August 5, 2015
16 K Cross Country Brimbank Park Keilor 1 August 2015
This is probably the toughest in the winter calendar, with a monster of a hill after a long uphill incline to get there. Weather conditions were very cool, with few spots of rain and mainly overcast conditions. There was some wind, but the race conditions were better than the weather forecast suggested.
Box Hill had a few competitors in the junior races. Murray Lovass represented the club in the under 14 race and ran really well to place 10th with a barnstorming finish to pass another competitor in sight of the line. He has been performing well in all the races that he has entered and looks to be a performer of the future.
Paris Powell ran in the under 20 race and did really well to finish 5th, also producing a great surging finish passing others in the last 600 metres and one competitor in the last 100 metres in a very determined effort. Paris has been improving noticeably this year and looks to have a good future in the sport.
Carlos Norman ran a steady race in the under 20 Men’s division and finished 19th. This was probably the best that he has run this season and he is obviously getting fitter.
Lucas Pamminger ran 23rd in the under 18 Men’s race. Amy Atkinson ran impressively to finish in 9th place in the under 16 Women’s race and did well in the latter part of the race. Zoe Schwerkolt placed 13th in the under 18 Women’s race.
The Women’s race saw a low turnout for the club with only seven female Box Hill runners contesting the 6 k race. Courtney Powell ran brilliantly over the one lap course and won the race from Gemma Maini (Frankston) and Sarah Klein (Frankston). Running with the two Frankston women in the early stages of the race until the hill, Courtney asserted her superiority in the latter stages of the race to pull away from Maini and Klein. She beat Maini by eight seconds with Klein a further 13 seconds in arrears. Courtney is in really good form at the moment and there will be more top performances coming during the winter season. There was a massive gap then to fourth position, showing the difference in fitness and speed between these three leading athletes and the rest of the field. June Petrie was 51st and was our second runner across the line. June clearly won the gold medal in her age division by a huge 52 second margin. She was followed in by Pia Hunter, who was placed 114th. Megan Sloane was third in her age division and finished 131st. Kelly Ulf finished shortly after in 139th position, followed by Caitlin Harrison, 145th and Nicole Smith, 156th.
Box Hill’s ranks were also thin in the Men’s race with only 13 starters, two of whom failed to finish the event. The Men’s open division was keenly contested with 336 finishers and there was a group of 10 athletes who broke clear early on in the race. Leading this pack were Steve Kelly who was in front after 2 kilometres, closely followed by Will Potter, second. Others in the lead pack were Steve Dinneen, Liam Adams (Essendon), Julian Spence (Geelong), Zac Newman (Melbourne University), Matt Davy (Frankston), Nick Earl (Melbourne University, but wearing an unrecognisable singlet with red and yellow vertical stripes), Harry Smithers (Geelong) and Mitchel Brown (Essendon).
By the end of the first 4k loop, Steve Dinneen had got to the front, flowed closely by Liam Adams, second. Steve Kelly, 3rd, Matt Davy, 4th, Will Potter 5th and Mitchel Brown, 6th. Dion Finocchiaro was 12th, Michael Dowel was 18th, John Meagher was 30th, Nick Baggott was around 60th, James O’Connell, about 65th, followed by Dave Jimenez and Peter Stefanos. Graeme Olden and Chris O’Connor were both further back.
At the conclusion of the second lap, which included the long grinding hill, the leading athletes were in the same position as they would finish the race. Liam Adams had surged to the lead, with Steve Kelly in the silver medal position and Zac Newman in third, arguably his best ever performance. Mitch Brown was 4th, Julian Spence 5th, Will Potter 6th, Steve Dinneen 7th and Dion Finocchiaro was around 13th. Michael Dowel was also progressing well, running a very sensible race and he had gas in the tank for the last lap which included another assault on the hill. He would have been about 15that this stage of the race.
In the concluding stages the top five athletes consolidated their positions and the race was won by Liam Adams, followed in by Steve Kelly, Zac Newman, Mitchel Brown and Julian Spence. Steve Dinneen, 6th, passed Will Potter, 7th, in the final lap. Nick Earl clung onto 8th, ahead of the fast-finishing Dion Finocchiaro, who surged home picking up four places in the last leg, an impressive finishing burst. Michael Dowel also impressed, picking up several places in the concluding stages to place 13th, a fine effort. John Meagher completed the division 1 team in recording 38th place (37th in the provisional results). Other Box Hill athletes to complete the course were David Jimenez, 52nd, Nick Baggott, 55th, Peter Stefanos, 182nd, Graeme Olden, 195th and Chris O’Connor, 224th.
We had a clear victory in the Premier Division teams’ race, ahead of the Melbourne University and Geelong, but were one runner short of a team for Division 2. We are looking pretty solid in the Premier Division having won five of the events to date, with a supporting second in the Sandown Road Relay and a fourth in the opening Cross Country Relay event.
The next event will be the Eikeden relay event on the surf coast, and all Box Hill runners are asked to advise Chris \O’Connor of your availability so we can enter an appropriate number of teams.
Results
Under 14 Boys
10 Murray Lovass 15:02.6
Under 16 Girls
9 Amy Atkinson 24:32.5
Under 18 Girls
13 Zoe Schwerkolt 31:15.0
Under 18 Boys
23 Lucas Pamminger 11:41.9
Under 20 Women
5 Paris Powell 14:47.5
Under 20 Men
19 Carlos Norman 22:25.6
Open Women
1 Courtney Powell 20:17
51 June Petrie 25:01
114 Pia Hunter 28:21
131 Megan Sloane 29:10
139 Kelly Ulf 30:12
145 Caitlin Harrison 30:48
156 Nicole Smith 32:26
Open Men
- Liam Adams 49:54
- Steve Kelly 50:27
- Zac Newman 50:39
6 Steve Dinneen 51:09
7 Will Potter 51:11
9 Dion Finocchiaro 52:01
13 Michael Dowel 52:37
38 John Meagher 55:05
52 David Jimenez 57:30
55 Nick Baggott 57:45
182 Peter Stefanos 66:49
195 Graeme Olden 67:56
224 Chris O’Connor 70:50
Estimated Premier Division team placings
1 Box Hill 75 points
2 Melbourne University 152
3 Geelong 179
4 Frankston 207
5 Glenhuntly 272
6 Collingwood 278