Melbourne Midday Milers

The Melbourne Midday Milers are an informal running group which meets at Melbourne's famous Tan Track at 12:30pm each weekday.
Formed in 1978, The Midday Milers have established a cult following amongst Melbourne athletes and club members can be found at most Melbourne fun runs instantly recognizable by their distinctive red singlets.
High performing club members include Dan “Retro” Hornery (1st Victorian Athletics Steeple Championships 2007, 3rd 2008 Christchurch Half Marathon, 2nd 2008 Great Ocean Rd Half Marathon, 3rd 2006 Victorian Half Marathon Championships), Paul Martinico (3rd 2008 Christchurch Marathon 2:24), Andre La Gerche (2008 Puffing Billy Winner) and Bruce Arthur (Dual Victorian Orienteering Champion, Australian Orienteering representative), Mike Bialzcak (2006 AV Winter age group champion).
History
The origins of the Melbourne Midday Milers go back to 1978 when the club was formed by employees of the Reserve Bank Of Australia (RBA) who were running regularly in their lunchtime. Back then it was the Reserve bank Midday milers and the club’s logo, which we still have today, was a running stickman whose head was the three pointed cross which is the corporate emblem of the RBA. During the early 1990’s the RBA gradually closed it’s Melbourne operations and RBA employees took packages. The club then became the Melbourne Midday Milers. The precise date the RBMM became the MMM is unknown but it is likely the decision was made at the Imperial Hotel, which was the club’s meeting venue. In 19xx the club became incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act.
In the early years the foyer of the RBA at 60 Collins Street, was the start/finish line for most of the RBMM runs. One annual event was the Oktoberfestrun, a team pub orienteering run, which saw up to 20 runners burst out the door and sprint down Collins Street. 45 minutes later they’d come sprinting back. To date, no MMM runner has been killed or arrested.
With the closure of 60 Collins Street, the club’s headquarters was moved to the Palmerston Hotel, South Melbourne (one of our members knew the publican) and this was an ideal base for running around the Albert Park lake. We had the use of an upstairs room and showers. On several occasions MMMs would stay the night, particularly after an annual general meeting. This lasted for about 3 years then the pub changed management so we moved on. Today the club does not have a home base although AGMs have for some years been held across the road at the offices of Connell Wagner at 60 Albert Road.
With the closure of the RBA the club’s constitution was amended to allow non-RBA employees to become members. Membership of the MMM became open to anyone who pays the membership subscription. At the annual general meeting in 2007 we announced a record membership of 76.
In the RBA days the club published a monthly magazine which chronicled club events and run results. This was originally titled: “On the Run”, then became “Down The Track”, the last of which appeared in September 2001. In 2002 the club went high-tech and introduced it’s own website. The Forum page features a mixture of news, performance assessment, insightful comment and regular sledging.
In the 30 years of it’s life, the club has had only five presidents; Cliff Green, Geoff York, Max Howard (2 separate terms), Bob Stait, and Anthony Lee.
The club’s uniform has undergone a number of changes. At first it was a yellow singlet with the stickman logo in green, then in 1990 the now famous read and white (with a strip of black) colours were adopted, with red matching shorts. This was followed by a brief issue of triathlon style singlets in fluoro red white black and yellow, followed by the current red singlet with white side strips and white stickman, with black shorts. Very recently club caps have been introduced.
In the 1980’s, the RBMMs had an annual challenge race against the Sydney RBA, a gruelling 23 km around the hills of Sydney, including the Harbour bridge. This was run on a Friday night in March and the RBMMs turned it into a tour lasting up to 5 days. The last of these was in 1989 and it became apparent that the Sydney RBA was losing interest, so the club decided to scrap the event in favour of another “tour” event in March 1990, namely a trip to King Island for an 80 km team relay. That was the start of the 5Ms (Melbourne Midday Miler March Madness) tradition which has been a major event on the club’s calendar ever since.
Starting out as a social club, the MMMs have produced many great runners, some of whom have competed at the National level and recorded top performances in Australia and overseas. We are well represented in the Athletics Victoria competition and have competed in the MCS Corporate Cup since it’s inception in 1982, and we have gradually managed to dominate this competition in terms of the fastest times. As our name suggests, we run every weekday lunchtime, meeting at the “Pillars Of Wisdom” at the Tan, and follow a structured running program which caters to runners at all levels.
Current Australian Record Holders - Oxfam 100 km
On 27 March 2009 The Midday Milers Team of Stephen Paine, Richard Does, Anthony Lee and David Venour won the 100 km Oxfam Trailwalker by 49 minutes in a record time of 10 Hours 35 Minutes.

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