The Club’s social calendar covers a wide variety of events to provide welcome breaks from the rigours of training and competition. These include:

• The annual black tie dinner

This is the Club’s gala event and is much looked-forward to throughout the season. Generally held in May, the Annual Dinner is the night on which the Club’s annual presentations are made, including the prestigious MUAC Athlete of the Year award and a range of other awards. Another highlight of the night is the keynote guest speaker. Speakers in the past have included famous athletes, high-level sports administrators and other luminaries. The Annual Dinner is held at varying locations which have in the past included some of Melbourne’s best restaurants and clubs with after-parties at selected nightclubs.

• Monthly post-training dinners

Being on the doorstep of Melbourne’s premier dining district has its benefits. When you’re training in the middle of winter there’s nothing better to look forward to after a hot shower than a steaming bowl of pasta and a glass of red at TiAmo2 in Lygon Street. Or you might fancy a giant chicken parmigiana with a cold beer at the Clyde Hotel, the Official Supporter of MUAC Student Membership, in our own booked room. The monthly post-training dinners are one of the most anticipated events on the social calendar. As well as reloading, they are the perfect opportunity for a little team bonding and good cheer.

• End-of-season barbecues

If you’re getting the idea that much of MUAC’s off-field fraternising revolves around food, you’re right. The aroma of barbecue drifting across the track towards the end of an arduous session in late summer is something you have to experience to believe.  With a trackside grill located on the lawn outside the Sports Centre there’s no excuse not to put it to good use. These after-training barbecues also occur at the start of the season, during orientation week and sometimes in the middle of the season … you get the idea.

• Cross country ‘picnics’

Race day is no excuse not to eat. After every cross-country race in winter out comes the card table and tablecloth and we indulge in afternoon tea. Everyone contributes, frequently bringing their particular ‘signature dish’. For 2009, chocolate fudge, home made biscuits and blueberry muffins have been the items to warm down for in a hurry, lest they disappear.

• Club Gift and the Milk Mile.

These events are conducted amidst a genial atmosphere during and after which (and sometimes before) refreshments are liberally indulged in. The official Milk Mile, a four-lap event during which participants drink milk at each pass of the finish post, is often accompanied unofficially with a sister event in which the imbibed fluid is replaced with beer. Either, or both, event(s) provide great entertainment for spectators, if not competitors, who generally disappear swiftly for some time after finishing.

• First Sunday Run
  

On the first Sunday of each month, the distance squad goes running as a big group.  We travel far and wide across Melbourne looking for interesting runs and good coffee and brunch afterwards.

• Other events

Trivia nights, lawn bowls days, Christmas functions and even Bring-a-Mum day. It’s a busy life being an MUAC athlete but someone has to do it.

• Gossip

Lambs’ Tails