Michael Gentle

My family's connection with the St George District Athletic Club (SGDAC) dates back to the early 1950s when my father first joined as a teenager. After a period of retirement for marriage, raising kids & establishing the family home my father returned to distance running in the early 1980s aged in his mid-40s.

Through my father's involvement with the Club I became a member in 1985, competing in the under 15 winter cross country club events at Scarborough Park. During this time I first met my father's running club mates - Ron Gribble, Albie Thomas, Dennis Jolliffe, John Irvine & Alan Staples - who decades later would welcome me back to the Club.

I ran with SGDAC until 1993, during which time I progressed from short cross country runs to finishing my first half marathon. Highlights from this time include:

• 1991 NSW Novice Championship (10km, 44m 15s)
• 1990 Sutherland to Surf (11km, 48m 18s)
• 1991 City to Surf (14km, 60m 54s)

I rejoined SGDAC in 2006 at 35 years of age & beginning to suffer the effects of obesity following years of sedentary lifestyle. My children ran with me, & helped to inspire me to improve my fitness. In 2008 the long distance running bug got me, & over the course of 2008-09 I completed ten half marathons & one marathon. I was a proud member of the "Back of the Pack" in all of these races with my best results being 2:07:11 in the half marathon & 5:28:24 in the marathon.

I was also involved with the administration of SGDAC from 2007 to 2017, serving as website administrator, historian & race handicapper. I found a great passion for athletic history, and when I began to unearth some of my father's old results I was inspired to create this resource. I am a red & white dragon runner!

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I made a decision many years ago, while moving house, to discard my old training & racing records that had been handwritten on lined foolscap paper & stored in a ring binder. At the time I had not run for a couple of years & did not have any plans to start running again due to the onset of what was later diagnosed as arthritis in my knees. I have since come to regret this as now when I look back I have very few details of my achievements.

Through my recent work as historian for SGDAC I began to find a few details of my old runs published in the club's Annual Reports. With the growing collection of digitised newspaper archives provided by the National Library of Australia's Trove database even more information will be discovered in the future.

A list of my known results is available on the Australian 100 Club website. My results & further details including certificates & official results documents will be added here ASAP.

I have won the following Club Championship honours with SGDAC:

• 1989-90 Men's U20 5000m Cross Country - 2nd
• 1990-91 Men's Senior Long Jump - 1st (5.16m)
• 1990-91 Men's Senior High Jump - 1st (1.55m)
• 1990-91 Men's Senior 100m - 3rd (12.7s)
• 1990-91 Men's Senior 200m Hurdles - 3rd (34.97s)
• 1990-91 Men's Senior Triple Jump - 3rd (10.40m)
• 1990-91 Men's U20 5000m Cross Country - 3rd
• 1991-92 Men's Senior 110m Hurdles - 2nd
• 1991-92 Men's Senior Javelin Throw - 2nd
• 1991-92 Men's Senior High Jump - 3rd
• 1991-92 Men's Senior Long Jump - 3rd
• 1992-93 Men's Senior 200m - 1st (27.1s)
• 1992-93 Men's Senior High Jump - 1st (1.40m)
• 1992-93 Men's Senior Long Jump - 1st (4.88m)
• 1992-93 Men's Senior Triple Jump - 2nd
• 1992-93 Men's Senior 100m - 3rd
• 1992-93 Men's Senior 3000m - 3rd
• 1992-93 Men's Senior Javelin Throw - 3rd