29th de Castella Run
Sunday, 27 September 2009 - 09:00
Burke Hall
Nolan Avenue
Kew
VIC
3101
Australia
 Map and Directions
| The Tradition Continues! |
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Welcome to the 2009 de Castella Run, now in its 29th year, which will be held on Melbourne's most scenic and challenging inner city course around the Kew Boulevard. Once again, you can choose from 15km or 10km Run or a 5km run or walk.
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Click Here After the Event to View Event Photos
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| Enter a Team for Great Prizes |
This year we invite you to get your friends or colleagues together and form a team for a chance to win great prizes! Open teams are available in the 10K, while school teams are available in the 5K.
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Raise Funds for Women's Mental Health!
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The 2009 de Castella Run is proud to partner The Alfred Hospital and Monash University's Women's Mental Health Research. Please support this important research by making a donation when you register and by getting your friends and family to sponsor you in this years run. Follow the links to learn more about their important work which strives to develop new treatments for serious mental illnesses and to improve the quality of life of thousand of affected women in Australia.
Click Here to find out more about our partner charity or
Click Here to make a donation
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| Meet DEEK! |
Deek himself has confirmed that he will be in attendance to start the event, give out some prizes and mingle with you the runners! So stay around after the race and take this opportunity to talk to Australia’s greatest ever marathoner! You can find out more about Deek and learn about his running career achievements. Check out the tab at the top of the page.
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| Your Ideal Melbourne Marathon Lead-up Event |
Use the 29th de Castella run as your ideal lead up event to the 2009 Melbourne Marathon or Half! Put this event in your diary now and enter today!
We look forward to seeing you on September 27th! Happy Training!
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| The 29th de Castella Run Organisers |
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Proudly organised by the Old Xaverians Athletics Club -
For free coaching and training group details go to: www.oxac.org.au
2009 Race Report
Personal reflections from a runner on debut
29th DeCastella Run
By Dean Watson
The 29th ”de Castella Run” was the first running event I participated in that had no association to school. In other words, I actually wanted to be there. The annual event is hosted by the old Xaverians Athletics Club to honour former Xavier student Australian marathon legend Rob de Castella. Once the world record holder for the marathon, he is to Australian long distance running what The Wiggles are to kids’ music - he made his area of expertise ‘cool’ and ‘fashionable’ in a way that no one had before him.
It was race day and we were due to start at 9.00AM. Before any pre-run rituals could commence, a race number was pinned to the front of our shirts and a timing device secured around our ankles. Despite the significant attention required to attach the race number onto our own t-shirts using petit safety pins, it soon became apparent that the man himself was there in person among the people. Although ‘Deeks’ didn’t start plugging Centrum, as one would naturally expect him to do, he did have that stylish grin on his face. He easily went about the room, chatting to runners of all shapes and sizes and ages, which appeared to relax quite a few first timers, such as myself. One thing I did notice as we assembled in Xavier College’s Burke Hall before the run, was the look of withheld terror evident on so many people’s faces. The room seemed to hold a bubbling nervous energy as everyone preserved their energy’s moment of release for the starter’s gun.
If a chat with Deeks wasn’t enough to calm the nerves, there was always the option of participating in a pre-run warm up conducted by a young peronal trainer, 20 minutes prior to the start. Needless to say, by the time all of us piled out of the gym and waited for de Castella to fire the starting gun, the nervous excitement had summitted again.
The weather might also have been responsible for some of the pre-run trepidation among us runners. It was freezing outside and the wind was whipping about the Kew mansions that surrounded the school. Rain also threatened to ruin the fun of 15km, but luckily it held off. The true test confronting runners on the course were the long, sustained sections of ascent and decent. The area of Studley Park is very hilly - take my word for it. The 15km consisted of three laps around the same course, which allowed you to see the leaders every now and again, as they made their way comfortably back from the direction you were still running in. You could only admire how fast these athletes were. Running is so very much a personal odyssey that there really isn’t any point in envying those faster than you. 99% of the people in the event were there to have a good run without worrying about winning. Personally, it was a pleasant change from the win, win, win mentality I try to take with me to the golf course every time I play.
My time for the 15km was 1hr 10min 55sec. I came 41st overall, which is a fairly nice number - the number 1’s in there after all! Did someone say this wasn’t about winning? Who said that?
Following the completion of the 5km, 10km and 15km races, presentations were held. What a change in atmosphere a running race can produce; now the room was full of the most fulfilled looking people I have seen. Running has strange effects on us humans. Each competitor went home from the event with two show bags of goodies, ready to seize the remainder of the blustery day indoors. In that sense, everyone was a winner.
From a personal point of view, my competitive running debut outside of school law and order was a very satisfying experience. All that remains in my running career is to complete the Melbourne Marathon. The Grand Daddy of running, the Lindt chocolate, the Beatles remastered albums, the new Titleist irons, the Le Napoleon cheese, the passionate late night kiss after midnight. If only 42.195km could be that pleasurable.
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