Flemington Road Relay Championships

SECTION 1 MEN’S TEAM RUNS AN EXCELLENT THIRD PLACE SECTION 3 MEN’S TEAM THIRD

Box Hill AC had a great result in Section 1 at the 2002 Road Relay Championships at Flemington Race Course on Saturday, 20 July, winning a Bronze medal for the first time in a number of years. Conditions were very cold, wet, and a stiff breeze added to the unpleasant conditions. There were two teams in contention for the title Glen Huntly and Doncaster, with Ballarat YCW, Geelong, APS, Essendon and Box Hill being likely to fill the next placings. As it turned out these teams were in contention for third place during the running of the event.

Our Section 1 team had a flying start with Luke Yeatman racing at his best, probably recording his finest performance in Box Hill uniform. Luke made it clear that he meant business from the moment the gun was fired, running in 4th position at the end of his first lap. With a strong finishing kick, Luke just failed to catch his Glen Huntly opponent but passed the Doncaster runner to hand over in third place at the changeover point. Luke recorded the fastest time of the day for Box Hill, 18 m. 09 s. Geelong’s Jeremiah led in Section 1, 22 seconds clear of Glen Huntly. John Meagher has been our most accomplished runner in most Winter races this year and he set out in a very determined fashion. Our Geelong opponents remained 22 seconds ahead of Box Hill at the end of the this leg, but Doncaster’s Quilty ran an excellent leg wresting the lead from Hulbert from Glen Huntly, with our team 27 seconds down on 2nd place in 4th position. John recorded our third fastest leg.

Dale Bickham was next out, finding conditions not to his liking. Glen Huntly stretched its lead over Doncaster and Paul Wilson ran a smart third leg propelling APS into 3rd place. Geelong started to drift backwards in this leg, completing the leg 24 seconds in advance of our team which was in 5th place. At the conclusion of Paul Boxshall’s first lap, we had conceded another place, with Shane Nankervis running a brilliant first lap. His effort took Ballarat YCW to third place, a position they maintained to the end of this fourth leg, being only 23 seconds behind the second-placed Doncaster, which was 11 seconds behind leaders Glen Huntly. The tiring APS runner was caught and passed by Paul as he ran an even faster second lap, and when he handed over we were one second down on Geelong, so we were back in 5th place, effectively equal 4th. This was a key leg for Box Hill because we managed to maintain contact with the two teams which we ultimately caught and passed later in the race.

Marcus Tierney had the distinction two years ago on leading in our Section 1 in first place in the first leg, a striking accomplishment, and although probably not in such great form this year, he was very determined to do his best. With a powerful display of fine distance running, Marcus first picked off his Geelong opponent to get the team to 4th and then in the second lap caught and passed his Ballarat opponent to bring our team into 3rd place, just 8 seconds in advance of Ballarat YCW, in fourth. Graeme Olden has found himself in similar tight pressure situations previously, but this year, was delighted that he was actually defending a lead for 3rd position rather than having to come from behind. With an emphatic first lap which destroyed his Ballarat YCW opponent’s self-confidence, he slowly but surely extended the team’s lead to a 1 minute 18 second advantage, and if there had been an additional leg, may have given Box Hill an opportunity to take silver with Doncaster only finishing 250 metres in front of our team for second place.

This team result was very pleasing because we had not anticipated being a strong chance of placing and also because of the evenness of the individual team members’ performances, with only 1 m. 03 s. separating or fastest and slowest legs.

Our second team, in Section 3 performed well, too, placing 4th. Barry Lynch ran a sizzling first leg and this was followed up with a very encouraging performance by Sam Hassett who looks to be regaining his fitness and confidence. Tony Bird and Adam Pepper ran solid legs and Chris O’Connor anchored the team with a very strong finishing phase, running his second lap 25 seconds quicker than his first in an attempt to catch his Traralgon opponent.

Section 6 runners were remarkably even in their leg times, but we are not clear about their placing at the time of writing.

Section 1

Placings

1. Glen Huntly 107 m. 47
2. Doncaster 111 m. 07
3. Box Hill 111 m. 53
4. Ballarat YCW 113 m. 11

5. A.P.S. 113 m. 59

Section 3

Team Result: 3rd Section 6

Team Result: Not available

Women’s Team