Box Hill has maintained a very consistent record in the 15 k Men’s Road Race, over recent years. This year, however, we struggled to field a senior team The 15 k. race was run for a second consecutive year on a Sunday morning, rather than the usual Saturday afternoon. This year’s course was different to that of 1998, being a four lap course, utilizing a sort of figure 8 configuration.
In the senior race, an extremely large pack of runners, around 20 or so, separated from the rest of the field quite early. Julian Paynter (Glen Huntly), D. Lane (Malvern, M. Michelsson (Collingwood), N. Harrison (Glen Huntly), D. Eadie (Glen Huntly), Rod de Highden (Doncaster), J. Marsh (Old Xavierians), D. Lynch (Geelong), D. Quin (Melbourne Uni.), C. Bowden (PRRR), P. Sly (PRRR) and our leading athlete, Marcus Tierney, were all bunched within 5 metres of the lead.
Other Box Hill runners on course included Kynan Dawes, Glenn Tooze, Adam Pepper, Tim Conrad, and Dave Boyd. Ian Robertson and Graeme Crouch were running by invitation.
The large pack of leaders shrank to 15 or so after one lap, with de Highden, Paynter, Eadie and Michelsson leading the surge. Marcus Tierney was in contention, at this stage. The same group was still leading after two laps, but Marcus Tierney and a number of others had slipped off a fraction to be sixty or seventy metres behind the leading bunch, now numbering eight.
In the third lap Paynter, de Highden, Marsh, Bowden, Sly and Michelsson eased away from the others in the field and opened up a break Marcus was holding 13th or 14th position. Other Box Hill athletes were prominent in the sixties and a little further back.
Coming up to the finish, de Highden and Paynter battled it out with Paynter leading in de Highden by about 8 metres, and Marsh following them in about six seconds behind. Marcus Tierney held on for 15th position.
Of better news for Box Hill were the Junior races. We had three placegetters and a winning team. Michael Bourne followed up a second place in the AGS Cross Country last weekend with a third placing in the U/14 5000. Sam Hassett placed 2nd in the U/18 5000 m., with Simon McGuinness placing 10th. In th U/20 5000 m road race, Tim Renowden was 3rd, Ben Bissett was 4th, Christian Ashby was 7th and Tim Tyler placed 10th, with Box Hill winning the U/20 team’s race.
U/14
3 M. Bourne 19 m. 44
U/18
2 S. Hassett 15 m. 42
10 S. McGuiness 16 m. 54
U/20
3 T. Renowden 15 m. 45
4 B. Bissett 15 m. 47
7 C. Ashby 16 m. 02
10 T. Tyler 16 m. 28
Team – 1st
Open (Box Hill times and places – not official)
1 J. Paynter 44 m. 59
2 R de Highden 45 m. 00
3 J Marsh 45 m. 06
4 C. Bowden
5 P. Sly
6 M. Michelsson
15 M. Tierney 47 m. 12
60 K. Dawes 50 m. 36
61 I. Robertson (Inv.) 50 m. 36
67 G. Crouch (Inv.) 51 m. 12
68 G. Tooze 51 m. 12
A. Pepper 55 m. 31
T. Conrad 56 m. 32
D. Boyd 58 m. 04