Of all the community groups decimated by the Stage 4 lockdown restrictions, runners have been given the shortest shrift.
That’s the opinion of Melbournian Ronan Downhill, ultrarunning enthusiast and President of the Whippets & Waddlers Running Club in Braybrook.
“I mean, as someone who is used to getting out for a minimum of two hours every day – and much more than that on weekends – having one-hour restrictions was a little too much to take,” he said.
Ronan resolved to maximise his allotted time for the six-week period by ensuring his daily duration hit 1:00:00 exactly – even if this meant jogging up and down his street to round things out.
“Some days I miscalculated,” the 53-year-old sheepishly admits. “I’d literally be sprinting for home before 60 minutes ticked over – sometimes this meant I’d go over by a few seconds.”
It seems “going over by a few seconds” became a habit for Ronan. An examination of his Strava account showed he averaged 20 seconds per day of “unlawful running” – or a total of 14 minutes across the six weeks.
The Minister for Garmin, Anh Danew, ordered Ronan serve 14 minutes behind bars for his collective misdemeanour. To rub salt into the wounds, Ronan will serve the time on Monday morning – just as daily exercise rules ease to two hours in metro Melbourne.
“Sure, it’ll delay my morning run,” Ronan says. “But I’ll spend the time stretching and warming up.”
