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: achillesbrisbane@gmail.com.

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!