Games – Legends
Legends of ASMG
The Games is all about people, and inspiring participants to keep making the pilgrimage to the Red Centre to catch up with friends and fellow athletes from around the country. Over the years there have been so many legends. In fact, we think anyone who gets off the couch and competes is a legend. Here are some of the stories of people just like you.
Dawn Fraser AC MBE OLY
Legendary swimmer Dawn Fraser has been involved in the Alice Springs Masters Games since the event began in 1986, and she was on the committee that originally got the Games off the ground.
As Patron for the event, Dawn’s support for all things Alice Springs Masters Games has been legendary and unwavering, and we’d like to thank her for being our dedicated Patron for so many years.
Always the athlete, Dawn has not only supported the Games, but has also competed, and at the inaugural event in 1986 she set a Games record by swimming 50m freestyle in 32.49 seconds. It would be 20 years before anyone broke that record.
Dawn hit the pool again in the 2008 Games, her first competitive race since 1994, and achieved her goal of breaking the 50-second mark by swimming a time of 48.25 seconds.
The Alice Springs Masters Games would not be where it is today without the support of people like Dawn, so thank you Dawn!
Refer to the official info on Dawn here
Joel Crawford
“During the break they cracked open a flask of tea and a packet of biscuits … you wouldn’t see competitors having a cuppa at the Olympics.”
When Joel Crawford first became a volunteer for the Alice Springs Masters Games in 1996 he had no idea how much it would change his life.
“I was young and competitive,” said Joel, now 43. “At 16, I just thought sport was all about winning,”
But a doubles match between four older tennis players changed the thinking of the then junior tennis champ.
“About halfway into the match the ladies called for a break,” said Joel, who is now President of the Alice Springs Tennis Association.
“They cracked open a flask of tea and a packet of biscuits, which they shared with each other. It still makes me smile to this day.”
Joel said the event was a lot of fun and opened his eyes to camaraderie in sport, which is why the Alice Springs Masters Games has gained its reputation as the ‘friendly games’.
“You wouldn’t see competitors having a cuppa at the Olympics.”
Joel is no stranger to giving to his local community. As a young man he was awarded the Australian Sports Commission Award for his voluntary work with the Alice Springs Tennis Association. He also continued to volunteer at the multi-sports Alice Springs Masters Games.
Over the years Joel has taken on several roles, ranging from a sports medicine trainer (he once had to give a competitor CPR) and basketball court supervisor to checking the safety of the stadium for soccer.
“My volunteer jobs have all been so diverse, teaching me different skills and drawing on my expertise over the years,” he said.
“Being around other volunteers is really inspiring, too. There is so much good out there. It’s a great feeling to give back to your community.”
Joel will be back as a volunteer for the next Alice Springs Masters Games in 2024, as the convener for tennis.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve made some lifelong friendships, and it will be great to catch up with other volunteers and competitors again after this six-year break.
“I’m also keen to see new competitors locally and from around the country take part, and hopefully open up the Games to younger players.”
John Bermingham
“It is hard, hard work, with lots of 4am starts, and one late night with the Masters Mile, but I really enjoy it and it’s great to support other athletes in achieving their competitive ambitions.”
Alice Springs runner John Bermingham is thankful he can not only stay active at his age, but also remain competitive, with a few gold medals under his belt.
A long-time sports coordinator at the Alice Springs Masters Games, John just won the Red Centre Mile at The Warm-Up in 4 minutes 46 seconds. The community event was held to launch the ASMG which will see Alice Springs come alive next year from 12-19 October.
John's recent victory comes on the back of taking out two gold medals at the 2022 World Masters Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland, in July. He won the 10km marathon and set a world games record in the M70 1500m race with his time of 5 minutes and 4.66 seconds.
“Look, it’s always satisfying,” said John, who will continue with his voluntary Alice Springs Masters Games role as event coordinator for Road and Trail and the Masters Mile in 2024.
“I run these days, really out of curiosity to see how fast I can run, but also because I love it.”
Although the gold win in 2022 comes after what John said was a disappointing 5000m race, where a momentary lapse of concentration saw him lose the lead and win silver, the retired maths teacher is not ditching his runners just yet.
“I’ve always been a runner. I’ve been lucky enough to keep good fitness and I enjoy the opportunity to still be competitive,” said John, now 73.
John, who has been running for more than five decades, was a serious contender for the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
He had run a qualifying 5,000m in 13:35, but missed out on selection at the Olympic trials due to a bad second part of the season.
Still, it hasn’t stopped the self-confessed track runner from setting games records later on in life, including taking gold at the Alice Springs Masters Games in 2008 and 2010, a speedy dash at an inter-club race meet in Victoria in March 2021 and his recent victories in Finland and Alice Springs.
John, a member of Alice Springs Running and Walking Club and sports coordinator for the Alice Springs Masters Games since 2012, is looking forward to resurrecting his role in 2024 next year.
“It is hard, hard work, with lots of 4am starts, and one late night with the Masters Mile, but I really enjoy it and it’s great to support other athletes in achieving their competitive ambitions.
“All the athletes are so positive, focused on what they can do, rather than what they can’t. There’s a great atmosphere, lots of fun and we’re thrilled to have the Games return to Alice.”
Nola Brockie
“We’re not people who sit there and watch TV. We’re get up and go people, and we care about our fitness."
Track and field competitor Nola Brockie loved playing sport as a child, but it wasn’t until she turned 58 that she began pursuing her life-long passion again.
In 1996, Nola travelled to Alice Springs to ‘suss out’ the Masters Games and try out the 100m sprint. “I hadn’t trained, but I did alright and I thought, ‘yes, I can do this’,” she said.
On returning to Darwin, Nola, along with a group of like-minded athletes, set up the masters athletics club, Mad Frogs.
“For 18 months we regularly rang the NT Athletics office requesting a coach for ‘mature athletes’, which resulted in national athletics coach Jennie Duffield stepping forward and accepting the challenge,” she said.
In June 1998, Sunday afternoon training began. That year, Nola and the Mad Frogs competed in the NT Championships followed by the Alice Springs Masters Games, marking the first time a team had represented Darwin in athletics at the Games.
“We did really well, and came home with an armful of medals. It was so much fun that we kept going back,” she said.
Among her favourite events are long and triple jump, hammer throw and the pentathlon. She holds many Territory titles ranging from the 100m sprint to the pentathlon.
At the Alice Springs Masters Games 2018, Nola recorded 11.55m for the women’s 80 javelin throw, smashing the previous record of 9.75m, and beat the previous record of women’s 80 long jump by 33cm with a distance of 1.78m.
She registered a distance of 14.03m for the women’s 80 discus throw, shattering the previous record of 10.36m, and added an amazing 2.39m to the previous women’s 80 hammer throw record of 14.65m.
Now aged 85, nimble Nola has no plans of stopping. “The Mad Frogs are still going strong and I plan to register for the Alice Springs Masters Games in 2024.”
Apart from the health benefits of participating in a sport, the social aspect is also a drawcard.
“We’re not people who sit there and watch TV. We’re get up and go people, and we care about our fitness,” she said.
Her motto — and advice to other aspiring athletes — is “no body’s too old for anything”. “I plan to keep going for as long as I can. Besides, I’m not sure if I could get up again if I stopped.”
Marsha Reddiex
“I’m a firm believer in what happens on the day, happens. Recently, I did terribly in a race but I didn’t give myself a hard time. I just thought, there’s always time to improve.”
The year before Queensland swimming champ Marsha Reddiex smashed a swathe of state and regional records, surgeons had to operate on her heart.
That was in December 2017, but less than 12 months later Marsha, who was 75 at the time, broke 14 state and six national records.
Two of those records were smashed at the Alice Springs Masters Games in October 2018, where she took home several gold medals and one silver.
“I’m not exactly sure of the number, but it was a few,” she said with a chuckle.
A swimming champion at school, Marsha didn’t dip her toes back into the water until she was 50. “My asthma started up and so I began swimming. It was more of an enjoyable pastime to keep me fit and healthy,” she said.
Marsha, who’s now a member of the Belgravia Masters Swim Team in Burpengary, Queensland, was taking part in open-water swimming events, but an irregular heart beat meant she couldn’t enter competitive sprinting races.
“I had a few other health problems and so, by 2017, I had to have the surgery. Luckily, it worked out,” she said.
In fact, the operation was so successful, Marsha tried sprinting at various swimming meets in Queensland and around the country and found she wasn’t just doing well, she was killing it.
Her secret? “Well, I’ve never been too serious about winning,” said Marsha, who’s now 80.
“I’m a firm believer in what happens on the day, happens. Recently, I did terribly in a race but I didn’t give myself a hard time. I just thought, there’s always time to improve.”
Although Marsha, who regularly trains four times a week, has a nonchalant attitude to the world of competitive swimming, it’s hard not to feel proud about her achievements.
At the Alice Springs Masters Games in 2018 she smashed the women’s 75-79 individual medley record by nearly 2 minutes to set a new record of 4:09:80. She also shaved more than a minute off the 3:09:32 women’s 75-79 100m butterfly record (set in 2014) with her new time of 2:02:12.
“It’s not until you look back that you think, ‘wow, did I do that’?” she said.
Marsha says that the Alice Springs Masters Games is one of her favourite events.
“You meet so many amazing people,” she said.
“One particular chap we met in 2018, who was the driver on a bus tour, still keeps in touch. He was in a relay and didn’t know the first thing, so we took him to the pool in Alice Springs, taught him the rules and wished him the best. That’s all you can do, your best.”