By BRIDGET SCOTT
ELEVEN locals left their mark on Melbourne last Sunday, when they came third in the Men’s Health Urbanathlon.
On Sunday 26 May, a group of locals from the Personal Performance Training Centre in Narre Warren North travelled to Docklands to compete in a 12km course with 10 obstacles.
The event is the only city-based obstacle course race in Australia, and owner of the fitness centre, Locky Burke, was extremely proud of his team’s efforts.
He said coming third was the icing on the cake.
“We went into the event just wanting to finish,” he said.
“My goal was to get us over the line and coming third was a bonus.”
The team comprised both men and women from the area, who trained with Locky about three times a week.
Having never entered a team in the event before, the personal trainer was amazed at the atmosphere on the day, and praised his side, in particular.
“The vibe and the atmosphere around the event instantly got the adrenaline and the butterflies happening,” he said.
“More so in my team, I was just amazed in how far we have come as a group.”
As an added positive, member Lucy Vogels was the 14th woman overall to cross the line.
The group completed the course in a time of 57 minutes and 50 seconds, and Locky said he was extremely proud of the effort his team displayed on the day.
“Everybody helping each other over the obstacles, and not letting anyone fall behind was an absolute credit to them,” the trainer said.
“When we finished, Marcus ran backwards through the track to find the rest of the team to help then finish – that’s something you can’t teach at training.”
One team member, Melanie Ellis, later posted on social media site Facebook what a big accomplishment the race was for her.
“Pretty good feeling being able to run 12 kilometres, considering I couldn’t run at all nine months ago,” she said.
Locky’s centre offers both morning and afternoon training sessions including strength and conditioning, boot camps, nutrition workshops and more.
