SRC 40th Gala Dinner

July 13 the Shepparton Runners Club hosted a 40th anniversary Gala Dinner at the Shepparton golf course. The special guest speaker was Steve Monaghetti.

What a magnificent night was the SRC 40th anniversary gala ball. It was reminiscent of going along to a wedding and everything worked out perfect was the feedback after the night. To Melanie McAuliffe you are an amazing woman. You deserve a massive amount of kudos for the months of hard work you invested to make the Gala night happen.

Below are the thoughts of the night from Melanie and then Grant. Melanie reports on the night and Grant reports on Steve Monnaghetti.

THANK YOU

On Saturday night I was called up to the stage to receive some beautiful flowers from Steve A and Chris A, and I FAILED to thank the following AMAZING people. I’m not a fan of the public speaking BUT in these cases I should have sucked it up and acknowledged these superstars of the SRC Social Committee……..

The SRC Social Committee was established around 2 years ago and have so far organised 2 presentations nights, a few Pot Lucks, the 40^th Anniversary Launch and the Library Display, the Gala Dinner and they still have a few other things up their sleeves. It possibly should be renamed as the SRC Wine and Cheese Tasting Committee (with a side of planning).

The Committee consists of: Justine and Mat Ryan, Tara and Sam Daniel, Steve and Sue Trevaskis, Julz Mulcahy, Chelsea Nicholson and myself.

Justine and Mat  – CLUB SUPERSTARS – They deserve so much credit and praise for all that they do for the club, (and there is a lot they have done) we are so lucky to have them as members of the Committee and Club. Justine is always there every step of the way with me for all these events, offering wonderful ideas, as well as being the calming voice of reason when things don’t going to plan. One of Mats MANY contributions is his design skills, which were showcased in every piece of promotional material that was used for the event, and they were ALL spectacular.

Tara – Crafter extraordinaire, thanks for all your crafting skills and help event planning and another member who is there for meetings and brain storming and planning.

Chelsea – Photography Ledged. The framed photo of the tree above the fireplace is one of Chelsea’s magnificent photos and it’s the original tree where the original members used to meet in 1979, before commencing on their runs.

Steve & Sue– For contacting the past members. Along with Sue and Andrew Olly, he was instrumental in us being lucky enough to have 2 tables of original members at the Gala Dinner. And to Sue for organising the classified it the Shep News.

Julz – Although no longer living in the GV, she attended countless meetings and was always the first with her hand up when it somes to collections and delivers (although sometimes they take a little longer than anticipated due to a few wrong turns and vague directions form me)

Special thanks also must go to:

Rob Ryan – Robby sourced the timber and made all the wooden boxes for the centre pieces and the table seating plan backdrop. THEY LOOKED FANTASTIC.

Deb and Chris Harvey – Deb was there for set up and pack up for the Gala and happily offered Chris’s services for returning the decorations we hired for the night. 

Rosie Smith – She was first there on her bike Sunday morning to help pack up. Rosie is always there for you with a smile on her face and a kind word to offer. No wonder Larry has held on tight to her for 40 years.

Liz Connick – Liz from Your Project Partner, kindly donated 2 x Intersport Bennet Gift cards as lucky door prizes. Which was a great way to kick off the night.

Kathy Fuller – Kathy was a fantastic help in setting up on Saturday, and her attention to detail enabled our tables to look amazing.

And lastly to Steve Ayton and the SRC Committee Past and Present – Personally I can’t tell you how honoured I feel knowing that you have entrusted us with all the Social Committee Events, in particular the Gala Dinner. The total faith you have shown in us to put on a good show has been unwavering and appreciated.

THE DETAILS

First Band – Numurkah Ukelele

Second Band – Threes A Crowd

Photographer – AJ Taylor Imaging

Flowers – Avonlea

SRC wood hoop and table numbers (numbers came plain and we painted them with glitter) – Wooden Letters AU (Via etsy – From Bendigo)

THE NIGHT

Wow, well what a night. I could relive it in great detail for you OR I could direct you to the link http://ajtaylor.photos/ and use code src1307.

From a Committee point of view the night ran smoothly and sitting back watching everyone laugh and enjoy themselves was the greatest part of the night.

Grant on Monna.

Firstly, congratulations to all those involved in making Shepparton Runners Club 40^th Anniversary Gala such an amazing night! It really was a reflection of how much the club has grown over 40 years and also great to recognise the contributions of those incredibly passionate club members who go well above and beyond to make our club what it is today. A group of inclusive, motivated and passionate runners of all ages and running abilities.

As you know, Steve Moneghetti (4 time Olympian, Commonwealth games legend and pretty top bloke) was our guest speaker on the night and he was able to give us a small insight of what it is like to be completely committed and even obsessive about running. Steve spoke about the dedication that it takes to be able to compete at the very top level of your chosen sport. And it’s nothing short of madness when you think about it! Imagine the things that you are sacrificing along the way to achieve a goal at that level! But when you are totally consumed by and passionate about that one thing, anything is possible.

Steve also spoke about the things that all runners have in common, regardless of experience and fitness level, all runners run because they can. And for all of us, setting a goal, training hard and enjoying the journey to the start line in that goal race is incredible satisfying. The race itself is literally just a snapshot of the journey. You with your medal at the finish line! And as runners we know that’s not the end of the journey. Recovery and DOMs after the credits.

I personally found it particularly interesting when Steve spoke about his commitment to managing his body and keeping on top of those niggles before they become major problems that would force you to have a lay off. And how an injury that stops you from running can really crystallise in your mind that mantra of “I run because I can!” Because we all know that it sucks when you cant. We have people in our club that have overcome some major injuries and other physical obstacles along their running journey and have had to reassess goals along the way, but their commitment to running and love of our sport motivate them to get back out pounding the pavement.

In summing up. It was brilliant to have Steve Moneghetti come to our Gala and speak to us about his amazing achievements and the commitment that you need to “Succeed”. I loved every minute of his dialogue. But, to me the most enjoyable part of what he did on the night is that he put a spotlight on the people that drive our club and said “These people are giving you the opportunity to be part of a great running club!” He highlighted how at any level of running, setting that goal and working towards it, and even enjoying the process, is what running is all about.

Thank you to SRC for a magnificent night and bringing such an amazing group of people together to make our club.

Hicksy.

For the record, Kathy and Narelle’s silent auction raised $1516.00.

All funds go to GVCASA so that we can continue to raise funds and awareness to protect children in our community against sexual assault. So the more we raise the more we can continue to educate. Our awesome prizes have been provided by these superstars 🌟 
FIX Muscle Performance
24 and more fitness
Phillip Chua – Naturopath & Herbalist
EziKinezi
Lakeside Podiatry
McKellar’s Picture Framing
Shepparton Golf Club
River Country Adventours

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10km Handicap next Sunday July 21st at Victoria Park Lake starting at 8am – meet at parkrun BBQ shelter

Come along and feel free to include this as part of your long run or have a solid effort over 10km around the lake. We will be doing 2 loops of the parkrun course, a drinks table will be in action as well with water, but you can add your own personal drinks as well if you wish.

No cost involved, 4 x $30 Intersport vouchers will be up for grabs as well.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdPSFkFM730jgSYOS…/viewform

Kate Dainton to run in Run Melbourne

In two weeks I’ll be running the half marathon at Run Melbourne. This run holds a special place for me.. and I’ll be thinking of those who have lost their lives and those who are fighting the fight. Cancer sucks! I’m proud to raise money to help find a cure for brain cancer. If you would like to support this cause click on the link. Thankyou, Kate

The link is here

Why strength training?

A great question. Life is busy. Training for an event can be an all-consuming enterprise that cuts in on your social life, family time, hobbies (what are they again???), oh, and that other time filler called work. so how are you supposed to add in one or two strength sessions each week? The solution is much simpler than you may think. Firstly, we need to look at what you want to achieve from your strength training. I look at strength as serving two purposes:

1. Allowing you to train uninterrupted without interference from injury
2. Performance benefits such as improving running economy and delaying muscular fatigue

AVOIDING INJURY

One saying that I really love is that it is better to turn up at the start line 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained. If you can complete your weekly training sessions consistently over a period of months, you will turn up at the start line in much better condition than if you had an intermittent training block disturbed by injury. That’s it, moving on.

RUNNING ECONOMY

Running economy is how much energy each foot strike costs your system. Running is expensive with energy lost as heat, and used by muscles to propel you forwards, absorb forces as you hit the ground, and simply hold your body upright against gravity. The cost of running increases as we become fatigued and start to rely on muscle fibres that are less well trained and as our running form deteriorates. Strength training helps improve your running economy by making our system (muscles and tendons primarily) more resilient against the repeated pounding of placing one foot in front of the other.

HOW MUCH BENEFIT?

As tempting as it is to say, “it depends”, I am going to put my cards on the table and offer a very specific figure. 6-12 weeks of strength training 1-2 times each week for 30 minutes can result in excess of 7.5% improvements in running economy ⁽¹⁾. If you would like to know what this feels like, running with your hands clasped behind your back reduces your running economy by about 3% and running with your hands on your head by about 8% ⁽²⁾. Therefore, >7.5% is certainly not to be taken for granted! Especially towards the end of an event when you are either wishing that you hadn’t missed those three weeks with a niggly calf or that you had been a little more consistent with your one or two strength sessions each week.

“There may be no substitute for greater muscular strength when it comes to improving an individual’s performance while simultaneously reducing their risk of injury”

HOW CAN I GET STARTED???

Being a simple man, I take a simple approach that is both effective and accessible. Focus on the 2 key muscle groups that will benefit your running, your calf muscles (calves) and quadriceps (quads). Dedicate any remaining time to our other favourite muscle groups such as hamstrings (hammies), adductors (groin), gluteals (gluts), and core, but I promised you time-efficient results. Single leg calf raises are a little tedious but will pay dividends. Invest time in these over 6-12 months until the only weight that will give you the fatigue you are craving comes in the form of a leg press machine, then move on to skipping. Skipping is a fantastic, dynamic approach to strengthening those calves and serves as an excellent warm up. For our quads I would recommend squats, heavy squats. If you don’t have access to HEAVY weights, then split squats / lunges, rear-foot elevated lunges, or step ups with any load that you can hold or carry on your shoulder. Do not feel obliged to perform all the exercises listed, simply pick one for your calves and one for those quads. 4 sets to fatigue of each exercise, increasing the weight and reducing the reps over 4 weeks until you can do no more than 8 reps before needing to rest. See below table for a simple, time-efficient 12-week quads and calves program. At the RunStrong Facebook Group you can find strength training programs for at home, the gym, and the park.

RECOVERY

Strength training can leave you with heavy legs. To make sure you can apply yourself as best as possible to your strength training and your running sessions, I strongly recommend that you look after your recovery as best as possible. This means prioritising sleep and fuelling well

Further reading (or viewing

The link to the 40th Gala night photos is http://ajtaylor.photos/ and use code src1307.

Have a great weekend and see you back on the track. 🙂