September 19, 2015
After being on top of the ladder in the men’s premier division for most of the XCR’15 season, we unfortunately fell down in the last 2 events and finished 2nd on the ladder (see Ian Sloane’s reports below). Our men’s team, without a number of our best runners finished in 5th place at the Tan relays, the last event of the winter season.
Our women’s team performed brilliantly to finish in 2nd place at the Tan, while our Over 50 men’s team won the gold medal in their division. We also had some outstanding performances in the Under 18 age group, where bot our men’s and women’s teams picked up bronze medals.
Results:
Men Premier Division (5th):
1. Nick Baggott 11:48
2. Will Potter 11:33
3. Michael Dowel 11:35
4. Dion Finocchiaro 11:40
5. James O’Connell 11:56
6. Oscar Robinson 12:15
Men Division 2 (5th)
1. Sam Dipnall 11:38
2. Trent Collins 13:35
3. Ryan Martin 12:38
4. Welday Mebrahtu 13:05
5. Michael Vaughan 13:06
6. Peter Green 12:02
Men Division 3 (9th)
1. Andrew Hester 14:03
2. Russell Clowes 14:49
3. Jack Hill 16:00
4. Simon St. Hill 17:19
5. Peter O’Leary 16:46
Men 40+ (6th)
1. Tony Langelaan 14:02
2. Simon Watson 13:48
3. Chris O’Connor 15:32
Men 50+ (1st)
1. John Meagher 12:23
2. Peter Stefanos 14:08
3. Graeme Olden 14:04
Men Under 20 (4th)
1. Ben Cox 12:10
2. Vaughan Smith 12:25
3. Zac Hunter 12:22
1. Carlos Norman 14:17
2. Raymond Chan
3.
Men Under 18 (3rd and 8th)
1. Sebastian Failla 12:30
2. Alex Ritchie 12:32
3. Scott McKenzie 12:25
1. Sam Rattray 13:04
2. Lucas Pamminger 13:06
3. Kieren Hesse 13:47
Women Premier Division (2nd)
1. Georgia Meehan 13:48
2. Courtney Powell 12:28
3. Georgia Hansen 13:54
4. Grace Kalac 14:51
5. Julie Norney 13:47
Women Division 2 (10th)
1. Amanda Harper 15:43
2. Hannah Deal 16:12
3. Zoe Schwerkolt 19:13
4. Amwelia Savige 17:13
Women Division 5 (9th)
1. Caitlin Harrison 17:26
2. Nicole Smith 18:33
3. Kelly Ulf 17:17
Women Under 18 (3rd)
1. Louise Ton 15:00
2. Sophie Schwerkolt 16:25
3. Holly Pedersen 14:56
Tan Relays 19 September 2015
Box Hill’s Men’s Division 1 team held a one point advantage over going to the last race of the 2015 winter calendar. After an ordinary showing at the Half Marathon where we had a very depleted turnout. We needed to either win the race or finish one or more places ahead of Geelong. Unfortunately this did not happen and although our Division 1 team members did their best, we were only able to secure fifth position whilst Geelong turned out a really solid team and won the race and thus the winter championship.
Our female Premier Division team performed really well and won the silver medal, being overtaken by Glenhuntly later in the race. Courtney Powell ran a brilliant lap pulling Box Hill into the lead and the other team members gave everything they had to try and hold the lead. However, Glenhuntly had too much depth and defeated our team.
The Men’s Premier Division race started with Luke Matthews (APS) leading the runners in in the very fast time of 10:55. Zak Patterson (Knox) held second place (11:01) and Nick Wightman had Geelong in third place (11:12). Frankston were just behind Geelong, followed by the University of Melbourne, Glenhuntly and Box Hill seventh with Nick Baggott recording 11:48 for his lap. Will Potter was next up for Box Hill and he ran a PB on the course, knocking five seconds of his previous best to run 11:33. During this lap, Frankston got to the lead, with APS dropping back to second eight seconds behind. Geelong were third a second behind second, with Knox, fourth, 23 seconds further back, Melbourne University, fifth, eight seconds behind Knox and Box Hill, now sixth, 21 seconds behind Melbourne University.
The third leg saw another club take the lead, Geelong, and from this point on, they dominated the race. They crossed five seconds in front of Frankston, with APS almost level with second place. Melbourne University were fourth, forty-five seconds behind the leader, and a second ahead of Knox in fifth place. Box Hill was next to reach the changeover point 19 seconds behind Knox. Glenhuntly was a minute behind Box Hill in seventh and SSH held eighth position. Michael Dowel ran 11:35 for his leg.
Box Hill’s next runner was Dion Finocchiaro ran a solid fourth leg recording 11:40 to hold sixth position. Harry Smithers (Geelong) extended Geelong’s lead over Frankston to 39 seconds. Knox was 19 seconds behind in third place. In fourth place, Melbourne University were in a close tussle with APS a couple of seconds behind third. Box Hill was sixth, 18 seconds behind fifth.
James O’Connell ran the fifth leg, maintaining our sixth position (11:56). Julian Spence (Geelong) handed over to Craig Mottram for the last leg with a lead of 55 seconds. Jordan Nelson (Knox) overtook his Frankston opponent to move into second, four seconds clear. APS were 28 seconds down on third and 32 seconds ahead of Melbourne University with Box Hill four seconds adrift in sixth place.
Mottram ran a great last lap of 10:43 to anchor Geelong to the win. Sam Crowther brought Knox in to the silver medal position92 seconds later with Frankston securing the bronze medal 39 seconds later. APS finished fourth 48 seconds behind third. Oscar Robinson ran 12:15, overtaking Melbourne University’s final runner to come in 26 seconds behind fourth, in fifth position, and he was eight seconds in front of sixth-placed Melbourne University.
Our Division 2 team performed creditably, recording fifth place. Essendon won be a very large margin, ahead of Doncaster and Western Athletic Club. Our runners were Sam Dipnall (11:38), Trent Collins (13:35), Ryan Martin (12:38), Welday Mebrahtu (13:05), Michael Vaughan (13:06) and Peter Green (12:02).