NOT even a big night out on the town, back surgery or ailing knees could come between Lee Morgan and his Herculean City-Bay Fun Run streak.
The Millicent Business Community Association (MBCA) chairman and South East Water Conservation and Drainage Board drainage operations manager will mark an impressive milestone as he pounds the Anzac Highway pavement for the 44th time on Sunday.
Speaking with The South Eastern Times, Lee wound back the clock to a fun run in the late 1970s and reminisced about a time he found particularly memorable.
“A memorable moment was in the late ’70s after a big night out drinking,” he said.
“My mate and I rolled up late to the Adelaide Town Hall – where the City-Bay Fun Run used to start – about two minutes after the starter’s gun had gone off.
“I remember weaving in and out and around the slow travellers.
“I still finished with a respectable time of 43 minutes.”
Lee will participate in the Westpac City-Bay Fun Run this Sunday, which raises funds to support athletics in South Australia by assisting athletes and clubs.
He has participated in every single event since 1974 with the exception of 1980 when he was overseas on honeymoon and the avid runner admits he has had some highs and lows in his love affair with South Australia’s biggest fun run.
As an overactive teenager, he tied up his laces and used running as an outlet to calm down and keep him out of the pub.
He went to watch the finish of the inaugural City-Bay in 1973 and from there resolved he would do it “for a few years” to keep fit.
“My highs were achieving fast times during my early thirties when I was running for the Adelaide Harriers for a decade up until 1988,” he said.
“In 1986 I finished with a time of 41 minutes and was in the top 40 for the event, which was indeed another high.
“There was also a time when I was living in Mount Gambier in the early 1990s with a young family and often there were sporting commitments until late on Saturday and family members and myself would often get in the car and drive up to Adelaide overnight, do the run and then return home.
“More recently living in Alice Springs from 2010 to 2014, I would fly back, do the run and combine it with holidays.”
While competing in even one 12km run can be seen as an effort in itself, Lee finds the City-Bay event keeps him motivated to stay fit throughout winter.
He also uses running as an antidote to destress, especially while working in management.
Lee said he believed in yearly goals and used to count the days he missed running or walking each year, which used to be as low as 10 days.
Nowadays, he measures the distance he runs over 12 months.
In recent years, he has completed about 1500km per annum and after the setback of a knee replacement he is back on track to clock up 1000km by New Years Eve.
“Running is always a great way of getting out into our environment, it can be interesting what you come across,” Lee said.
“In 1992, I remember an eight kilometre training run in Mount Gambier where I came across a hay shed fire on O’Leary Road.
“I helped the farmer remove machinery away from the fire and I returned home very late from that run, very tired and sooty black.
“In Alice Springs one night I saved an Asian female tourist from being attacked near the Todd River.
“In 2009, my best training run ever was in the middle of New York running all the way around Central Park and then down Broadway and past the Empire State building.
“The New Yorkers can be very vocal when you are hiking at a decent speed.”
In his 44 years competing, the only injuries Lee has sustained have been “wearing out” his knees, however the 61-year-old says his orthopaedic surgeon believes his new titanium set will last two more decades.
This is what Lee hopes with his sights set on reaching his gold jubilee of 50 City-Bays in 2024.
