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New York Marathon Campaign for Parkinson’s Disease.
By Mark Humphrey
After 3 failed attempts to compete in the famous New York Marathon local Ocean Grove resident Alan Barber finally received the news he so longed for, acceptance into the New York Marathon.
With the marathon being a long held dream and a bucket list item for Barber, the entry acceptance meant that he could devote the famous event to raising awareness for Parkinson’s disease.
Having two close friends who have been diagnosed with the disease, Barber set out in early May of this year to launch a campaign to raise awareness and funds globally for Parkinson’s disease based on the back of his New York Marathon attempt. “I have picked Parkinson's Victoria in Australia and Light of Day Foundation in New Jersey USA in particular and hope that we can generate some momentum between the Ocean Grove I live in and the one that founded our town” said Barber.
His journey will take him to New York in November of this year to compete in the famous marathon that runs through 5 New York districts. The 16 week training program for the event has consisted of weekly averages around the 60km mark with distances slowly being increased to average around 80 km per week.
Today’s Surf to City for Parkinson’s run was to put the campaign on the local agenda as part of the Parkinson’s Awareness Week. Speaking on the steps of the Geelong City Town Hall Barber said “3 months ago we set a target of $10,000 to raise collectively for the charities. Due to the generosity of the Geelong public we have re-set the target to $15,000”. To date the fund has collected just over $12,500 with the revised target a genuine possibility.
City of Greater Geelong Austin Ward Councillor John Irvine received the group of 4 runners on the steps of the Geelong City Town Hall today along with a message of hope from the runners.
Geelong City Councillor John Irvine on the steps of City Hall to greet the runners.
Councillor Irvine noted that he had been aware of Alan’s quest for some time and wholly supported his cause and the awareness he was raising within the Geelong community. “Unfortunately local governments have not been in a position to provide major funding with regards to infrastructure to assist people with Parkinson’s. The goal of Alan’s campaign is to help provide funding for a specialist Parkinson’s nurse for the Geelong/Barwon region which will go a long way towards caring for people suffering from this debilitating illness. I fully support his cause and hope that one day the City Of Greater Geelong will be in a position to assist people with Parkinson’s”.
Joining Barber on the 22km run today from Ocean Grove to Geelong were fellow supporters Philip Christian, Caroline Pascoe and Lisa Dickson. For Christian the campaign is close to his heart as his partner Richard Grimmett has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. When asked about the significance of the event and awareness of Parkinson’s Christian said “the disease has struck close to home and campaigns like this can only benefit the cause in the long term. What Alan is doing for the awareness of Parkinson’s is fantastic and we all support him in his adventure”.
Alan Barber leads in the group after the 22km run.
For the record, Parkinson’s is the second most common neurological disease in Australia after dementia. The disease affects an estimated 10 million worldwide including 100,000 Australians.
30 Australians are diagnosed with the disease every day with 20% of sufferers under the age of 50.
The number of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s has increased by 17% over the last six years and is now more prevalent than prostate, bowel and many other forms of cancer. US actor Michael J Fox from the “back to the future” film series is one of the 10 million or so sufferers.
Although the Surf to City leg is completed the quest for Alan goes on. Another 8 weeks of training still has to be completed prior to his life-long dream of running the New York Marathon while raising the awareness of Parkinson’s will be an on-going campaign.
Pretty cool support crew in VW Combi's.
People interested in donating towards the charities Alan is supporting can do so by logging onto the following sites.
If you want to donate to the USA based organisation go to http://www.lightofday.org/donate/index/ or for the Australian one go to http://www.everydayhero.com.au/alan_barber
We're on for Wednesday's Surf2City run as part of Parkinson's Awareness Week.
The plan is to leave Ocean Grove Main Beach from the Dunes at 10.15am. We aim to arrive at Geelong City Hall at about 12.30pm.
At present there are four runners confirmed with others welcome to join us. All support welcome.
Surfside Waves Kicks In For Charity
A local soccer tournament was the scene of Surfside Waves latest fund raiser.
When told of Alan Barbers quest to run the New York Marathon for charity, Surfside's Cath Sattler immediately presented Alan's case to the Surfside Waves committee which voted unanimously to support Alan's quest.
"Alan I raised your fantastic quest at Surfside Waves Committee meeting last night. We agree we wanted to help. We have a sausage sizzle coming up and would like to donate all the proceeds to your Parkinson's disease charity. It is a fantastic cause and what you are doing is amazing. The sausage sizzle is on Thursday TH June and it will be at the soccer fields. We are allowing primary schools to use our pitches to hold their annual soccer tournament, so will be running a sausage sizzle for parents and players. I will be generating some publicity posters to put up around the club so that people are aware what the money is being raised for."
Alan was thankful of the committees support stating "Cath I’m blown away by the offer - not least because I’m sure there are heaps of things Waves could use the funds for. I am grateful as long as you are not diverting money away from things that the club needs."
Played annually, schools involved are: Drysdale, Barwon Heads, Surfside Primary and Ocean Grove Primary
Each school entered a girls team and boys team with varying abilities involved from special needs students to representative team players
Local high school Bellarine Secondary College provided students as referees as part of their leadership program
Surfside Waves SC provided their facilities, with fully set up the pitches, and ran a bbq with proceeds going this year to Parkinson's Victoria, via alan Barber and his quest to run the New York marathon.
All teams were evenly matched but in a close call Barwon Heads won both girls and boys competitions on the day with superior goal differences.
To help out with Alan's fundraising simple go to the following link. Alan's facebook site:
http://www.facebook.com/NewYorkMarathonForParkinsons?fref=ts
The pictures are from the primary school soccer event that Surfside Waves hosted. The soccer club ran a sausage sizzle for Alan Barbers cause for Parkinson's disease and raised in excess of $120. Pictures are Ocean Grove Primary School team as they hold pictures of Alan and his quest for raising money for Parkinson's disease.
Marathon To Test Body And Mind
By Mark Humphrey
The 9th 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 9th 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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Media release: Thursday, May 9
MARATHON
RECORDS SMASHED
THE Great Ocean Road Real Estate International Marathon Festival will welcome a
record-breaking field, with 5170 competitors to contest the event.
It marks the first time in the festival’s nine-year history that 5000 entries have been
received, much to the delight of marathon committee president Ross Stephens.
“When the marathon was founded by Les Noseda nine years ago, he had the vision to
eventually attract 5000 competitors,” he said.
“To reach this goal is fantastic and it’s a great tribute to Les.
“Running on the iconic Great Ocean Road is truly memorable and the substantial
number of entries shows that more people are taking up this rare opportunity.”
The appeal of the festival is evident, with five events welcoming a record number of
competitors.
The Great Ocean Road Real Estate Marathon has attracted 1154 entrants, while the
Fagg’s Mitre 10 Half Marathon has amassed 2652 competitors.
The Geelong Advertiser 14km Paradise run (942 competitors) and the Mizuno 6km
Apollo Bay to Marengo and return (411 competitors) have also proved popular, while
the TAC Wheelchair Athletes’ Challenge will feature about a dozen athletes.
It includes dual Paralympic gold medallist Richard Colman and rising star Jake Lappin,
who is expected to challenge Colman.
Stephens was pleased to announce that international entrants were also at a recordhigh.
Participants are travelling from 21 overseas countries - China, Hong Kong, Ireland,
Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, The
Philippines, Spain, United Kingdom, America, Austria, Germany, South Africa, Ethiopia,
Holland and even the French Polynesian island of Moorea.
“We’ve also got competitors from all Australian states and territories,” Stephens said.
Free-striding Kenyan James Kipkelwon spearheads the field for the main event, the
45km Great Ocean Road Real Estate Marathon from Lorne to Apollo Bay. The two-time
defending champion is aiming to break his course record of 2:27.42.
The festival features six events, kicking off on Saturday, May 18, with the 6km Mizuno
run from Apollo Bay to Marengo and back, the 1.5km family-friendly Vetta Pasta Kids’
Gallop, the 14km Geelong Advertiser run to Paradise and return, and the TAC
Wheelchair Athletes’ Challenge, also from Apollo Bay to Paradise and return.
Sunday, May 19, sees the running of the Fagg’s Mitre 10 Half Marathon and the Great
Ocean Road Real Estate Marathon.
The Great Ocean Road International Marathon Festival is supported by Tourism
Victoria and three municipalities – Colac Otway Shire, Surf Coast Shire and the City of
Greater Geelong.
SUPER SIX SET FOR MARATHON WEEKEND
SIX top-class Africans will contest the 2013 Great Ocean Road International Marathon Festival -
the largest African contingent in the event’s nine-year history.
Joining two-time reigning titleholder James Kipkelwon in the 45km marathon from Lorne to
Apollo Bay is compatriots John Maluni, Philip Kiplabat Kigen and Pkorir Joel Chepkopol.
Fellow Kenyan Festus Talam, who is coached by Kipkelwon, is also making the trek to Australia.
The young gun is aiming to become the first athlete in the festival’s history to take out three
events.
On Saturday, May 18, Talam will compete in the 6km Mizuno run from Apollo Bay to Marengo
and return, as well as the Geelong Advertiser 14km trek from Apollo Bay to Paradise and back.
He will back-up in the Fagg’s Mitre 10 Half Marathon from Kennett River to Apollo Bay on
Sunday, May 19.
Festival director John Craven hopes the 18-year-old can pull off the incredible feat, which was
attempted by Jason Woolhouse in 2011, when he won the 6km Marriner’s Lookout race on the
Saturday but was unable to claim the remaining two events.
Craven is excited about the quality of this year’s international athletes, with former Burundian
refugee Donatien Buzingo also adding depth to the marathon field.
Buzingo, who gained South Korean citizenship in 2010, has taken out the Han Gang Marathon in
Seoul the past nine years, which has a similar course to the Great Ocean Road Marathon.
“He ran a 2.18 on that course, so he should be a genuine contender in this year’s marathon,”
Craven said.
“The Great Ocean Road International Marathon Festival is certainly living up to its name, with
overseas entries continuing to roll in.
“Just like locals, international competitors are pouncing on the opportunity to run on one of the
world’s most stunning stretches of coast.”
Buzingo is a world-class runner who initially ventured to South Korea to compete in the Summer
Universiade, a tournament organised by the International University Sports Federation.
He sought refuge in Korea when civil war broke out in his home country, claiming the lives of his
parents.
Buzingo is expected to provide a challenge for Kipkelwon, who is aiming to become the first male
athlete to notch up three consecutive victories in the Great Ocean Road Real Estate Marathon.
He is also hoping to break his course record of 2.27.42, set in 2011, when he clinched his first
title.
Kipkelwon’s personal best time in a marathon is 2.15, with Maluni (2.11.53), Chepkopol (2.12.55)
and Kigen (2.15.57) also holding blistering PBs.
The Great Ocean Road Real Estate International Marathon Festival features six races.
Events cater for participants of all ages and abilities, starting with the Mizuno 6km run from
Apollo Bay to Marengo on Saturday, May 18.
Other events on Saturday’s schedule are the 14km Geelong Advertiser run from Apollo Bay to
Paradise and return, while the TAC Wheelchair Athletes’ Challenge will follow the same route.
Dual Paralympic gold medallist Richard Colman, of Highton, is a leading contender in the latter.
Rounding out the day is the family-friendly 1.5km Kids’ Gallop in Apollo Bay, which welcomes
Vetta Pasta as the naming rights sponsor.
On Sunday, May 19, the festival continues with the Faggs Mitre 10 Half-Marathon and the
headline event, the Great Ocean Road Real Estate Marathon.
Enter online at www.greatoceanroadmarathon.com.au