A high percentage of those overweight are lapsed footballers, netballers and other team players who, for some reason, allow themselves to believe that their sporting life is over once they suffer a long-term injury or are “too old” at 35.

We in rural areas should realise how lucky we are to have bushland tracks and trails on our doorsteps and we really do have more time to run and play while city folk are stuck in peak hour traffic.

Increasingly, technology is keeping us seated at PCs, laptops and mobile phones.

Shopping was once a form of exercise but now our fingertips do more work than our lower limbs. 

The Stawell and Ararat Cross Country Club and Stawell Amateur Athletic Club are privileged to conduct 40 handicap races per season in the very playgrounds mentioned, but the staggering thing is that we only share these open spaces with the kangaroos – no walkers, joggers or bicycle riders ever cross our paths.

Handicap racing gives everyone – fast, slow, young, old - a chance to win sashes, trophies and prizes donated by generous sponsors.

I’ve lost count how many new members have dropped ten to 20 kilograms in weight in one season of running and have gone on to run half- and full marathons.

Working mum Naomi Hunter returned from a tendon injury this year to win three races with the Amateurs.

“Running is something I can do with my whole family,” she explains.

“I'm in control of my body and can stop if I need to, which is something you can't do in team sports.”

Allow running to get into your blood and it’s like a transfusion of energy, and it’s often contagious to those closest to you.

Seventy-year-old Jack Trounson is nearing 650 runs with the Ararat club. In lifetime running metres he has twice circled the globe. He is not on medication of any kind.