The 2025 ASRWC season is almost here, and we will hit the ground running!!

Wow, it's 2025!! And what a year we have planned for you all.

Let's start with this BIG NEWS!! The 2025 Club Membership is now open!! - https://www.asrwc.com.au/registration

And if you missed it on socials in December, we have our 2025 Calendar out. Please take a moment to take it in; there are some new and old events there. We are starting the 2025 Running season off on the first Saturday of February with Welcome Back Mparntwe, and on the following Sunday, we start a Training on Trails series to help get you monster-ready if you want to up your trail game or want a social run/hike. Take a look below for more info on these 2 events.

We are working hard to see if we can get the Alice Springs Running Festival back on. We'll keep you posted soon. It would be amazing to have a marathon back in Alice Springs. 

We finished the year strong with The Lone Dingo Summer Sunday 5k Series, and entry was free for anyone who volunteered during 2024. to hear more on how the series went, look below 

There are lots of things to keep an eye on!! :) As always, Socials will be aflutter with our latest news and happenings

Thanks again to you all for making this so much fun to do :) I'm going to warn you, there's a lot covered in this one!!

Katie 

• 2025 Calendar
• Welcome Back Mparntwe 
• Training on Trails 
• Summer Series Recap
• 2024 Recap
• What does 2025 have in store?

The Alice Springs Running & Walking Club's 2025 Events Calendar!!

We've changed some things, and some things have stayed the same.

We have added many social run/walks and training series. You'll see that The Alice Springs Running Festival has been added (there are many moving parts, but we're hoping we can get it up and running for 2025), as well as some new events. With Parkrun appearing sometime in March 2025, we've left River Run off to support this fantastic global run/walk phenomenon. We have a mix of days for events, too, to suit everyone (and our outstanding Race Directors!).

We can't wait to do it all again in 2025!!

Welcome Back Mparntwe 

A FREE 5km and 2.5km footpath to suit anyone to kick off the ASRWC 2025 Running season
Runners, Walkers, and Pram Friendly

6:20AM Briefing 
6:30AM Start

Bring in the new running year with ASRWC!!

Start/finish at The Telegraph Station.

Please register for the event beforehand; however, we will accept registrations on the day.

2025 bibs will likely be ready for pick-up for registered members.

The course is not pet-friendly because it is located in the Nature Reserve.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Training on Trails - Feb Sessions 

In the lead-up to The West Macs Monster, we are putting on a training on trails social series to help people in their training for the 25k. Please join if you want to up your trial ante or get out and be social. Please keep in mind that a good level of fitness is required. This is open to ASRWC members and Non-members. 

What do I bring? To start with, 500-1ltr of water, a snake bite bandage. This list will get larger as we progress and will reflect the WMM mandatory equipment.

https://westmacsmonster.com.au/

Summer Series Recap

A big thank you to our participants for making it an absolute pleasure to spend these Sunday mornings with you all, and a bigger thank you to our vollie legends who help us achieve big things, and small things too  We appreciate you all. We have a HUGE photo album for you all to suss out

The first event was on the Westside Trail Atetherre, aka Budgie. It was a smidge over 5, at 6k, but getting out on this excellent local trail was well worth the extra kilometre. Check out the the awe-inspiring results here. Race Director Dave Holmes did a phenomenal job and brought the race vibes to kick off the series with an impressive Vollie team.

The second Sunday, was on Inarlenge (Echidna)/Eastside Link in the far east of Town's trails. It was wonderful to see faces, new and old, and get out on another Alice Springs trail firm favourite. Suss out the results here, we had some incredible results from all and echidna climb always makes you work hard, but the view is worth it!!

And the last event of the series had to, of course, be at The Telegraph Station and start and finish under that big old Gum Tree. The course was on Arrwe, with some added Trig Hill sparkles :) There was some water as well to get across too, to add to the adventure of the morning. The morning looked absolutely glorious, and there were smiles all around. The Thommos treats, and Icy Poles definitely was a hit after. The results can be found here. 

Our series winners took home some fantastic prizes, and some of us feel that perhaps they missed out by getting to spend the least amount of time on the trail :) In all seriousness, just WOW, incredible running and walking everyone. We can't wait to do it all again next year!!

2024

Now, to recap The Alice Springs Running and Walking Club's 2024.

You can get the complete overview from the 2024 Presidents Report

We saw growth in our member numbers and event attendees!!

Our membership reached 211, up from 138 last year. This significant increase of over 50% is a testament to our club's growing community.

We put on 21 events and only had one cancellation from inclement weather! The events included multiple event series, like the 5k Summer Sunday series over three Sundays; West Macs Monster with five separate events; Four Corners Trail Series, four events over three days; the Learn or Return to Running Social Runs over twelve weeks; and the Alice Springs Masters Games with seven events over seven days!!

In addition, we've also assisted with third-party events, like the BBQ for the NAIDOC Fun Run, putting on the trail run portion of Three Tribes, and timing for the YMCA King of the Mountain. It has been a significant year for the club, contributing to the community.

You may have noticed our social media had a consistent look, and our content felt like we were personally talking to our members and community. We rely on social media; however, we still use email to send out newsletters most months and post content on our website.

We worked on further developing some of our events, like The Simpsons Gap Half Marathon/10k. We sourced medals from a promotions supplier for The Kiddies Kilometer, 10k, Half, and, of course, the Volunteers. The outstanding attendance and enthusiasm for the event so took us aback.

The Red Centre Wringer was another great success. The event had more forward planning regarding the year's timing, and the weekend was perfect for picnic day.

The participants gave fantastic feedback, and many plan to give it another go next year. We have 2025 dates secured with NT Parks and gained bronze status for an event with The Backyard Ultra organisers, which means we can further grow the event. We were also interviewed and featured in an article on Outside Run: https://run.outsideonline.com/general/backyard-ultras/

The Master's Games Athletics Road and Trail events were a brilliant success. Kate and Marsha, as sports coordinators, considered every eventuality and planned for it. We were in awe with how our members participated and stepped up when we needed help, whether as last-minute sweeps or taking amazing midrace shots from the top of a hill. They were there for us. We also connected with some of the club's Life-Time Members, which was invaluable in learning about the club's history and getting to know some fantastic community-minded people. The Master's spark in Alice Springs has definately been reignited!

We made it a priority to show our volunteers how much we value their time and expertise. From providing coffee vouchers for River Run to offering free entry to events for volunteers, we want our volunteers to feel appreciated and integral to our club's success. We recognise that we cannot do what we do without them and are immensely grateful for their contributions.  

A big thank you to our 2023/2024 committee, the West Macs Monster Sub Committee, Athletics NT, the incredible vollies who support us, and the sponsors and businesses that support us. We appreciate you all for your big and small contributions; without this, small community groups and clubs can't exist.

What does 2025 have in store for the committee?

2024/2025 is an opportunity to grow, adapt and keep improving what we do best!

The committee will use opportunities to tailor our events and offerings to suit our membership base and community better.

There is potential for social runs, more run coach sessions like Learn or Return to Running, further development of existing events, and exploration of the potential for new events.

With Park Run in Alice Springs potentially coming to fruition in 2025, the club will adapt and change with this and support what will be a tremendous benefit to Alice Springs.

The club plans to develop some committee members and club members further with Run Coach training to support our running and walking community in developing their abilities.

So, 2025 will have it all!!

Thanks for reading (I know it was a long one :) ),

ASRWC Committee