Counting on Max to Infinity

TASMANIAN orienteering world champion Hanny Allston believes the state’s athletics community, herself included, owes a massive debt to late training guru Max Cherry OAM.

Now Allston, who retired this year after a career that included junior and open world championship victories, has joined a chorus of supporters calling for the upgraded joggers loop on Hobart’s Domain to be named after Mr Cherry, who died in 2008 aged 81.

Allston’s naming suggestion takes the acknowledgment of the legendary mentor a step further, by incorporating the philosophy he sought to instil in his charges.

“I have submitted the name Max’s Infinity Loop,” Allston said.

“The idea comes from the concept of a circle having no start and no finish, and the fact that Max always used to say to us ‘There’s no such thing as I can’t’.

“I love this concept of dreaming big, and infinity is really about going after your dreams.”

Two years ago Allston, together with Heart Foundation boss Graeme Lynch, called for existing trails on the Domain to be turned into the city’s own Tan Track, the Melbourne running loop that draws thousands each week.

Hobart City Council took Allston’s advice, last month beginning work on the first stage of the upgrade.

The council is now reviewing all naming submissions, with a report to be prepared.

“Max had a huge impact on using the Domain as a running scene,” Allston said.

“I think it’s very symbolic that this loop is for everyone, because that was very much his attitude to running.”