By Rebecca Thompson

Last Monday marked the beginning of National Volunteers Week, a weeklong celebration dedicated to recognising and appreciating the millions of volunteers Australia wide.

From 13 – 19 May, Volunteering Australia’s Thanks a Million campaign encouraged everyone to pay a special thanks to the six million people volunteering in Australia each year.

Volunteers contribute more than 700 million hours of work to their communities, which yields an annual $200 billion contribution to Australian society.

Students from Bond University and Griffith University are among the many who help out each year as interns at Events Management Queensland, organisers of the popular Gold Coast Airport Marathon (6 – 7 July 2013), Great Barrier Reef Masters Games (8 – 11 August 2013) and Pan Pacific Masters Games (1 – 9 November 2014).

More than 1,100 volunteers will bring their talents to a variety of roles in the lead up to and during the 35th Gold Coast Airport Marathon.

They are recruited through the Suncorp Bank Volunteer Program.

Last week they shared their reasons for volunteering and explained the benefits of the experience.

With a background and keen interest in sports, Bond University Business student Ben Green said he sought out a sports marketing internship because the industry experience was invaluable.

“I enjoy applying the theoretical skills I’m learning with my degree in a practical workplace environment,” Ben said.

Griffith University Events Management student Courtney Upton said her experience working on the Gold Coast Airport Marathon will help her secure a job after university.

“I’m excited to see all the measurements, planning and calculations come together on race weekend,” Courtney said.

“The internship will provide me with the ideal experience when seeking employment following the completion of my degree.”

Events Management Queensland General Manager Cameron Hart said no major event could be conducted successfully without a good team of volunteers.

“As event managers we need to be aware of the needs of volunteers and make sure we can provide them with a really positive event experience, the same as we do for the participants,” Mr Hart said.

“Supporting volunteers is more than providing a free tee-shirt and meal voucher; it’s about creating a positive working environment that they enjoy coming to.

“It has become that there are so many volunteers involved in the Suncorp Bank Volunteer Program, we now have a dedicated staff member to manage them.”

To celebrate and reward the hard work of the 1,100+ volunteers who will be involved in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon, Events Management Queensland held a breakfast at Cafe Rockpool on Wednesday 15 May to coincide with National Volunteers Week.

If you would like to volunteer at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon or the inaugural Great Barrier Reef Masters Games please email volunteer@goldcoastevents.com.au

By Steve Moneghetti

As Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu famously said, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

So often in life, the most difficult aspect of any task is just having the courage to start; to take that great leap of faith, that first step.

Beginning a running training program is no different. It can be an equally daunting prospect for both elite athletes and novice runners.

But with the Gold Coast Airport Marathon and the shorter distance events only eight weeks away (6 and 7 July), it’s fantastic to see that huge numbers of people, right across the world, are lacing up their runners and hitting their local footpaths, parks and beaches preparing to chase their race weekend dreams.

Interestingly, about one tenth of the early entries this year tell us ‘ticking a box on their bucket list’ is their main motivation for entering.

That means we should have record numbers of first-time entrants on the various starting lines this year.

For many of these people of course, the dilemma is how to start training.

My experience is that running is such an individual pursuit that no two people approach their physical training or mental preparation the same way.

Obviously it depends on your goals but, regardless of whether you are just aiming to finish, or you want to improve your personal best time, you will be more likely to succeed if you follow a fairly disciplined program that delivers the most realistic workload for you.

I always recommend a check up from your local doctor to ensure you are ready to begin a training program as a good starting point.

Also start a training diary so you keep track of your progress and have a practical record of your journey.

You also need to be realistic about the event you choose and my rule of thumb is double the longest distance you have done recently, so if you have done a 10km run then the 21km event would be an option for you.

A new pair of training shoes will provide great motivation, and if you start wearing them now they will be nicely broken in by race day.

Establish or continue the routine you are currently following as it will best suit your lifestyle and mean you are more likely to stay with the program.

Be sensible about how you begin the program as it is better to make it to race day under prepared than be injured or sick and not be on the start line at all. Slow and steady will win your personal race and it will always be the overarching message for my training program.

Following on from this logic, if you are unsure, always do less, and if you do miss a session or two do not try to catch up but revert to the week previous and pick the program up again from there.

Try to train on a mixture of surfaces such as gravel, dirt, grass and bitumen and reduce running on concrete as much as you can as it is unforgiving on your legs. Also incorporate hill running or walking into the program as it builds leg muscles that will be valuable on race day even if there are no hills in the event.

And lastly, train with another person or group as the support for each other will help with your commitment and make the effort a lot more enjoyable.

The good news is there’s still plenty of time between now and the race weekend on 6 and 7 July.

www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au has some excellent training tips for runners of all fitness levels and all race distances, which are well worth reading.

I look forward to taking this journey with you…step, by step.

Steve Moneghetti is a four-time Olympian and Gold Coast Airport Marathon Ambassador.

This year’s Gold Coast Airport Marathon race program will feature the full 42.195km Gold Coast Airport Marathon, ASICS Half Marathon, Southern Cross University 10km Run, Suncorp Bank  5.7km Challenge and 4km and 2km Junior Dash races.

Entries for the 35^th Gold Coast Airport Marathon are open and there is an early bird fee until Wednesday 22 May.

Southern Cross University (SCU) is hoping to have more than 150 participants in its team across the Gold Coast Airport Marathon events this year.

Last year, Team SCU had 138 runners take to the start-line with the majority lining up for the SCU sponsored 10km race.

“We are hoping for in excess of 150 runners this year and perhaps push close to 200,” Team SCU organiser Dave Graham said.

“The staff, students and even Alumni are embracing the Marathon event and we definitely have a good time as a team along the way. Actually, we even had an external (distance ed) student from Singapore attend last year and he ran in the Marathon and he’s backing it up again this year.

“Many of our team have started training already with a regular running group that trains two times per week and we will also use the Darrell Chapman Fun Run, which is held in Lismore out of the SCU campus, as a stepping stone to the Marathon.

“Last year our team won the Corporate Team Spirit Award and we will be going all out to do that again this year. We have big things planned for our tent including plenty of food for our team-members while we will also be offering treatments from naturopathy and osteopath students after the races.”

The Darrell Chapman Fun Run, which is organised by students from the School of Health and Human Sciences, offers runs of 3km and 6km. It will be held on Sunday May 26.

Gritty and determined are two words that immediately come to mind when given the task of summing up the character of two-time national IronWoman Series champion Courtney Hancock. The 24-year-old proved why she’s currently one of Australia’s greatest endurance athletes after overcoming not only an incredibly talented field of rivals but the unpredictable nature of the surf to take her second crown in February.

Courtney suffered concussion halfway through Round 4 at Surfers Paradise after a freak wave dumped her into a sand bank. Her board hit her on the head and her campaign appeared to have come to an end. But Courtney proved she had the strength, courage and determination to come back. Eight days later she narrowed her chase on series leader Naomi Flood to eight points leading into the final round at Coolum. Flood was eliminated in the three race format at Coolum allowing Courtney to take not only the win but the overall series.

The Gold Coast local now has her sights set on completing her first half marathon at the 35^th Gold Coast Airport Marathon. We had the pleasure to sit down with Courtney and get the lowdown on how her training is progressing, how she’ll combine her IronWoman training with her running and what her overall goal time is.

Q. Is this your debut half marathon?
A. Yes it is. It’s very exciting to be doing it on the Gold Coast.

Q. Why have you decided to run the ASICS Half Marathon?
A. I’ve always done the Coolangatta Gold which we have in October/November and I’ve wanted to incorporate the half marathon with the Coolangatta Gold training for some time. Last year I wasn’t able to because I had a few presentations I had to attend and I was quite busy in the off season but this year I want to do the plan I’ve always wanted to do.

Q. How will you incorporate your ASICS Half Marathon training with your IronWoman training?
I’m going to do my entire running training first and get ready for the half marathon. I’ll race and then I’ll start my swimming, board and ski paddling training after. So, I’ll have three months to pick those up but all my running fitness will be ready to go. I thought it would work out well because the Coolangatta Gold is just over 30 kilometres. It’s a bit different but I think it will change up my training as well. I think it will work out and hopefully I’ll go really well.

Q. How many times a week do you run or plan to run in the lead up?
A. At the moment I’m training for the Australian Titles so we do quite short and explosive running but I’m pretty much running everyday. This afternoon I’ve got an 8km run and then throughout the week we’ll do sprints on the sand. Although we’re doing sprints on the sand we still get up to about 4km. But when I’m training for the Half Marathon I’ll get up to about 50km a week.

Q. Have you always enjoyed running?
I’ve always loved running. I’ve always loved that feeling of being light on your feet. It’s really pleasant running around here on the Gold Coast too. We’ve got so many beautiful parks around Burleigh and Nobby Beach. I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully you’ll get a good crowd.

Q. Goal time?
A. I’m not too sure yet. I’ll have to check that out. I’ll see how we go. I always did running at school but I’ve seemed to improve the older I’ve gotten. The Coolangatta Gold has an 8km run at the end and it’s pretty tough especially after a 16km ski leg, 5km board and 2.5km swim so I’ve always had that endurance base. I’m hoping to give it a good go.

Follow Courtney’s journey online:

Website
Facebook 
Twitter

The Mal & Luke Show on 102.9 Hot Tomato, the official radio station of the event, is going for a record number of 8,000 local entries this year. Randomly on The Mal & Luke Show, they’ll award $200 ASICS vouchers to local runners reaching entry milestones so they can be fully decked out in the best gear when competing. Plus, if Mal & Luke call you back, you’ll score a spot in the major draw where you could win a $1,000 ASICS voucher!

The first two local runners called were Paul Jacques from Coomera and Alison Brand from Robina. Both Paul and Alison will make their marathon debut at the event! Listen to their on-air interviews below.

102.9 Hot Tomato interview Paul Jacques (02.04.13)

102.9 Hot Tomato interview Alison Brand (10.04.13)