People of Pro Running - By David Griffin

Carl McMeel

With the rescheduled Warrnambool meeting upon us, it’s timely to write about a familiar face on the VAL circuit.
Carl McMeel has an important connection with this weeks Gift meeting. His wife Jayne, who sadly passed away from cancer in 2014, has the 300m Masters race named in her honour.

A Scotts Creek native, McMeel is a long time Pro Runner. He kicked off his career in the VAL after playing footy. His biggest win came at Stawell in 1999 when he won the Victory Mile.

He has won a few races over the journey and this season took out the Frankston 300m Masters. His first win in 18 years.
The long striding McMeel is easy to spot on the track. He wears a distinctive bandana. He jokes that it gets him noticed by the handicapper.

To say McMeel has had his battles would be an understatement. His leg was once crushed in a motorcycle accident, he was hit by a car whilst riding a bike, and he fell from a roof.

None of those accidents compared to what unfolded on the 16th of December 1995. McMeel’s life changed dramatically in a joy flight over the Grampians.  

“I was working at Halls Gap with the National Parks as part of the Summer fire crew."

One of the blokes organised a 90-minute joy flight over the Grampians. We were coming to the end of the flight and we had started to head back to the aerodrome.

The pilot had circled the aerodrome twice before looking to land. As he straightened up the fuel light alarm came on. We heard the engine cut out and the pilot put in a Mayday call. We were about two kilometres from the aerodrome.

The propellors stopped and the pilot had no option other than to ditch it. There was no clear space to land, only trees. My heart sank. We assumed the crash position.

I thought this was it. This was how I am going to die. This was my penance for not going to church.

There was a huge bang, the scraping of metal and a smashing noise as the plane hit the trees. We crashed into the ground. I remember there was a pause and then the plane just exploded into flames.

I was stuck in my seat with flames all over me. I couldn’t work out how to get out. I was being burned and I was trying to fight the flames with my hands which was crazy.  

I remember thinking for the second time that this was it. I actually gave in to the fact I was going to die.

I saw the guy in front of me and his actions reminded me of how to get out of the seat. I unbuckled and just pushed back away from the flames and I exploded through a hole in the back of the plane.

I was out. I couldn’t believe it. I walked away and all I could think of was my mate Lachie was still trapped. I didn’t want to look around, but I did and I was relieved to see him walking away from the plane.

The ambulance came but we had to climb a barbed wire fence to get to it.

The pain was incredible. I can’t describe it. You can’t imagine how bad it was.

I remember asking the boys how my face looked. They couldn’t answer. Plasma was dripping out of me like I was in a big sweat and my skin was falling away.

My legs and arms took the brunt of it. 35% of my body had full thickness burns but I was alive. My mate Lachie arrested multiple times and had to be resuscitated.

We were flown to the Essendon airport then driven to the Alfred Hospital. I was there for a month following the crash. It took 12 months for me to get back to 90% movement and about 14 months to start jogging again.

I gave up working for the National Parks because I can’t work in the sun. I went into nursing.

I had two kids with Jayne. Hannah who is 12 years old and Leo who is 10 . I have since remarried to Clare.

Although I have had a few physically traumatic events in life, none of these come close in comparison to the emotional pain of losing Jayne.

The overwhelming grief and loss that drove a knife through my heart was compounded by knowing that my kids, aged five and four at the time, would never grow up with their mother.

I never expected to recover from that and I certainly never expected to fall in love again. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be married to Clare. Jayne will always be in my heart but Clare is such a wonderful wife and an amazing mother to Hannah and Leo.  

Hannah runs VAL and won the Parkdale U18 300 metres. She loves her running. It’s so great being a dad and seeing your kids compete.

It changed my outlook on life. I’m grateful for everything. I have been blessed to have met some great people over my time and I treasure the friendships. I also have tremendous respect for my coaches, Terry McGarity, Rob Duynhoven and Wayne Perry.

My coaches have a bit of fun and banter and they try to get the best out of you, and not just with performance but also how you present yourself to the world. They don’t ask for anything in return. They are great community role models. Probably like a lot of VAL coaches.

I love the sport. I run for the banter and to catch up with people. I long for that. It’s a big part of my life and now my kids are coming through I love it even more.”

PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - BY David Griffin

Professional Athletics and Aussie Rules

It was the Essendon Gift that formally kicked off the 2022/23 VAL season last Saturday night. Under lights, it was a great way to open up the new season.

The beautiful Black and Scarlet winning sashes linked directly to the Essendon Football Club colours. It was a nice touch.

It got me thinking about a little yarn I wrote a while ago and the link between Pro running and Aussie rules, with the bombers taking centre stage.

Pacy Essendon wingman Lance Mann, who played 80 games for the bombers between 1951 and 1959, won the Stawell Gift in 1952. In a quirky twist of fate, he beat his Essendon teammate and two time premiership player Norm McDonald. Mann also got the chocolates at both Bendigo and Wangaratta that same year. Three Gift wins is a great year in anyone’s language.

Other than finishing runner up to Lance Mann in the 1952 Stawell Gift, Norm McDonald took out the Wangaratta Gift in 1949.

Wangaratta proved to be a happy hunting ground for Essendon players trying their luck in the pro ranks.

Former winger Gary Parkes was another Windy Hill native to carry on the ‘Wang’ tradition when he won the 1978 edition of the Gift. Parkes played 96 games with the bombers and remembers the Wangaratta carnival fondly.

“It was one of the three or four gifts everyone wanted to win and I was lucky enough to win it. It is a great town and I had a lot of fun”, he said.

“It was a carnival under lights and it was an amazing atmosphere, “Parkes remembers.
“15,000 people came to watch in the evening. The bikes and woodchop were great. They turned the lights off, except the ones on the track and it was just terrific”.

“As far as winning, for me it was about prestige. Sure the money was nice but I was just glad to win because I had spent a long time trying to win a decent race”.

A sign of the times, Marlboro cigarettes was a major sponsor in 1978 and Parkes took home cash and cartons of cigarettes as his winnings.

Before real money could be made playing football, players with a turn of speed could supplement their income through professional foot-running.

251 game veteran of the Collingwood and Essendon football clubs, Des Tuddenham, was a famous footballer who tried his hand at ‘pro’ running.

The VFL legend won the 400 metres, the 800 metres and the mile across a three-year period at the Wangaratta Gift carnival and credits the sport with helping his football career.
“Pro running actually turned my football career around. It got me fit. Doing 20 sets of 400 metres repetitions at training with my trainer Val Stewart tends to do that”, Tuddenham laughed.

The former captain of the Collingwood Football Club remembers the sport as an important part of life in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

“I loved pro running just as much as I did football. Back in the day it was an important sport for people. There used to be good crowds and a lot of footballers did it”.
“Bob Skilton ran pro. We ran together for two years. He was a good runner Bob, but I don’t think he won anything though”.

Don Furness, a two time Fitzroy Best and Fairest winner, won the 1961 Keilor Gift after taking up the sport to get fitter for football.

Don’s son Robert, himself a Stawell 70 metre winner, remembers his father running professionally on the advice the great VFL coach Norm Smith.

“Dad had a stocky build and Norm Smith who was coaching Fitzroy at the time, thought he was a bit thick set and he needed to run to keep his pace up”.

Rob Furness remembers the days when it was common for VFL players to run ‘pro’ in the off season.

“Footballers ran professionally in the summer to keep fit and those that could run made a little bit of money as well”, he said.

“Billy Goggin won the Geelong Gift, Ron Barrasi raced, Crackers Keenan, Don Scott and blokes like Wayne Richardson had a run, the list goes on”.

“Kevin Bartlett got second in the Maryborough Gift and was very quick”, Furness remembers.

Now fully professional, AFL players are forbidden to take part in extracurricular activities in the off season.

Given the nature of the modern game of AFL football and the money involved, it would be rare to see an AFL player on the pro circuit again, but it’s fun to reminisce about the glory days, when pro running was part of an elite footballers off season.

It was great to see current Essendon Football Clubs players in attendance and supporting the Essendon Gift, even if they weren't racing.