No one has ever run the City 2 Surf faster than Steve Moneghetti. Back in 1991, the Ballarat-born athlete completed the 14km Sydney race in just 40:03 – a course record that’s yet to be beaten.
He has also won the Tokyo Marathon, the Berlin Marathon, the 1994 Commonwealth Games marathon and competed at four Olympic Games. Now aged 60, Moneghetti is officially retired but still runs “most days”.
“I’d say every day, but I’ve got a few niggles so I have the occasional day where I might go for a mountain bike ride or walk the dogs instead,” he says. “Last week I ran 75km. Generally, I’m probably still averaging about 10km a day.”
His next big event is the 42km Nike Melbourne Marathon in October. Moneghetti’s advice to aspiring long distance runners is to “pick a realistic distance” and ensure you’re able to do 80% of the course length a couple of weeks out from the event. “Firstly, you just want to finish it,” he says. Then the second thing is to worry about doing it quicker.”
And, for the sake of your body, you’ll want to make recovery a priority.
Moneghetti has one item he swears by to help soothe his own post-running pains. Here, he shares why he can’t live without it, along with the stories of two other significant belongings.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
I was presented with a bronze wreath when I finished third at the 1997 World Athletic Championships in Athens. I consider it the best race of my marathon career.
The wreath is special to me because it’s different from a medal. It’s an ode to Pheidippides – the person said to have run the first ever marathon – and to the very first modern Olympics in Athens, Greece. The race I ran in 1997 began in the town of Marathon and retraced the course from the 1896 Olympics, finishing in Panathenaic Stadium. The marathons were the only events to finish there, and only the marathon medallists received wreaths.
I now have the wreath proudly displayed in my trophy cabinet in our hallway. It’s a reminder of my sporting career, as well as the deep history of the sport.
Most useful object
In the last decade or two, I’ve started getting a lot of running niggles, injuries and sore spots. My secret weapon for healing them is an ice-pack holder that I picked up at a running expo many years ago.
I put a frozen gel pack inside the holder and wrap it around my calves, my ankles, my hamstrings; I’ve sometimes used it on my shoulders and neck. It’s really versatile.
And it’s portable – you can still walk around with it on, so I can be eating my dinner or doing the dishes while icing my sore spot. I can’t remember how much it cost but whatever it was, I’ve got my money’s worth.
The item I most regret losing
The item I most regret losing isn’t so much what I lost, but what I sold. Part of the prize for winning the Berlin Marathon in 1990 was a Mercedes-Benz. It’s something you never really expect, it just comes your way.
When I got back from Berlin, I arrived at Melbourne airport to pick up my new car. I hadn’t operated a powered car window before and when I drove up to the man managing the parking toll, I had to get out of the vehicle because I had no idea how to put the window down without a winder. He probably thought I’d stolen it!
I proudly drove this new car around for 15 years before I traded it in for a more modern Benz. It would be worth nothing now but I always thought it would be terrific to point to the car when school kids would ask what my biggest running prize was. I’d say, “it’s parked right there!”
Steve Moneghetti will be on the ground at the Nike Melbourne Marathon festival on 15 October.
