AGM Guest Speakers - Melbourne Marathon Spartans

Summary of AGM Guest Speakers

Over the years we have been blessed with the quality of our guest speakers. John Dean has prepared the following list of speakers.

1997 Bruce Scriven (Leading Australian middle distance running coach of Olympian Paul Byrne, Craig Mottram, Georgie Clarke and Sarah Jamieson).
1998 Derek Clayton (World Marathon Record Holder 1967 & 1969). Derek spoke of his running experiences and of his breaking the world record in 1967 and again in 1969.
1999 Dave Paulin. (Spartan). Dave spoke of his two seventeen month trips to Antarctica and the experiences encountered during that time.
2000 Joe Murphy (New Ausfit Manager) and Nigel Aylott and Grant Jeffrey (Rogaining in Australia). Joe spoke of his role at Ausfit and gave an insight into the 2000 marathon. Nigel (world champion) and Grant spoke on the new sport “Rogaining” which is long distance orienteering.
2001 Terry O’Halloran. (Former editor of Australian Runners World) Terry spoke of his experiences in journalism and in organising running events around Australia.
2002 Rob McAulay (Spartan and runner of Marathon of the Sands) Rob spoke of his experience in running the 150 mile event and showed a video of what is thought to be the toughest foot race in the world.
2003 David Lawrence (Comedian). After being jibed about being fat, David decided to do something radical, he took up jogging and then the ultimate of running the marathon. Having completed his first marathon David spoke of his marathon journey.
2004 Bianca Dobson (Physio) and Jane Sturzaker (Marathon Runner). Bianca spoke of the most common runner injuries and how to prevent them and Jane gave an overview of her experiences in running South Africa’s Comrades Marathon)
2005 Steven Barker (Training and set-backs in running the 89km Comrades Marathon in South Africa which is known as “The ultimate Human Race”
2006 Kim Phillips (Event Manager – IMG) With IMG being the new owner of the Melbourne Marathon Kim gave an insight to IMG’s background to running sporting events around the world and their desire to develop the marathon into a major sporting event.
2007 Rob de Castella (World Champion, World record Holder, four time Olympian and Patron of the Melbourne Marathons Spartans Club) Rob acknowledged his duty as Patron and gave an interesting talk and insight into his commitment to training and discipline that allowed him to train up to 230kms/week and to log over 1,000 consecutive training days.
2008 Magnus Michelsson (Melbourne Marathon winner 2003 & 2004) Magnus spoke of his running and training experiences and answered many questions from the floor.
2009 Derek Clayton (World Marathon Record Holder 1967 & 1969). Derek gave an insight as to how he became a marathon runner and to some of his experiences along the way.
2010 Tim O’Shaughnessy (Athletics Australia – Distance running coach) Tim gave an insight on what makes an individual attain their goal. Along with hard work, lifestyle, focus and commitment the individual must have belief that he will achieve and win.
2011 Steve Moneghetti (Commonwealth Games Gold medallist, Olympian and World Record Holder. Steve spoke of his running experiences at both Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
2012 Tom Hafey (AFL coach of Richmond, Geelong, Collingwood, and Sydney) Tom spoke of his experiences in coaching at AFL level and his love of remaining fit and healthy. Tom’s speech was inspirational and demonstrated why he had been a successful coach.
2013 Tristan Miller (Marathon Runner) In 2010 Tristan ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks in 42 countries. Tristan spoke of how he became involved in marathon running and gave the 146 in attendance an insight into how his marathon journey unfolded. He described many experiences of his running in 42 countries. Tristan sold and autographed copies of his book “Run Like Crazy”.
2014 Janette Murray-Wakelin & Alan Wakelin shared their experience running around Australia, running at least the marathon distance for 366 successive days. They did this as “raw vegans” eating only uncooked and unprocessed (apart from blenders!) fruits and vegetables.Click for their website..
2015 Lavinia Petrie was the 2014 IAAF World Masters Female Athlete of the Year. Lavinia recounted many stories from her long and successful running career, as well as giving a glimpse of her training methods. Apparently she was a little nervous about speaking to the group, but definitely has a future on the speaking circuit if she so chooses.
2016 Tom Denniss spoke about his 2013 fastest circumnavigation of the world. It took 622 days and Tom ran the equivalent of a marathon each day. Read his book for more details and photographs.
2017 Robert de Castella (also 2007 guest speaker) shared thoughts and videos from his illustrious career. He also explained the aims and aspirations of the Indigenous Marathon Project, which hopes to eventually develop a top marathoner, but is now producing leaders in indigenous communities through its training programs.
2018 Sonia O’Sullivan a is a former Irish track and field athlete who won gold in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships and a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Sonia took us through her career, including insights into her training and shared her own marathon history.
2019 Doug Wilson shared his journey from addiction to yoga teacher, as well as undergoing major brain surgery. Among many other extreme marathons, he completed the “7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days” event and the Great Wall of China Marathon, both of which he won. His book is recommended.
2020 Zoom AGM because of Covid. No guest speaker.
2021 Second Zoom AGM because of Covid. Bruce Hargreaves, Spartan Legend, spoke via Zoom from Queensland. He revealed his early influences as a school boy in Bendigo through to the exploits of Derek Clayton. Bruce showed a number of rare videos including promotional videos for early Melbourne Marathons. He paid tribute to many of the Spartans and others who had shared his journey as a runner.
2022 Back at the MCG, Kevin Cassidy told his story of progressing from marathons to ultra events, then a switch to long distance swimming. He went through the requirements to swim the English Channel (put on 15kg!, swim 100 laps in the pool). He conquered many of the world’s toughest swims, from New Zealand’s Cook Strait through to swimming around Manhattan Island.
2023 Nikki Wynd and David Eadie who enthralled us with their stories of distance running, especially Nikki’s win in the 2015 Badwater Ultramarathon which is a 217-kilometre race through California’s Death Valley in temperatures up to 52 degrees.
2024 Oscar Carlson S96 took us through his life of tragedy and triumph. The triumphs include achieving an age group podium in the Hawaii Ironman. Oscar explained that he gets out of bed “to make a difference” to himself and so he can make a difference to others (the people he coaches). Every day is an event. An event of life