Jeff Riseley: How I survived Black Saturday
Jeff Riseley survived the Australian bushfires 12 months ago to become the second fastest Australian 1500m runner of all time last year. Spikesmag.com chats to the emerging middle-distance talent about how he managed to overcome a difficult start to the year to enjoy a breakthrough season on the European circuit.
February 7, 2009 is simply referred to as Black Saturday. The grimmest peacetime day in Australia’s history when more than 170 people perished and 400 injured because of raging bushfires which swept across the south east state of Victoria.
The background to the disaster had seen Australia baking under an extreme heatwave with temperatures nudging a sweltering 47C on the thermometer. On that fatal Saturday, however, the scorching heat coupled with high winds of 100kph and very low humidity sparked a horrific firestorm with fatal consequences.
On the periphery of the worst of the tragedy was the small hamlet of Harkaway in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges some 35 minutes outside of Melbourne - home to Australia’s emerging middle-distance talent
Jeff Riseley.
Two homes on his street were destroyed in the blaze, but that day the 1500m international, who had stayed along with his father and uncle to fight the fire, had a lucky escape.
“My community wasn’t as bad as other communities,” Riseley told spikesmag.com. “I trained early morning that day and I was driving home when a bit of a fire started up the road. They (the firefighters got it in control) and it flared up again and started coming up the hill and towards my house. It was a little bit scary. It wasn’t as bad as the fires around King Lake (one of the worst affected areas in the tragedy), it was more of a grassfire, but still pretty scary. My mum and sister took all the horses and all the animals and got out. The flames got to about 50m from our house at the front but thankfully the wind changed direction and we had a bit of sun shower which calmed things down.”
Riseley and his family did count their blessings, but the fires did bring consequences.
Three local training trails were on fire badly curtailing his preparations for the coming season, although the 23-year-old Aussie took a pragmatic view of events.
“Three of my training venues were affected by fire for a few weeks,” he adds. “It wasn’t too bad. I could still carry out the track sessions and it probably didn’t affect me as much as running in a blizzard or in the snow.”
A little over five months later and Riseley showed just why he had defied the inconvenient interruption to his preparation in the wake of
Black Saturday. He smashed his personal best by more than three seconds to finish eighth in the
Rome Golden League meeting in 3:32.93 – and climbed to second on the all-time Australian list for 1500m. Meanwhile, later in the season he reached the semi-finals of the
World Championships in Berlin.
It proved a successful summer for the former high jumper, who only started serious middle-distance training at the age of 17.
“I definitely had a goal of running at least 3:33 (last season), said the 6ft 4ins tall Riseley. “I ran 3:35 in our nationals I felt in training I’d gotten better. I ran 3:32 in Rome but only finished eighth, it just goes to show there are a lot of good guys out there and you’ve always got to be on your game. My aim next year is really to be able to compete in the top few.”
Coached and managed by Nic Bideau, the astute Aussie, his future would appear to be in good hands. He spent nine weeks on the sidelines at the end of the season with plantar fasciitis but returned to training in November and has some clear goals for the season ahead.
“My main focus is the Commonwealth Games,” Riseley adds.
“If I can go in there and compete at major champs it will give me a lot of confidence,” he explained. “The Commonwealth Games are definitely a lot weaker than a World Championships will be. It’s a really good chance for me to get in and compete and it is a really good goal for me.
It is always hard, I generally don’t like to put predictions out there, but having run 3:32 and made a semi-final of the World champs I think I am in the top six in the Commonwealth. It will just be really interesting to know if
Augustine Choge (the 2009 1500m World No.1) is going to rock up, it could be a bit of a lottery but I definitely want to win a major championship. That is a goal of mine.”
And with the mental fortitude he showed during a difficult build up to 2009, Riseley should not be dismissed lightly.
- Getty Images courtesy of Athletics Australia
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