Springvale Dandenong Masters Athletics Club has taken out top honours at Monash Health’s annual Health Promotions Awards.
Recognised in the Sports Club category, club president Claudio Riga has focused on injury prevention, cultural inclusion, and providing healthier food options as well as organising weekly events and other initiatives like the healthy-eating handicap sprint where nutritious hampers are awarded to winners.
Mr Riga ,now in his 70’s, became involved with the club 15 years ago through a random chat with a stranger on a weekend morning.
“One of the members back then was going for a Sunday run. I was doing the same, we had a chat and I ended up going to the venue in Springvale.
“He was doing his thing, and I was doing mine. We got talking and that’s how it started.”
He joined the club as a member and found himself involved in different activities, sprinting, short and long-distance running, and stretches.
Now he manages the club and organises all of its local and even state events.
He worked as a consultant engineer and ran his own business before he sold it. He decided to keep his fitness up in his 50’s and he hasn’t looked back ever since.
“I love it. I don’t feel 70, I feel 30 and I’m doing all the activity that a fit 30-year-old would do. I’m not as fast but the workout is similar.
“It makes you very fit, without having to do great things – just be involved and compete at your own level.”
Since then, he has run eight Melbourne marathons, being the top 3 per cent nationally for his over 60’s age group with a best time of three hours and 52 minutes.
He introduced healthy eating after a completion of a course with Monash Health during the Covid-19 lockdown substituting sugars and other unhealthy items with vegetable and fruits.
“Healthy food is not easy for people to do. Now we are at a stage we hardly have any unhealthy food like chocolates, it’s mainly dips and carrots. It’s simple but healthy.”
As he joked about members getting a bite or two of sugary items at home and other places, the reductions of unhealthy food in the club have become a role model for other clubs to follow especially during special events where the “word gets around.”
The club is a welcoming space for 30-year-olds and above from every ability.
Participants can compete at their own level.
