.7k
Team Andrew C (with guides Lucy and Michael) – first big run event ever!
3k
Team Haylee (with guide Vic)

The winner of volunteer for the month for September has not only been nominated by our human members, our furry friends have also wagged their tails in support! This month, we congratulate Karthish Kumar! Karthish was nominated because...

"Karthish arrives on his bike every Sunday, not to go for a run, but to keep our beloved dogs company as our resident dog sitter!! The size of the smile that lights up on his face as he greets our labs  every week can make almost any dog lover pale in comparison. Karthish knows exactly how to manage each of their personalities and is so diligent with tending to their thirst, socialisation and pooping needs! He even makes sure new dog sitters are appropriately oriented to the process, and gives helpful hints for play time. Arriving after everyone has gone for their run, and leaving just before they all return, Karthish is our silent hero and we know our dogs absolutely love his company every week! "

Dog sitters are such important contributors to our running club so thanks for all your work with our beautiful guide dogs Karthish! 

(Pictured below: Karthish rubbing Nordic's belly...a regular meet and greet for these two on a Sunday morning) 

This month's Achilles Melbourne Volunteer of the Month for August is Tammy Dinh! Tammy was nominated because...

"She has been with Achilles Melbourne since the inception of our fantastic club. She is forever willing to put her hand up to help out wherever she can and with her beautiful nature, she generally brightens up everyone’s Sunday morning."

Like our members profess, Tammy is always there to assist with the coordination of Sunday morning training, and also ensures that our stories are shared across the social media world. Tammy recently exemplified what it means to go above and beyond with her volunteering, by assisting with Trivia night, organising our recent training day with Nokkon, and is taking this further by travelling with one of our athletes, Francois, to the New York marathon as part of his guiding team.

Congratulations and thank you, Tammy!

(Pictured below: Tammy takes a finish line photo with Athlete who is blind, Chris and fellow guide, Wil at Run Melbourne 2017)

By Tim Emeny
It is 3am and I am wide awake with positive energy. Today is Run Melbourne day and I will be guiding Adam in the half marathon event. We have already run as a team more than 100 times and have a great understanding of each other. In a few hours we will be on the start line.
Adam and I travel to the event together and we put our bags into storage and meet up with Shay who will be bulldozing for us today. This will be new for me as in all previous events Adam and I have competed together we have never had the assistance of someone helping to clear a path for us. After we get through the welcome greeting and obligatory pump up by the MC, we make our way to the start line. We have left our move to the start line later than we should have and we are now having to negotiate our way to near the front of 5000 people. Adam hangs onto my shoulder as I relentlessly push our way forward through the crowd of runners. Most allow us to pass but occasionally someone protests, I push on regardless. It is essential we get near the front for safety reasons and we have a priority group "A" start entitling us to be near the front. We come across some of our training partners and they assist us in moving further forward.
We get to within 20 people of the front and hold this position. I am calm but focused, I have concerns about how narrow the starting area is. With just a small group in front of us it is going to be a vary fast hazardous start. I tell Adam about the start conditions so he has a full understanding about what we are going to do and be faced with when the start gun goes off.
The countdown to the start begins and then we are away. Adam starts with his hand on my shoulder to keep us narrow and to enable me to make quick changes to both direction and speed without verbal information. Within 20 meters we are already running at around 15kph and people are bumping into me regularly, Shay and I do whatever we can to keep the space in front of Adam clear. This is the most stressful part of the race for all of us. The roadway remains narrow but I push the speed up faster to get into clearer space. We need to do this to get Adam onto the tether, running on my shoulder drains a lot of energy from both Adam and myself.
The pack of runners starts to thin and we take the opportunity to swap to the tether which means Adam now takes control of our speed, being on the tether is better for energy conservation but we are now much wider and therefore require more space. The first corner is approaching a tight 90 degree RH bend, I tell Adam and count him into the corner whilst looking for hazards and trying to stop people from closing in on our space, we are still getting occasionally bumped. After the corner the road opens up and I move us to the right hand side of the road, it is the longer track but has far less congestion. Adam and I can now go to a more relaxed longer stride, we can only do this when it is clear as it exposes us to more risk of being tripped, but it means we are more energy efficient and can go faster. Instantly our speed starts to rise and I inform Adam he is going too fast and we ease back slightly, we are running at 4min 10sec per kilometre pace. Shay is still running in front of us trying to keep a clear path for us.
We progress for a few kilometres through easy sweeping bends and good road surfaces then it gets tricky again. Heading out of docklands there are multiple tram lines, uneven surfaces as well as road crossings with ramps that we have to navigate. I am constantly issuing instructions and providing information to Adam these obstacles effect our efficiency and speed. As we near the Yarra river we are still in heavy congestion, then the path narrows and we enter a series of twists, turns and ramps, it is a very busy section for us forcing us to slow down and waste energy. At this point Adam is constantly on and off my shoulder as we navigate through the challenges presented to us. We want to go faster but safety necessitates that we hold pace. There are huge crowds cheering us on creating a great atmosphere, we regularly hear "Go Achilles" which is fantastic.
Finally we get onto the wide open roads around the shrine area. Here for the first time we are clear and can run to our potential. I am grateful to be able to mentally relax a little more and I am sure Adam feels the same relief. As we stride out we start to pass a lot of people who caught us in the technical sections. The pace becomes too much for Shay who has completed a power of work clearing the way for us, he slowly drops back behind us, his job done. 
We continue to run at our maximum sustainable pace for the next few kilometres, this part of the course is hilly and I feel my body heat levels building up so I know Adam will be getting hot as well. Whenever I can without stopping I grab a cup of water from the drink stations and tip the water over Adam's head to cool him down. We continue to stream past people and spend longer times on the long tether meaning we can use our arms more effectively.
With 5km to go we are both starting to tire a little and we encounter another technical section that slows us down, ramps, gutters, bollards, barriers and of course people. I think these technical sections are just as mentally draining they are physically draining. 
We are clear again and there are large sections of crowd cheering us on encouraging us to go faster. Finally we are heading down the last hill towards the finishing chute as we go to turn into the chute there is a full step up gutter with no ramp and we are forced to come back to a walk to safely cross over, Adam vents his frustration at being forced back to a walk momentarily but we have no choice. Then it is a sprint down the finishing chute with the amazing crowd cheering. We cross over the finish line in a time of 1 hour 31 minutes and 51 seconds, this puts us in the top 4.6% of competitors. A personal best time for Adam and an amazing result.
Crossing the finish line is always a huge mix of emotions, elation and pride at what we have achieved, fatigue as I mentally relax, relief that I have been able to get my friend to the finish safely without falling and disappointment that the challenge has finished. After catching our breath we both start to think about what exciting challenge is next, then Adam suggests next year we do all three of the run Melbourne events on the same day, the half marathon the 10km and the 6km. I think he is trying to kill me, lol!

​

By Tim Emeny
​
The slogan goes 'We Run This City', well Achilles Melbourne certainly did as we brought our sea of yellow team tops to the event! The greatest city in the world is not known for the greatest weather in the world at this time of the year. The forecast was looking ominous in the lead up to the big day, would it be a repeat of a very wet and cold Run for the Kids? For the Achilles Melbourne team, none of that mattered as we were on our way with our biggest team yet! But lucky for us, the forecast changed to superb running weather - fine, sunny and calm. It could not have been a finer Melbourne Winter day!

The Run Melbourne event saw a staggered start with the half marathon teams away first at 7am with three Achilles teams taking on this mighty challenge. Next away, at a much nicer time of 9:15am was our largest group of athletes, with five Achilles teams taking on the 10km course. Last but certainly not least were the two 6km Achilles teams, who started at the very social time of 10:45am. 

The courses were quite challenging not only for distance, they were also quite technical as they wound their way through the southern end of the beautiful city of Melbourne, repeatedly crossing over the Yarra river and passing through some of Melbourne’s beautiful parks. 

There were fantastic results for all our teams in all the distances. A real highlight was the large and enthusiastic crowd cheering us on all the way with many callouts “Go Achilles”. It was a wonderful, exciting, successful day on all levels. With the help of our regular training, perfect weather and great crowd support, there were beaming smiles at the finish line, personal bests and successful debutants to new distances. 

I think it is very safe to say we will be back next year, with talk of some members looking to attempt to complete all three events on the one day next year. Great events like this have us thinking: "What challenge can we take on next?"

Go Achilles Melbourne!

We are excited to announce the inaugural winner of Achilles Melbourne volunteer of the month! Nominated not once, but twice, our June winner is newly crowned marathon man, TIM EMENY! The reason for Tim's nomination? Read on!

"Tim helped / semi-forced me to join a local running club soon after I moved to a new area and not only found and trained other guides, he also organises transport for me. This has not only helped me start to really enjoy running, but it has also enabled me to meet new people and settle into the area. He has also offered to help me learn my way around the local shops and introduced me to the local fresh food market after the regular Sunday training"

Congratulations Tim, thank you for always going above and beyond! You hold the true philosophy of volunteering with Achilles and set such a great example for everyone around you. 

Pictured: Tim Emeny holding his medal after finishing the Gold Coast marathon this weekend.