Chief Minister Katy Gallagher runs the lake loop at lunchtime, predecessor Jon Stanhope did the same, and Wayne Berry went so far as to record his competition times on his office wall, wryly watching the post-40 decline. Labor minister Simon Corbell and Liberal Leader Jeremy Hanson are accidental training buddies at a dawn boot camp three times a week in Weston Creek. But it's unlikely any of our local politicians have taken their exercise regimes to the extremes of Shane Rattenbury.
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The Greens minister leaves on Tuesday for South Africa, where he will race 120 kilometres over four days in rough terrain in Namaqua in the far west of the country. Only 100 entries are accepted for the endurance race, with competitors camping each night between stages, of 20 kilometres, 40 kilometres, then two lots of 30 kilometres. He expects 12 to 15 hours of racing in all.
Mr Rattenbury has been training up to 120 kilometres a week on Mount Ainslie and Mount Majura for months, heading out five or six days a week at 5.30am for 60 to 90 minutes, throughout those subzero mornings, at a training pace of five minutes a kilometre. On the weekends, he does a longer run, of 30 to 40 kilometres. He also swims and does weights in the evenings to help prepare, is avoiding alcohol and watching his diet – not so much how much he eats but what he eats. At about 65 kilograms, quantity is hardly the issue.
Just six weeks ago he ran the Gold Coast marathon in three hours 29 minutes, a time well below his best of 3:04. A long-time triathlete, endurance running is a more recent interest, and last year he completed his first race – a 220-kilometre six-day race in Cambodia, in which he finished third overall in 21 hours. He nevertheless describes himself not as a serious athlete, but simply "an enthusiastic weekender".
"It's just a freedom in running," he says, explaining what he loves about the sport. "Especially here in Canberra, where we have such great places to run. Being outside, the purity of the effort. You just have to work at it."
Mr Rattenbury, who turns 43 on August 25, two days before the race, said he heard of the Namaqua race through a friend who lives in South Africa and with whom he ran the Cambodia race. They're fun events, with camaraderie among the competitors, who camp together each night. But they're tough and things can easily go wrong, he says. "It's one thing to go out and run a marathon, but to then get up and do it again the next day. Doing it day after day is the challenging part."
Mr Rattenbury returns to Canberra on September 8, in time to refocus on the Melbourne Marathon just a month later. Events, he says, keep him motivated to exercise.
As to the obvious question, how does he find time to train alongside being minister for territories, corrective services, Aboriginal affairs and sport, Mr Rattenbury responds that it's about finding balance. "It's quiet, it's peaceful, it's good thinking time," he says of his hours on foot. "It's a time to quietly contemplate what can be difficult issues at times."
