General News
8 February, 2024
Fun Run celebrates decades of athletic success
THE 2024 Terang and District Lions Fun Run and Walk will pay tribute to those who have earned multiple victories during the four-decade history of the event.
The annual Fun Run and Walk traversing the 5.12 kilometres from Noorat to Terang will return on Friday, February 23, and this year will pay tribute to the cream of the crop.
The event poses no shortage of successful participants through its 42-year history, with Childers Cove native Judy McDowall sitting atop the list of all-time victories.
Over the years she notched 12 wins in the women’s open category in an athletic career cruelly cut short after she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in August 2005.
Despite undergoing gruelling treatment, Mrs McDowall remained an ardent supporter of the run and attended each year as a spectator to support others.
Terang and District Lions Fun Run and Walk co-organiser Stephen O’Connor said he had no doubt Mrs McDowall was destined to win more events.
“She was always at the finish line cheering on others when she couldn’t run,” he said.
“You would see her offering guidance to the younger runners, encouraging them – always with a smile on her face.
“She truly was an inspiration.”
After she succumbed to the cruel disease, the decision was made in 2010 to present the first female runner home with the Judy McDowall Memorial Trophy.
Trailing Mrs McDowall was Warrnambool’s Jenny Dowie, who notched up seven wins throughout her time.
“She is quite the exceptional runner and her record in the Noorat to Terang is outstanding,” Mr O’Connor said.
“There were quite a few events over the years she missed due to other commitments, so it’s safe to say she could have won a lot more than she did.
“We consider ourselves fortunate to have had an athlete of her calibre competing over many years.”
While Mrs McDowall and Mrs Dowie stand atop the leader board for most wins at the fun run, the two shared a lot more in common than their athletic prowess.
The duo first met during their late teens through tennis before teaming up in the Warrnambool domestic basketball competition.
When Mrs Dowie joined the Warrnambool Amateur Athletics Club in the early 1980s, with Mrs McDowell following soon after, the humble beginnings were established for the close friends who would soon go on to enjoy international and national success – and two decades of dominance at the Noorat to Terang Fun Run.
Mrs Dowie recalls the 80s as being a golden era for sporting in Australia, with the emergence of marathons and fun runs positioning athletics as a force across the national sporting landscape.
It would be 1984 when she first participated in the fun run before falling in love with marathon running after her first in 1986.
As Mrs Dowie became more invested in competitive running, the Noorat to Terang became an important event to train for marathons, her primary athletic focus, and push herself to improvement.
The event itself rapidly saw improvement, and began to draw in larger numbers of competitive runners.
“A lot of good runners began to emerge in the south west; very talented, both male and female,” Mrs Dowie said.
“My competitive running was prior to 1994, even though I continued but wasn’t as serious.
“But there were a lot of good runners who competed, a lot of fast people who had jumped at the chance to join this new sporting craze.”
Despite the tough competition, this would mark the beginning of a period of dominance for Mrs Dowie and Mrs McDowall.
Between 1985 and 2006, there were just three events in which neither was the first woman home. This includes a stretch between 1989 and 1998 where one of the two claimed victory.
It was this connection through their shared experience of athletic success, the gruelling physical training and the kind-hearted competitive spirit which fostered a “special bond” which saw the two remain close friends until the day Mrs McDowall died.
“We were the only two people who could talk to each other about what we did,” Mrs Dowie said.
“We were both at the same levels; we were rivals in racing but admired each other on the understanding of how much work we put in to achieve.
“We kept each other on our toes; you couldn’t rest on laurels because the race would ultimately come down to who was best on the day.”
The duo was part of a movement of trailblazing women who showed that sport was far from a game just for the men.
Athletes such as Ella Gill (four wins) and Rachael Ayres burst on to the scene with their own talents on display in the years since.
Just as Mrs McDowall would proudly watch on to support the women following in her footsteps, even when she could no longer take those steps, Mrs Dowie too feels a sense of pride seeing what women have accomplished in the run.
“I love that now when I drive around town or am out running myself, I see women and families out exercising together far more than I once did,” she said.
“It puts a smile on my face.
“Everyone is out there looking after their health and wellbeing.
“When I look back on it, I’m much prouder now, at 64, than I was. I used to be embarrassed but now I look back and think how did I do that?”
Mrs Dowie offered her congratulations to the Terang and District Lions Club for its ongoing success with the event.
“The Noorat to Terang was one of the first Fun Runs around and to still be going is a credit to the club,” she said.
“It’s a credit to the lions club because it’s harder and harder to put these events on.
“I hope to see it going as long as they can because the event has such a wonderful history.”
To register for the 2024 Terang and District Lions Fun Run and Walk visit www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1165831
This week’s publication focused on the women who have enjoyed success at the Terang and District Lions Fun Run and Walk.
Next week will focus on the men; including an iconic record set by a former Olympian and an intense competition which saw two of Warrnambool’s best athletes vie for supremacy.