Life Members

Neil Barnett - circa 2003

NEIL BARNETT
by Eric and Hazel Brown

After giving many years and literally thousands of hours towards helping to improve and expand Kembla Joggers, Neil Barnett, president of the club for 11 years was given life membership at the Hangover Handicap on January 1st, 2002.

Another life member, Bill Williamson, once said that the true value of a sporting organization lies not only in the quality of its athletes, but probably more importantly in the dedication, enthusiasm and commitment of its officials. And how true this is of Neil.

During his term as president, Kembla Joggers has increased its membership many times over, so that we are now one of the largest running clubs in Australia.

In addition, KJ's has been named the Australian Athletic Club of the Year in 2000 and won the leadership category in 2001. Much of the credit for this must go to Neil, as he had the energy and foresight to follow things through.

We are very lucky to have Neil as president and as a club we acknowledge him for his commitment and dedication.

The following Q&A with Neil appeared in th April, 2002 issue of The FOX ...

Age group: Open Male (and getting flogged).

Family: Just me ... single as ever (and still available ... hint, hint). Someone recently said that I was married to the KJ's!

Occupation: Engineer at BHP Favourite TV show: The Panel, Southpark, The Royle Family, Secret Lives of Us, Roy and HG, Reality shows a fave.

Favourite Food/drink: any pasta dish, oh, and chocolate, cheap cask wine in the fridge and a nice cappuccino is hard to beat.

Favourite Music: REM, Moby, ATB, Bjork, enjoying Jamiroquai's latest CD.

How long have you been a member of Kembla Joggers? 16 years (since I was a junior).

How did you get involved with KJ's? My dad has been running with the KJ's since God knows when so I was always at KJ's as a kid riding my bike and generally getting up to mischief. I started running when I was 14 or so and Jono Hall (then 10 I think) challenged me to it.

Are you a competitive runner or do you just run for fun and fitness? This is a question I've never been able to answer. All 3 I guess. The competition is important but it is always against myself. If it wasn't for the KJ's I wouldn't be running as much for sure, so the camaraderie is number one to me.

Do you have a coach? No, pretty much self coached. There's always plenty of KJ's with experience to get advice from so I've never really bothered.

What is your favourite training session? Long runs at 30-45secs off my 10km race pace. I enjoy shorter tempo runs and BROWNIES fartlek sessions.

What is your least favourite training session? BROWNIES track sessions (14 x 400m, 6 x 800m etc). But, I always say it's like eating your veggies, it might not taste too swell, but it is good for you.

Where is your favourite training venue? Mt Kembla of course. I love running around the beach area in Wollongong - so much to look at. Long runs anywhere flat!

Who are your training partners? Enjoy training with Steve Matthews (always a laugh), long runs with Raf, Ryan Burns keeping me honest too! Love to run with Suzanne for all the goss. Hard sessions with the gang.

Do you have a role model? Plenty, but I'll avoid controversy and not mention some of them. Sir William Dean is a fine Australian. Cathy Freeman is a standout in running - a great role model in many ways.

What do you consider your best time or performances in a KJ race: 76.11 for the Half Marathon, 9.44 for the 3km track is looking hard to beat.

What do you consider your best time or performances in other races: 2.52.10 for Canberra Marathon was OK. Always run well in City to Surf, best there is 50.50.

What is your favourite KJ run and why? The Half Marathon - did you expect me to say anything else? The 9 and 10 mile are also faves.

What is your least favourite KJ run and why? Anything too short like 1500m or 3km, but it is always great to PB them. Cross-country has never agreed with me either.

What do you like best about KJ's? You've heard it before, but it's the people. You couldn't meet a greater bunch. It has a positive impact on everything we do in life and it's only $30 a year to join. You can't beat it. The evolution to a family based club has been great too.

What do you think KJs can do better? We can always improve everything we do, no matter how good. I don't think this quest will ever end. A clubhouse would be nice and maybe a few more social activities minus running shoes!!

Interesting things we don't know about you: mmmmm ... where do I start? Big interest in Australian fine arts. Love visiting art galleries and exhibitions/auctions for bargains. Hope to start up a business one day. Ran as a candidate in Ward 4, Wollongong Council Elections in 1995 ... unsuccessful (just) but quite happy about that now! I've clocked up over 65,000kms at last count according to my running diaries.

What are your aspirations? To break 50 mins for City to Surf, sub 2.50 for the marathon, sub 35 for 10km and to one day finish in the top 10 on handicap in a KJ race (a big ask).

What has been your worst injury? I've been lucky with injuries. I've had my share of stress fractures though and a haematoma on my shin has caused me some grief. Recently had glute problems (peraformis) which made life difficult, but it disappeared with an increase in mileage ... amazing.