1986 Westfield Sydney to Melbourne - A Handler's Experience

by Kevin Cassidy

Most of the crews were not able to be at the start due to traffic congestion so I missed all the pre race build up but we picked up the race as the field came past the army camp where we were staying. It was Dusan and Ramon leading the field through the first 42 km in 3.14. Not long afterwards, Ramon attempted to kick a stray hudcap out of the way, in case it interfered with the following runners, and pinched a nerve in his back which effectively ended his race.

Crowds lined the highway as me motored down the road to Melbourne. As a crew we were all inexperienced and the week was to prove a real lesson. Dusan motored through 100 miles in 16 hours then rested while Patrick Macke took the lead, he was an accomplished 24 hour runner doing his first multi day event. We all got into a routine of cooking , driving, feeding Dusan and sleeping when possible. Geoff Kirkman of Adelaide took the lead on day two and Dusan was second, as night fell we were covering the treacherous section of highway near Yass when 3 ambulances went passed at a speed that nearly blew us off the map. Up ahead, a truck had had a headon smash with a motorist trying to over take Geoffs van, when we arrived at the scene in darkness we saw exactly what had happened. The truck was laying sideways across the road and the motorist was dead, Geoff could not be found and it was feared that he was crushed in the wreckage somewhere but he was eventually found down an embankment with a smashed pelvis [Geoff presented the medals at the Adelaide 24hr later that year but has not been seen in the running circles since]. As Dusan rested again, the aussie battler, Brian Bloomer, took the lead and held it until just before Albury. With the race being so popular, there was a never ending supply of motel and caravan park owners allowing you to use their facilities for washing clothes etc. Dusan worked hard all day in the pursuit of Brian and his tiredness caused him to get rather cranky, as the crew was made up of people without ultra experience, they could not cope with it and emotions ran high, I was the only one who remained detached from it all and focused on my job [maybe I could understand Dusan better with my "experience" of 2 ultras]. The press were everywhere, they kept featuring Dusans wife as the Crew Chief and Tactician, the truth was that she was a jibbering wreck who had never been to any of Dusans previous races. As an ultra newbie, it was a real buzz to have the non competing Yainnis Kouros pay us several visits and even more surprising was Yainnis's fluent use of English when all his press conferences needed an interpreter because he "didn't speak english". I realised right there and then that it was a charade to keep nosey reporters from bothering him.

With out any doubt, the hardest part of crewing was trying to stay awake whilst driving the van at night at 4 miles per hour. Mary Hanudel was the only runner to recieve publicity when her van driver feel asleep and ran her over injuring her foot, but there were many other instances that did not get mentioned. There was also the high number of damaged vans caused by sleepy drivers sideswiping the roadside posts [BUDGET refused to allow their vans to be used again]. During the early westfield years they only ever caught one runner cheating but rumours and uncertainties surrounded many others, by 1986 it was impossible to cheat with so many officials roving the course.

Dusan took the lead and was cheered through Albury by a huge crowd. The race now became a cat and mouse affair as Dusan often requested that someone drive back and check the distance of his lead, this was harder than you could imagine because many crews would place their official marker behind a tree and then drive their runner up a dirt side road for a couple of hours sleep, out of sight of the snooping crews of other runners!!!!!!! Dusan maintained his lead all the way to Melbourne and the TV cameras were everywhere as we reached the outer suburbs, we even had the Channel Nine chopper make a landing outside the Ford factory, I fought hard to manouvre the van through the throngs of Yugoslavs that had come out to line the streets and as we passed through my home suburb I was surprised to see my parents standing on the corner cheering. The reception at the finish was incredible and it was followed by an appearance on Hey Hey Its Saturday and several other functions.

What I did not see was the still running battle for 2nd and 3rd, Patrick Macke had overtaken Brian Bloomer. The organisers made no secret that the were hoping that Brian would win so that they could make good use of his Aussie Battler image for their publicity campaign. With Dusan speaking no english it was a PR disaster for Westfield.

The biggest drama was just starting to occur when Patrick arrived in the City Square in a state of near death, the finish was still another 14km away at Doncaster and most of it was up hill. Patricks crew dropped his marker in the city square and rushed him to a motel where he recieved medical treatment. Brian Bloomer overtook Patrick to grab second place and it was a surprise that no one else was to overtake Patrick as he was delivered back to the City Square to do his final 14km. Prime Time television was giving live coverage of Patricks ordeal as he staggered along with a walking stick trying hard not to trip on the tram tracks, he was progressing at about 1km per hour before he finally made it for third spot.

Several years later, I was to get a more detailed account of Patrick Mackes final 14km. One of the race officials accompanying Patrick through Melbourne was Big Chris Stephenson, Chris was a regular ultra runner at the time and is still well known as the race director of the highly popular "Six Foot Track" race. Chris told me that at one stage Patrick, in his spaced out frame of mind, refused to go on until he had had a bath. The only option they had was to knock on the door of a house on Doncaster road and ask, sure enough, Patrick and crew and all the TV cameras marched into the house and took over the bathroom. The occupants were flabbergasted [dad, mum and teenage son] as the drama that they were watching on TV was suddenly being played out in their bathroom.

Further up the road, Patrick decided that he needed a major and urgent call of nature, there was nowhere to go with all the press hovering around, so they lifted him into the van and closed all the curtains, Chris held a large cooking pot in one hand and held his nose with the other while Patrick did what he had to do. As Patrick continued up the road, Chris wrapped and deposited the pot in a road side bin and wondered to himself what next he may have to do for the love of ultrarunning. Patrick Macke took third place in an almost camotose condition.

A day later, I was back home and back to the normal routine of my life. It was as if the whole episode was a great big dream, here I was, a fresh and enthusiastic ultra newbie suddenly playing a role in a drama packed race amongst the worlds best ultrarunners, I will never forget it.

As I returned to my full time job as a self employed lawn mowing contractor, I was often asked about my experience with Dusan by many of the people I worked for, these were elderly non sporting types but the were all captivated by the footrace between Australias two major cities.

They were indeed heady times and I treasure the fact that I was a part of it because I don't believe we will ever see anything like it again in ultrarunning.

Since the above article has been made available on this website, we have been in ontact with Michelle, the daughter of the driver that died in the accident and she writes:

I just reviewed an article on your site and found it somewhat inaccurate. It relates to the statment about the 1986 Westfield Marathon. The driver did not try to overtake the vehicle in question. The truck swerved to the wrong side of the road to avoid a bag of potatoes and the motorist, coming over a rise, moved into the other overtaking lane to avoid the runner, who had failed to follow the instructions set down in the race rules by having a support vehicle at the rear. The motorist moved to avoid hitting the runner, saving his life in fact. The truck driver who was too busy watching the race than what was on the road, swerved at the last minute to avoid the bag of potatoes and killed the motorist. If you are going to refer to the accident, might I suggest that the report that you put on the net is accurate or I will have to look at what avenues are open to me to take legal action. You see the motorist was my father and I know through the photos, coronial inquest etc what the truth is and it is not the story that follows.