AN amazing story of resilience and getting the best out of one’s self comes to fruition in two weeks’ time, with Whittlesea local Stephen Barker ready to run his 100thmarathon.
Mr Barker, who is participating at the age of 82, has been running for 40 years around the world, but mostly in his local regions of Yan Yean and Humevale, putting together some incredible stories about his running prowess.
Mr Barker says his marathon career didn’t start in normal fashion.
“It’s unusual how it started. I started in 1982, and I used to call in to a mate’s place on the way home from work sometimes, and his son was 14 and we’d go for a run. I used to have my work shoes on, still in my work attire, and we would run about two to four kilometres,” he said.
“One day, he said to me, I think we ought to run a Melbourne marathon. And we started to go to races. We’d race anywhere over any distance.”
Mr Barker didn’t really think about running 100 marathons until he had reached around 70, but once he did, he started to meticulously plan his way around how to get to 100.
“I had to work out how to run 100, but it meant I had to run seven this year, and the 100th would be in Melbourne. So I had to organise reasonable spacing. The only bad spacing was Ballarat and Canberra, which was two weeks between one another, but one every three or four weeks wasn’t too bad,” he said.
“I’m not one of those sort of people who has special diets or does everything, I just try and do the kilometres, keep my weight down to about 72, 72 and a half kilos. I try and keep a reasonable weight, a massage every Monday and keeping the kilometres up.
“Basically you have to train, but I was never much good at training, which is why I never ran really fast, but I’ve trained a lot more this year than I have for ages, because to maintain a reasonable weight, you have to run at least 50 kilometres a week, so I’ve been running that for the last few weeks trying to get enough to run this particular race.”
Mr Barker added that having help along the way to get through more marathons has been a challenge, but one that he is meeting.
“The other thing that helps is that you have to have someone to run with. I don’t, I run by myself most of the time. I used to run with someone who was good, then he started to run marathons in under three hours, so it was too fast for me. One of my other mates that I ran with is crook, so he can’t run. I spoke to another one and he’s got back problems, so he can’t run, but now I have a young bloke who can,” he said.
“We’ve been running along the Maribyrnong River lately on the path out there. It’s good to have a regular path. If I want to run five kilometres for instance, I can run from home to the end of the new concrete path on the other side of the Showgrounds… you have to have these spots to be able to run.”
One of Mr Barker’s incredible stories involves how he was able to run the Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa, one of many he’s participated in around the world.
The 89-kilometre race between Durban and Pietermaritzburg honours fallen soldiers, and created an emotional vibe for Mr Barker in every event he participated in.
“It’s a whole different ball game, running 89 kilometres. I ran the first one in 2002, and we did some training around here. None of us knew much about it, and we went over to South Africa. It starts at about half past five in the morning and takes around 12 hours to do it,” he said.
“We get up in the morning and we get to the start, and it’s dark, but it’s the most amazing feeling to be at the start line before they start.
“Before the start, they play the South African national anthem, then they play other music, and when you hear 20,000 people singing, without a doubt, you’d be in tears at every start because of the emotion.
“In 2002 I was about four kilometres short, but in 2005, I ran 10 hours 51 minutes, and without a word of a lie, the finish line was there, and the shoes stayed on the concrete, and I faceplanted.”
With all this in mind, Mr Barker still has a couple of goals he wants to achieve over the next couple of years, even beyond his 100th marathon.
“I want to run Melbourne in under six hours, which is not easy. I ran Shepparton a month ago, and I ran six hours and four minutes. I was pretty happy with that,” he said.
“My first run was a 3:25:30. Eleven years later, I ran 3:25:15. But then it went from three, to four, to five, six, I even ran a couple of sevens this year.
“My thing was to run and walk the last couple of years at least. I can’t run the whole 42 without stopping.
“I get asked after I run 100, what will I do? When I run Melbourne, that’ll be 38. I want to run 40, which is as big a challenge as it is at the moment. There’s plenty of people out there who have run 40 and it’s no problem at all.
“My next aim after I run Melbourne, I want to run five a year for the next two years. Melbourne is in October, and you can’t sit on your hands until October, you have to run inbetween.”
Mr Barker’s secrets to success?
“I have said if you are a bit crook, best thing to do is to go out and run. Your heart works harder, your lungs work harder and it regenerates your body at the same time. It’s like a cure-all for me to run like that,” he said.
“It’s all about the people you run with, the people you meet at these runs. I’ve seen people I’ve met at the World Masters Games and catch up with them back here. It’s a whole gathering of people.”
Mr Barker’s 100th marathon will take place on Sunday, October 12.
