Melbourne’s marathon man
TWENTY-five years. More than 1000 kilometres. Countless pairs of ruined running shoes.
TWENTY-five years. More than 1000 kilometres. Countless pairs of ruined running shoes.
The statistics don’t take into account the blood, sweat and tears it takes to complete every Melbourne Marathon since 1989, an achievement local runner Eric Heine completed in early October when he brought up his quarter-century milestone at the event.
What makes Heine’s 25th consecutive race even more extraordinary is he ran the 42.2km course with a fractured coccyx bone, sustained just six weeks earlier at his 60th birthday celebrations.
During an ill-advised murder-mystery game, Heine took a spectacular fall after being ‘shot’ and when he was in discomfort a week later, a visit to the doctor confirmed the worst: Heine was ordered to abstain from running, putting his 24-year streak in jeopardy.
But for someone who has spent a lifetime competing in running events around the world — from China’s Great Wall to the frigid shores of Greenland — Heine was not about to abandon what he describes as his “my way of life”.
“In my head I was saying I’ll give it five weeks and then I would be fine for the marathon,” Heine told the <I>AJN<P>.
“On the Wednesday before the marathon [on Sunday] I went to my physio for a plan on how to run the marathon. My physio says: ‘Eric, you can’t run’.”
“So I see another sports doctor on Thursday he says tomorrow eight specialists meet and we’ll discuss your case. He phones me Friday night and says, ‘We agreed that the injury won’t make a difference and you can run!’”
“I was going to run in any case, but this made my wife feel better.”
The six-week period before a marathon is usually the most intense period of training for a runner, according to Heine, so his time did suffer, clocking in his slowest time in 25 attempts at 4 hours, 40 minutes.
“I was just under-trained – you can’t not run for six weeks and then wake up and do a marathon,” he said.
“But no pain and it was a fantastic run. A lot of people gauge their performance based on time, but my most important thing is enjoying the race and talking with people along the way.”
Since taking up running event in his 30s, Heine has competed in 89 marathons, which includes three of South Africa’s 88km Comrades race.
Despite turning 60, Heine is by no means slowing down; in fact, next April he will face his biggest challenge yet.
“In April I am doing Marathon de Sables, which is 250km over six days in the Moroccan dessert,” he said.
“And you are self-sufficient: you take your own food, your own gear. Now this is a challenge I couldn’t do by myself so there are three other boys — including my son — doing it with me, all 30-year-olds, and me the 60-year-old.”
Heine credits his unchanged body weight, lack of injuries and the support of his wife Chyrisse as integral to his success and longevity.
And Heine has one more secret: “For 25 years I’ve been drinking four flat Cokes during every marathon – I should really get a sponsorship.”
ADAM BLAU
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