Marathon To Test Body & Mind

Marathon To Test Body And Mind

By Mark Humphrey

The 9^th running of The Great Ocean Road Marathon takes place on the iconic Victorian coastal road tomorrow.

80 odd years ago men lined up to get a days work breaking up rock and carving out a road on the side of a cliff face. Hard work faced the workers day in day out with many having to work through extreme difficulties and hardship in order to keep their jobs. For a marathon runner they too have to work through pain and mental barriers in order to complete the normally 42 kilometre race distance. An extra 3 kilometres face contestants of The Great Ocean Road Marathon to add to the varying undulations of the course.

The running festival has attracted competitors from 23 different countries and includes 7 Africans who will contest the marathon. For the first time in the history of the event there will be 5000 + competitors across the rage of races with more than 2700 contesting the half marathon.

No doubt the pinnacle of the weekend is the blue ribbon event being The Great Ocean Road Marathon. Competitors from all backgrounds of life have made the decision to test their ability and mental strength against the gruelling course.

One such athlete is 24 year old local girl Rachael Thompson. Thompson is a graduate lawyer with Geelong firm Harwood Andrews and also holds down the position as captain of The Deakin Ducks Women’s soccer club.

Racheal Thompson crosses the line in the Geelong River Run as 4th female in her class.

Thompson’s history in sport is predominantly in soccer having competed in the Geelong Women’s League over the past 5 years and a season with the Geelong Cross Country Club. Competing in local fun run events has also been a priority for Thompson.

Prior to this weekend’s marathon Thompson has competed mostly in 10 km or less events with the exception being a half marathon distance race with the Geelong Cross Country Club in 2012.

Battling stress fractures in her legs for the best part of last year Thompson made a New Year’s Resolution to run a marathon and in doing so tick off one of the items on her bucket list. Not one for waiting around she elected to do the first marathon that was scheduled in her region which was the Great Ocean Road Marathon.

In 2009 Thompson suffered from Osteo Pubitis which was also affecting her knees. She sought out a recommended physiotherapist Brad Saunders from Newtown Physiotherapy to help her through this tough time in her life. Saunders has been managing Thompson’s ailments since their first meeting and has been instrumental in helping Thompson prepare for the marathon. When asked about the assistance Brad Saunders has provided Thompson said that she could not have got to this stage without his assistance. “Brad has been very good in treating my issues and keeping me on the right track. He worked out a running program for the marathon which involved running most days alternating with sprints, hill runs, interval sessions and easy running sessions. He also set my weekend running program that required me to run an extra 10 minutes each weekend up to the stage of my last weekend run which took 3 ½ hours to complete.” Thompson went on to say that her weekly training schedule was more than 5 hours per week on average. Couple this with the benefit of cross training through soccer and gym work and one feels that Rachael has left no stone un turned in her quest to complete this gruelling marathon.

Racheal Thompson on the way.

Asked what she hoped to get out of it Thompson replied “It is about self-achievement in completing the race, just feeling good about yourself and also the fact that you would belong to a club”

Rachael hopes to complete the marathon in 3 hours 45 minutes saying that all she is thinking about is just crossing the line in Apollo Bay. Depending on her experience with this race, she would like to organise future holidays around the world incorporating marathons as part of the holiday.

We caught up with Event Director John Craven to get his thoughts on the mindset of a competitor like Thompson tackling a marathon.

John said “For athletes it’s the most amazing life experience. They will have supreme highs and depths of lows throughout the race. On finishing the race the realisation of concoring the challenge will stay with her for the rest of her life”

Craven is “quite thrilled to be in the 9^th year of the event”. He said “The original goal was to get 5,000 competitors and this year we have broken that barrier for the first time having 5700 competitors across the rage of races” He went on to say “This year is not only the biggest field but also the highest quality field the event has had. We have 7 Africans along with Craig Mottram contesting the marathon.” When asked about the preparation of an event this size Craven said that they have already started work on next year’s event which normally takes around 15-18 months of work to get it to the line.

The marathon kicks off at 8.00am from Lorne and finishes in Apollo Bay. For more information go to www.greatoceanroadmarathon.com.au

Sportingscribe.com will follow Rachael's progress throughout the race.

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