History of the City2Surf and me
The City 2 Surf has formed a part of my life for the last 39 years. That sounds like a long time doesn’t it! When I ran the City to Surf (now referred to as the City2Surf) in Sydney in 1971, it was promoted as a ‘family fun run’. The City2Surf has been held as an annual event in Sydney since the first run on September 5, 1971. It was conceived by the staff of The Sun (now The Sun-Herald) and inspired by the Bay to Breakers event in San Francisco. The first event was jointly organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of NSW...
read moreRunning as a kid
My mum emailed me these two old photos of me running as a kid. She is getting stuck into scanning old slides and finding all sorts of interesting old pics. One thing I immediately noticed in these two pics is that I used to stick my little pinkie out on my right hand when I was running… I never knew I did that! Now I’ll have to stop ribbing our young Alex who has a tendency to have his tongue out in every photo we have of him playing soccer. As a kid, I grew up with athletics as our family sport. My father had been a fairly good...
read moreAnother City2Surf, another tragic death
Yesterday I completed my 38th City to Surf and, as usual, it was a picturesque Sydney day. After the run, I met up with some friends on Bondi beach before a refreshing shower and our usual post-run lunch. After the Sydney sunshine, we drove back to Canberra through snowfalls whilst listening to the coverage of the Olympics. We heard on the news that a 26 year old by the name of Lee Marriage died only 200 metres from the finish and I recalled that quite a few people have died on this run over the years. The City2Surf is not a hard run if you do...
read moreWhat does it take to be a City2Surf Legend?
My father and I went in the first (15km) Sydney City2Surf back in 1971 and we completed 26 consecutive runs together before his death in 1996. I’ve continued to do the run every year since (It has now been shortened to 14km). There are 39 ‘City2Surf Legends’ who have now completed 40 consecutive City2Surf fun runs. I hold the dubious honour of being the youngest of this group, having done the first event at the age of 10. Some of the guys are getting a little ancient now and there is always a lot of talk of death and injury...
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