History of the Club
Townsville Road Runners Inc was started in 1972 by a dedicated group of runners who got together regularly to race. Initially they called themselves the Townsville Marathon Club but later changed to the Townsville Road Runners, better reflecting the true nature of the club and perhaps less daunting for potential new members. Some of the inaugural members of the club are still active members today.
Some defining moments of the club as remembered by Joe Scott for the 30thanniversary of the club in 2002
- Club Formation : The Townsville Marathon Club was formed in 1972 by about a dozen runners to promote distance running in Townsville.
- Withdrawal from Queensland Amateur Athletic Organization : Initially all club members had to be registered with QAAA. After a couple of disagreements between QAAA and the Townsville Marathon Club, the committee decided that the club could function quiet well without QAAA and so withdrew in about 1975.
- Club Name Change to Townsville Road Runners: At the inception of the club, there were not a lot of distance runners in Townsville and so the "marathon" word was seen as a challenge. However, the running boom was just starting and the word marathon in the club name frightened a lot of potential members from joining the Townsville Marathon Club. In the early 1980's the name of the club was changed to the Townsville Road Runners.
- The Tea Urn : The club was always a friendly group, but often the front runners had departed before some of the slower runners had finished. One of the runners volunteered to bring a billy to make tea and coffee after the run and so then the front runners tended to stay on for refreshments after the run. Soon 1 billy was not big enough and then 2 was not enough either and so the first urn was aquired around 1984. The tea and coffee after the run adds to the social side of running. The club name change and the tea urn doubled the membership of the club at the time.
- The Change to Saturday Morning Runs : In the early years of the club, the Saturday events were always in the afternoons, starting at around 4pm. This was often inconvenient and or hot for runners. About 1985, it was decided to start the club runs on Saturday mornings at 7am. Immediately club membership increased again and was another leap foreward for the club.
- Printing a Programme Early and Sticking to It : There was generally a programme mapped out in the early years, but often for one reason or another, an event would be changed. This caused disenchantment for those who did not hear of the change and so turned up in the wrong place, or for new starters who could not find where the club members were meeting. A decision was made in the late 80's to print and distribute a calendar and stick to the programme no matter what happened (even once when a cyclone was imminent) so anyone with access to the calendar would be able to turn up at the correct venue.
- The Club Will Cater for Runners of All Speeds : There was a period in the early 80's when an elitist attitude seemed to prevail, and some of the slower members seemed to miss out on some of the club activities. eg. packing up before they had finished their run. In the mid 80's there was an attitude change in the club that gave all levels of runners equal importance. This philosophy has been successfully maintained over the years and is one of the cornerstones of what the Townsville club is about.
Townsville Road Runners Club Presidents
Mike Phillips | 1972-1975 |
Peter Lahiff | 1976-1977 |
Brad Cooper | 1978-1979 |
John Heppel | 1980-1982 |
Jaap DeJong | 1990 |
Joe Scott | 1991-1995 |
Russell Gustavson | 1996-1998 |
Mark McKeon | 1999-2000 |
Brian Armit | 2001-2005 |
Ian Frazer | 2006 |
Tony Hockings | 2007-2008 |
Sonia Chalk | 2009 |
Tony Hockings | 2010 |
Life Members
Peter Lahiff | |
Dr Bill Maitland | |
Richard Harris | |
Shirley Harris | |
Joe Scott | |
Alan Stanbrook | |
Bob Down | |
Rowan Carr | |
Dave Wharton | |
Rod Parker | |
Bert Part | |
Brian Armit | |
Col Taylor | |
Mary Donoghue | |
Mike Donoghue | |
|
