General News
16 December, 2020
Luke Bourchier ticks off marathon goal
LUKE Bourchier has always wanted to run a marathon – he just never expected it to be on Sunday.
LUKE Bourchier has always wanted to run a marathon – he just never expected it to be on Sunday.
The local musician completed his maiden marathon, albeit virtually, around the streets of Cobden.
He ran a seven kilometre loop which took in streets including Bond, Grayland, Victoria and Curdie past local sites including Thommo’s Hotel, the Rail Trail and the golf course six times.
Bourchier, who admits to being a keen runner, said his decision to run a marathon came about because he had more time to train and prepare for the gruelling event.
While he trained for the event through COVID, the global pandemic was not the reason behind his marathon quest but rather the enabler.
“It definitely wasn’t COVID-related but the thing that was COVID-related was that I had a bit more time on my hands,” Bourchier said.
“I’m fairly busy playing music on a weekend but I obviously didn’t have that throughout COVID so I had more time to train for it, particularly of a weekend.
“It was good in that sense to devote more time to running and by the time it got to June and July I was running about 50 kilometres a week so I thought stuff it I might as well do it.
“I’d previously ran a half marathon in Geelong and I did that fairly comfortably and I’d thought I’d do a marathon one day but it hadn’t worked out. It was always on my to-do list but that day came around quicker than I had anticipated.”
Bourchier spent Monday recuperating at home after the run, which he said was “a great learning experience”.
“For my first marathon I was hoping to run on something reasonably flat so that definitely helped me and made it more manageable and achievable,” he said.
“I was also running that loop quite regularly and the familiarity of the course helped.
“I’d been training to run at a race pace of four minutes and 42 seconds per kilometre but I was only able to maintain that for about the first 30 kilometres.
“Then I hit the wall and couldn’t keep my pace and was dropping 20 to 30 seconds per kilometre for the last 10 to 12 kilometres.”
Nonetheless, Bourchier admits he was relieved to cross the finish line.
“It was a great relief (to finish) and to know that I don’t have to adhere to a strict training schedule anymore and that I can now put my feet up and have a beer when I please,” he said.
Alongside the relief and unbeknown to many, was a greater sense of personal satisfaction for Bourchier and his family at the completion of the event.
Recently he marked the eighth anniversary of his recovery from a stroke, which significantly impacted his strength and his speech.
While Bourchier endured some tough moments in his rehabilitation from the life-changing event, he has fully recovered to tick off a personal goal.
Bourchier admits his recovery from the difficult period inspired him to take the plunge and run a marathon.
“More than anything it’s great to be here,” he said.
“It was an incredibly scary time in my life and in our family’s life and at that point I thought my career was over, my ability to play music was over and I didn’t really know how it would turn out.
“From that point of time an aspect of my motivation was because of that and since then I’ve been more of a runner.
“I ran a little before it happened but over the years since I’ve progressively built it up. But there was definitely a little part of motivation to run a marathon which came out of that event.”
Bourchier thanked the community for their support, adding he received plenty of well-wishes in the lead-up to his run, which helped him get over the line when he hit the wall.