IT is a case of one down, seven to go for Warrnambool runner Jarrod Mast.
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Mast, 30, is attempting the Australian Sweep of Marathons challenge.
To etch his name in the Australia All States Marathon Club, Mast must complete an official marathon of 42.195 kilometres in each state and territory in a calendar year.
He’s already ticked Tasmania off his list, having run the Hobart marathon on January 13.
The Canberra Marathon, which is part of the Australian Running Festival, is next on April 14.
Mast said organising his 2013 schedule around work and other commitments took time and effort.
“From the start of the year I have been emailing race directors saying ‘can you confirm your dates?’ and trying to work out what I can and can’t do,” he said. Mast’s third Australian Sweep race is the Barossa Marathon on May 26, before a triple-header in August — the Brisbane Marathon on August 4, Alice Springs Marathon on August 19 and Perth City to Surf Marathon on August 25.
He rounds out his challenge with the Sydney Running Festival on September 22 and Melbourne Marathon on October 13.
“Why do you do it? I don’t know. I did South Africa and the Comrades and that was a really massive challenge,” Mast said.
“You do a massive training program to get up to that and you are essentially running a marathon every other weekend as part of the program.
“I am doing some training with people who are doing the Comrades this year and I figured if I am doing the training, I may as well race as well.”
On top of his Australian Sweep attempt, Mast has set another goal. “There is a Facebook group called ‘13 in 2013’ and I spotted that,” he said.
“I worked out I was doing 12 races for the year, so I thought it won’t be hard to add another one on, so I will just do that.
“It is just one of those personal challenges.”
Mast said his 13 in 2013 schedule included his eight Australian Sweep marathons, as well as the Roller Coaster Run at Mount Dandenong on March 16, Great Ocean Road Marathon on May 19, Warrnambool’s Crater 2 Coast on June 16, Trails Plus You Yangs 50-50 at Little River on July 21 and the Marysville Marathon on November 17.
Mast, who ran in his first fun run in 2009, said he liked to set himself personal goals.
“Last year I did 2012km of running for the year,” he said.
“I was like ‘I’ve done 2000km, I may as well finish on 2012’.
“I literally stopped on 2012km and said ‘right, I’m done for the year’.
“It was about two days before the end of the year. I didn’t have far to finish it off.
“I think I had six kilometres to go to finish it and I wanted a hard run.
“Usually I do 30km. I thought I can’t do that because it will be too many, so I went down to the beach and ran 6km in the soft sand.
“I was wrecked.”
