Eleven years ago Matthew Mann was at football training with Lancaster Football Netball Club when a pain in his chest stopped him in his tracks — the heart scare seemingly putting an end to his sporting career.
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Wind the clock forward to October 9, 2022, and he was among 41,000 people on the starting line for the Chicago Marathon — aiming to finish the 42km-course in less than four hours.
Matt’s heart condition eventually pushed in the direction of running, as a means of “not getting fat” and remaining active.
The life-long Kyabram resident, a former Ky High student, now works at SPC as a production line worker in Shepparton and spoke to me from his Chicago hotel room only a couple of days after completing the gruelling event.
“I’d always played footy, for Merrigum in the juniors and later went out to Lancaster. It was there when I had the heart problem,” he said.
Heart challenges were not completely new to Matt, as an infant he had heart and lung problems — and also suffered from asthma as a child.
“Running is one of the cheapest activities there is, it’s just one foot in front of the other,” he said.
“It allows me to set goals and work on achieving them.”
Matt said running suited him, having trained twice a week for football and playing.
“I was putting on wait and getting lazy,” he said.
His inspiration came from his father, Stewart, who ran the 15km Run for the Kids in 2007.
“It was 10 years later, but in 2017 I thought I wouldn’t mind doing something like that,” he said.
“I trained for that and did that, then did another one.”
His first half-marathon was a year later, at Run Melbourne, when he posted a two-hour time.
Matt, who has just turned 40-years-old, grew up in Merrigum and travelled with his mother Helen to the United States for the race — considered one of the “big six’’ marathons alongside Berlin, London, Tokyo, New York and Boston.
The football training heart scare turned out to be as minor as heart conditions can possibly be and although threw the footy boots in the bin, the running shoes came out not long after.
“Just after I got into running I had an idea I wanted to run a marathon,” he said.
“Then I thought why not try to run one of the big ones.”
Investigations into entering the New York and Chicago (where he has a former Melbourne based cousin) marathons revealed three options — run a qualifying time, raise funds for a US-based charity or go into the ballot.
“It costs nothing to go into the ballot, unless you get drawn out of course, so I went down that road,” Matt said.
“I’d been entering the ballot for a few years, but had been knocked back for New York and Chicago.
“I ended up doing Melbourne in 2019, which was my first marathon.”
Matt completed the course in four hours and 15 minutes, having prepared himself in increments with three half marathons at Gold Coast, Run Melbourne and the Shepparton event.
“I’ve now done 11 half marathons now and two full ones,” he said.
Matt travelled to the United States with his mother Helen as his support crew, a role requiring her to capture a photographic record of the event and prepare Matt’s gear for the event.
He was selected to compete in the Chicago event in 2021, but couldn’t go because of COVID-19.
“I was able to defer to this year, but still didn’t know whether I was going to go until I travelled to the Buffalo Stampede at Bright (which has a 20km event),” he said.
“Mum and Dad came with me and encouraged me to tackle Chicago.
“Then things started to open up more and I went for it.”
Matt and his mother arrived in Los Angeles a week before the race, before crossing three quarters of the North American contest to reach Chicago.
“They had a big event on the Thursday night, where I received my entry bib, then we did some sight seeing,” he said.
Millennium Park, the city’s 1030-feet-tall 360 Chicago Tower, Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs) and Solider Field (Chicago Bears).
Mat completed a 5km run as a warm up on the Saturday, among 7000 runners and finished 603rd.
He was then one of 41,000 on the start line for the marathon, finishing in a personal best of four hours and seven minutes.
He placed 16,511 and just missed his goal of breaking the four-hours mark.
“I slowed up a bit in the end. It is a flat course, which — coming from Kyabram — really suited me,” he said.
“I really didn’t want the hills. New York (marathon) has a few hills.”
Apart from the occasional run with younger sister, Melissa, Matt does most of his training solo.
“I work afternoon shift, so I don’t get a chance to join a runners club,” he said.
Resting on the couch of his central Chicago hotel he said he would not be thinking about another marathon for “at least a couple of weeks”.
“I will probably be keen to do it again by then. I find myself working hard for a goal, achieving it and then I start looking for a new one” he said.
Matt will continue his United States adventure in Boston and New York, then return home on November 1.
MATT’S CHICAGO MARATHON
– Matt had a minor heart attack in 2011, while at football training with Lancaster.
– His first “long distance’’ event was a 15km Run for the Kids event in 2017.
– His first marathon was in Melbourne, in 2019, when he ran four hours and 15 minutes. He has also done 11 half marathons.
– Forty-year-old Matt ran the 5km “warm up’’ event on Saturday, completing the short course in 21 minutes. He was 603rd of 7000 participants.
– He finished the 42km marathon on Sunday in four hours and seven minutes, a PB, finishing 16,511 of 41,000 runners.
– He was travelling with his mother, Helen, who was his support crew for the marathon. Matt will return from the United States on November 1, extending his trip to take in Boston and New York.
– He wore Nike Air Zoom Alphafly shoes for the marathon.
– Kenyan runner Benson Kipruto won the Chicago Marathon in 2:04:24.
– Ruth Chepngetich, another Kenyan, won the women’s event in the second fastest time in history — 2:14:18.
– Australian wheelchair athlete, Christie Dawes, was the only top 10 Aussie. she was sixth in the women’s wheelchair event, in a time of 1:50:02.
– Chicago (October 9) was the third, following Berlin (September 25) and London (October 2), in a series of marathons. Another of the big six, New York, is on November 27. A world record of 2:01:09 was set by by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge at Berlin.