By Meagan Norbury, 8 August 2013
This year, among our fundraisers for the second year ‘running’, we are fortunate to have the support of the Caulfield Grammarians Association (CGA). The ‘CGA pavement pounders’ are a team of approximately 30 parents, teachers and students – present and past, who will together run approximately 400km in the name of the James Macready Bryan Foundation.
People run for a variety of reasons. Jeremy Pyman, Senior Vice President of the Caulfield Grammarians Association (CGA) and inspiration behind the CGA running team, runs for fitness, and to fundraise for the JMB Foundation. Madalan Xavier, a Caulfield Grammar School (CGS) parent, runs not only because she loves it, but also because now she finally can. Kelvin Marshall, a past student of the school, seems not to have considered life any other way. Running and traversing vast distances are second nature, a pattern instilled in him from boyhood. These three represent the diversity and spirit of the CGA running team.
Jeremy loves to run and has registered to run his 2nd successive Melbourne Marathon. It will be his 3rd marathon in total. By his own admission he is a busy man and it’s not always easy to squeeze 60 to 80km of running into the week. His adult running career began only 5 years ago in a bid to quit smoking, get fitter and lose a few pounds. He found entering events was a way to maintain focus and in 2011, Jeremy joined a running group from whence the idea to run his first marathon was borne. “You only do your first marathon once” and for Jeremy, that once in a lifetime experience was Uluru – hot, rugged and magnificent.
Madalan, grew up in an area where recreational sport and particularly women’s sport was not encouraged. Madalan wrote this brief and inspirational note to Jeremy after running the half marathon in 2012.
I feel awesome Jeremy. I finished in 143 min, which I think is good for an amateur like me – considering this is my first attempt.
It’s definitely a memorable day in my life. I’ve always cherished my dream to participate in a sporting event all these years and it came true today. I come from a place where sports are given least priority – especially for women. I didn’t have a break to enjoy my passion (running) until I moved to Dubai a decade ago. It is here that I started running as a recreational sport. It’s not been long since I moved to Melbourne just exactly 2 years ago. The pleasure I derive from running in this beautiful country surrounded by Mother Nature is indescribable.
Hoping to take part in the coming years.
Thanks for being an inspiration to me like the so many thousands of people who participated today.
Kelvin’s, early life as the only child of a car-less couple demanded that he walk often, over long distances. A regular Sunday excursion involved the family walking to Albert Park and doing a lap of the suburb that now hosts a leg of the course. Kelvin ran his first of more than 150 Marathons in Melbourne in 1986. There’s no doubt the marathon is the penultimate race for the majority of runners, but for Kelvin the ultra marathon is where he feels most at home. He has run across France, Germany and the Simpson Desert and completed more than 283 races over distances greater than 42.2 kms.
The CGA running team, have set themselves a goal to raise $2000. They support the JMB Foundation because the circumstances that changed James Macready Bryan’s life “could happen to anyone”. Brain injury is common and indiscriminate. Over 500,000 Australians have an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and two out of every three acquired their brain injury before they turned 25. Trauma to the head is the second largest cause of brain injury, second only to stroke.
We encourage you to show your support for the inspirational, talented and able runners who use their passion and determination to ‘run for those who can’t’.