WE KNOW our running culture is strong, but the Olympic Games really puts a spotlight on just how influential our game is for the nation.
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Get ready for Olympic marathon weekend.
For the purists, there may not be an exact born-and-bred Ballarat contender in the mix but this city's impact is telling.
Canberran Brett Robinson arrived in Ballarat aged 22 in late 2013 and was initially planning only to stay a fortnight or so and keep Wollongong athlete Ryan Gregson company. It did not take long for Robinson to decide to stay for the summer and switch his allegiance to Eureka Athletics Club, keeping the club's colours for years to follow.
Robinson joined The Ballarat Project, a training stable led by Ballarat Olympian and fellow distance runner Collis Birmingham.
This was about more than tough trails through our forests or short sessions by Lake Wendouree.
Although, yes, veteran Australian marathon runner Lisa Weightman - who will run in Tokyo on Saturday morning - is known to favour Creswick's forests when visiting her in-laws.
This is about culture.
Birmingham was Australia's best distance runner at the time, Olympic marathon runner Steve Moneghetti would join in training runs and high-performance running coach Rod Griffin was on hand.
Ballarat was also where Birmingham has been known to lure top Swedish runners, Irish and once the whole Great Britain middle distance team.
Robinson made his Olympic debut in the 5000 metres in Rio. He is now stepping up to the Tokyo marathon after breaking Birmingham's Australian half-marathon record in Japan last year.
"People asked me if Brett doing that was a shock," Robinson's coach Nic Bideau has said. "But it didn't surprise me because he's the only one who can keep up with Stewy in training."
That is Stewart McSweyn - a proud King Islander who boarded at Ballarat Clarendon College and, like Robinson, fine-tuned his craft with Eureka Athletics Club.
McSweyn has reached the men's 1500-metre final in Tokyo on Saturday night with Robinson as his on-track mentor. Robinson was a key influence in bringing McSweyn into Bideau's Melbourne Track Club fold.
Press Box understands there are still bragging rights among Ballarat runners who have beaten McSweyn before he became the nation's fastest middle-distance man.
Meanwhile, world championship marathon runner and The Running Company Ballarat owner Julian Spence is also drawing on this city's running knowledge for Tokyo. Spence is coaching Ellie Pashley, who will make her Olympic debut in the women's marathon.
Pashley lives not far from Spence's hometown Anglesea and he said being nearby helped him guide her face-to-face through training.
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Spence has had to guide from afar since the Australian team camp in Cairns, then athletes moving to their Japanese base. No longer can he read Pashley's mood and know exactly how far to push in training.
"There's actually been a lot of anxiety coaching someone for the Olympics because there's so many more consequences if something goes wrong," Spence said. "There is always a chance you could get injured or sick from overtraining - you've got to get the balance right."
But Spence said luckily Birmingham was working with runners in an Olympic team manager role right up to race time in Sapporo.
So, before you go for a run this weekend, or maybe just after, tune in and consider Ballarat's marathon efforts.
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