These are Martin Thompson’s recollections of the various running venues.
The club had a number of different venues over the years … at one time the Jockeys rooms at the Traralgon Race Course were used, a room at the Traralgon Football Club building, a room at the Traralgon Small bore rifle club was also used.
Martin Thompson
These are Kaye Livingstone’s recollections of the various running venues.
I first started running with The Traralgon Harriers in the mid 1970’s after being recruited by Daphne Thompson who was my English teacher at the time.
Weekly runs were conducted from 6A Rose Avenue every Sunday afternoon. I only really remember running ‘The Mullet’, the 2km block along what was then the extension of Hickox Street, turning east at the end and then north into the extension of Dunbar road before returning back to Rose Ave. Not sure if this was for everyone (unlikely as it was only 2km) or just the juniors’ course. Runs were always followed by a cuppa and fruit/biscuits at the Thompson’s place at 6A Rose Avenue.
After a break for a number of years, I started running with The Club again in 1988. By now the runs were held on Thursday nights, a different course each week. No matter where the run was, most members would then meet up after the race for a cuppa and fruit (I think supplied by Manny’s Market) at the Small Bore Rifle Range Clubrooms in Shakespeare Street. These were very small rooms and most nights, very crowded (but cosy).
As my interest in running longer distances increased, I began running with regular groups, usually Sunday mornings, anything up to 32kms over different courses. I seem to remember the participants in these runs set out over varying distances, depending on what event individuals may have been training for at the time. Runs may have been from 10-32kms in length. Again there were always cuppas and refreshments at someone’s place after, usually at whoever’s place we began from.
On one such run I was the only woman amongst 8-10 runners. It was a long run through bushland and pine forests. Whoever measured and marked course had not figured on female participants as the way was marked by centre-folds from ‘Play Boy’ magazines. I continued to run with The Club throughout the 1990’s, with regularity being determined by pregnancies and the demands of babies and young children. In 1999 I took 6 months off to play a season of Netball (also on Thursday nights). The Netball team stayed together for 14 years and I didn’t return to The Club until this year (2015). At some stage during this time I was aware of the clubrooms moving to its present location at the West End Sporting Complex.
Kaye Livingstone
These are Glen Fisher’s recollections of the various running venues and how the Douglas Parade clubrooms came about.
When I started with the Traralgon Harriers in the mid 1960’s we used to meet every Sunday afternoon at the Traralgon race course for our club race a 6 mile handicap. We were allowed to use the committee room after the race for a drink, which was the only room we could use (not really a club room) but it worked. We would meet at 6A Rose Avenue, Traralgon (Barry Thompson’s house) generally for our training. As years went on I still kept running, but drifted away from the Harriers. One day I made a phone call to Laurie Edmondstone about running with the club again which I did.
Every Thursday night we would all meet to race a different course and then go to the shared clubrooms on Shakespeare Street (Traralgon Small Bore Rifle Clubrooms adjacent to Traralgon Creek) a small room with 3 clubs sharing the venue. With the club membership getting bigger (some weeks we had 60 or more runners) these clubrooms were just too small.
At the time I was president of the Traralgon Harriers and also umpiring football. The Umpires had a small room to use at the West End Sport Complex. I was asked by the Umpires committee if the Harriers would be interested in joining in to see the Latrobe Council about building a clubroom for both clubs to share. So Alan Giddens and Neil Donoghue (Umpires) and I (Harriers) went to a council meeting about our thoughts and what would be needed to get the project approved for new rooms. After two more meetings we were told if we could come up with $6000 to help with costs, it would be approved and the council would fund the rest, if we could also supply most of the labour.
So at the next committee meeting with the Harriers, I put it to them if we put the money up front and the Umpires would supply most of the labour. That got approved, so I went back to the Umpires and told them. We put in a written submission at the first available council meeting. Both Neil and I went and were asked by them, if both clubs agreed and that it would be a long term deal. Both clubs did agree that the Harriers would put up $6000, and the Umpires to supply most of the labour with the Council suppling most of the funds.
Within weeks the Council had started digging the foundations, with a few Umpires and me we had the plumbing done and the concrete laid. From then it was the walls and roof and it was up to lockup within 6 weeks. We started using them even though they were nowhere near finished. Big Allen Timmer-Arends, Ian Heafield, Alan Giddens and I spent a lot of time there during the week doing what we could, installing toilets, showers, ceiling etc., to finish them as soon as we could. Each week on Thursday night I would report to the Harriers with our progress. It was slowly starting to take shape, over the next 8 months it all came together and we had toilets, showers, store room and kitchen all with tiled floors. Then we got a call to a Council meeting they were replacing carpet in the Little Theatre and we could have the carpet, we said yes then we asked a friend if he could lay it for us. Now we had a club room to be proud of, which we used two nights a week plus Sunday morning’s. Although I’m not running any more I am happy for what I did achieve at my time as President of a great running club.
Glenn Fisher
