Doug Tuhan

Sports Hall of Fame Inductee

In the sport of distance running in the Goulburn Valley, one name comes to mind immediately and that is Doug Tuhan. As a runner Doug competed all over the state at all the major athletic carnivals. He was a fine long distance athlete who was able to combine natural ability with sheer tenacity to make an indelible mark on his sport. A country lad originally from Cooma near Kyabram he loved to run around the farm. Doug realised his potential when at the age of 14 he won the cross country event at the Kyabram High School. He then took up distance running as a sport and competed wherever he could. His first open race was at the Flemington racecourse in 1969 where he ran 10^th out of 80 runners and that meant that he was placed on a tight handicap during his career.  He won his first event in 1971 at Kangaroo Ground. There was no Distance running club in the Goulburn Valley so he ran with the Bendigo Club. He moved to Murchison to a dairy farm in 1974 and formed his own distance event at Murchison. The Murchison 10k event was conducted with Doug at the helm spending hundreds of hours organising the event, each year for over 40 years as a part of the Victorian Cross Country League. Each year the Victorian 10,000 Metre Country Championship is run, an event in which Doug has run second 5 times and he won the title in 1975 and 76. He won 11 races with the Bendigo Club and was club champion for 7 years. He is a Life Member of that club. Apart from running cross Country he took to distant events on the track and performed well in the big events at places like Stawell, Bendigo and Wangaratta. He won his first race on the track, a 1600 metre event at Bendigo, a race that his son Michael also won many years later. Doug competed for so long at Stawell he was inducted into the Stawell Athletic Club Hall of Fame in 2006. He was president of the Shepparton Sports Club which conducted Athletic meetings at Shepparton and Lemnos. Another of his sports commitments was to the Murchison Football Club where he was a trainer for 40 years. He has umpired football and been fitness adviser to umpires for 27 years. Doug’s support for the community is evident through his involvement in the Lions Club and many other Community events. He has been a wonderful supporter of sports and sports people and we welcome him as a member of the Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame Honour Roll.