It was six o’clock in the morning and April did not want to be out of bed. Even Pumpkin, who was usually wide-awake and ready to start biting people at the slightest noise, was lethargic at this painfully early hour. And yet they were standing in the Daffodil Gardens waiting for Tom so they could start their training.

Maya was holding her first public training session that morning and Tom had insisted that this was the best way to help him prepare. He wasn’t going to do this by half-measures. He wanted Olympic-standard coaching.

The former heptathlete bounded into the gardens at 6 am on the dot.

‘Good morning!’ she said enthusiastically. ‘Are we ready to get sweaty?’ She looked about at her group of aspiring athletes. Aside from April there were a dozen or so, mainly middle-aged, women. They were all wearing stick-on name tags. They had names like Marjorie, Val and Linda. None of them looked particularly fit, but they all looked grumpy and tired from being up so early.

The grumpiest of all was Mrs Pilsbury, the school receptionist. She was only there because her doctor had told her she needed to exercise or she wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy her retirement cruise. Mrs Pilsbury had not endured thirty years of Currawong High students only to miss out on that cruise. It had been the bright light at the end of her tunnel for decades. No one was bricking up the end of her tunnel.

‘Now I know some of you are probably thinking – can I do this? Can I get fit enough in just a few weeks to run a fifteen-kilometre course and overcome twenty-one gruelling mud-covered obstacles?’

Several of the women started to mutter to each other. Apparently, they had not realised exactly what they’d signed up for and had just received a nasty shock.

‘Well, I’m here to tell you that you can,’ said Maya. ‘If I can overcome asthma to be a two-time Olympic runner-up, then you can do this. You won’t be alone. I am here to help you. To inspire you. Together we can achieve anything!’

The women cheered up a little with this encouragement. A few of them even clapped.

Mrs Pilsbury put her hand up. ‘The Good Times Cafe stops serving egg and bacon rolls at 10 am. Will we be finished by then?’

‘Yes, long before then,’ said Maya.

‘All right,’ said Mrs Pilsbury, nodding begrudgingly. ‘Then I’ll stay.’

‘Okay. I’m glad that’s settled,’ said Maya. ‘So are you ready to get sweaty?’

‘No, I’m not,’ said April matter-of-factly. ‘Tom isn’t here yet. I can’t start without Tom.’

‘Who’s Tom?’ asked Maya.

‘He’s my training partner,’ said April.

‘But this is a women’s training group,’ said Maya.

‘That’s sexist,’ observed April.

‘It’s to combat the sexism of the event,’ said Maya.

‘Two wrongs don’t make a right,’ said April.

‘Nevertheless,’ said Maya, ‘this is not a training group for boys.’

A station wagon pulled up by the picket fence and Tom got out.

‘Here he is now,’ said April.

Tom was dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and sneakers, ready for athletic activity. For once he wasn’t carrying his long white cane. He took a step forward and slammed into the picket fence.

April sniggered. ‘Mind the fence!’ she called out to him.

‘You’re supposed to be guiding me,’ Tom called back.

‘Sorry,’ said April in a totally unapologetic tone. ‘I didn’t realise I’d started yet.’ She sauntered over to where Tom was sprawled on the footpath and vaulted the three-foot high fence. April didn’t actively participate in any organised sport, but the amount of time she spent wrestling and attacking people meant that she was actually quite a naturally talented athlete. As Tom struggled to his feet, April grabbed him by the shoulder and led him in through the gate.

‘Oh,’ said Maya, realising she couldn’t throw a vision-impaired person out of her training group, even if he was of the male gender. ‘Well, that should be fine.’ Although she secretly decided to make this training session particularly brutal so that the boy would not want to come back of his own accord. ‘Let’s get started …’

A van with the words ‘Mad Mud Mud Run’ on the side screeched to a halt beside the gardens and Brad Peddler leapt out. He spotted Maya and called over to her, ‘Maya, I want a word with you!’

‘This is a women’s only training group!’ said Maya crossly. ‘Just because you’re the organiser of the mud run doesn’t mean you can barge in here.’

‘That’s what I want to talk to you about,’ said Brad, stepping over the fence. ‘Excuse us.’ He smiled at the ladies as he walked past them, but it was a forced smile. The type that doesn’t go all the way up to the eyes. It barely extended to his lips. It was more of a baring of the teeth. He turned Maya away from the group so they couldn’t listen in.

April jabbed Tom in the ribs. ‘Blind people are supposed to have really good hearing. What are they saying?’

‘Ow!’ said Tom, rubbing his side.

‘Stop fussing and just listen,’ urged April.

Tom took a step towards Maya and Brad and leaned in their direction. ‘Something about … “your plan won’t work … should just leave now”.’

‘That’d be right,’ said April. ‘He’s trying to get her to quit because she’s publically shaming his precious race.’

‘Don’t mind me!’ another man called out as he strode down one of the garden paths. He was a tall thin man carrying a bulky shoulder bag.

‘This is a training session for women only,’ said Maya sternly, as she spun around. Having already let one boy in, she didn’t want this to become a slippery slope.

‘And vision-impaired people,’ said April. ‘Are you vision-impaired? If you are, she’ll be too chicken to kick you out.’

‘I’m Luciano Costa from the Bilgong Gazette,’ said the man. ‘Your arrival is big news. I was hoping to take some photos. The editors in the city want to syndicate the story.’

You could see Maya’s mind changing gears. She went from grumpy, intimidating athlete to simpering beauty in a heartbeat. ‘By all means, of course, take whatever pictures you like,’ gushed Maya, smiling at him.

‘But Maya …’ said Brad.

She walked away from him, pretending she couldn’t hear. Brad must have sensed that this was not a good time to create a scene, so he stalked off in the other direction.

‘Um …’ said Luciano, a little dumbfounded to be smiled at by someone so famous and pretty. ‘Shouldn’t you be doing some exercises?’

‘Oh yes, of course,’ said Maya, remembering her assembled group of middle-aged women. ‘Let’s start by doing burpees. You all know how to do them, don’t you? You just lie down, then spring back up and jump.’

‘That’ll be easy for you,’ April said to Tom, nudging him in the ribs again. ‘You know where the ground is.’

‘We’ll start with fifty,’ said Maya.

The middle-aged women groaned glumly.

‘Wait,’ said Tom. ‘I need to be tethered first.’ He pulled a long bright orange strap out of his pocket and handed it to April.

‘You’re kidding,’ said April. ‘Couldn’t you find something more subtle?

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Tom.

‘It’s bright orange,’ said April. ‘It’s so bright they’ll be able to see it from the International Space Station.’

‘Doesn’t bother me,’ said Tom.

April fastened one end round her wrist, and the other around Tom’s.

‘Let’s go!’ said Maya.

Suddenly April found herself yanked off her feet. Tom had dropped to the ground with cat-like agility and she had been pulled down on top of him. ‘What are you doing?’ she cried.

‘Burpees,’ said Tom happily, as he sprang up again, yanking April with him. ‘Try and keep up.’

April could hear the shutter of Luciano’s camera working overtime as her humiliation was captured for the local paper.