The 8 k. cross country returned to Geelong’s Eastern Park venue on May 1oth. Ten senior male athletes journeyed to Geelong, competing on the undulating grassed course. A number of junior athletes were also down in Victoria’s second city. The two-lap course attracted around 340 senior competitors, well down on the number of competitors who used to be attracted to this race some years ago.
The race commenced at around 2.45 p.m. and Marcus Tierney was the best-placed Box hill Athlete after 1000 metres had elapsed, in 22nd place. John Meagher was not much further back, holding 29th position, with a small margin between him and recently joined member Hamish McElwee, running in 43rd position. Graeme Olden, 64th, was next, closely followed by Sam Hassett, who had started quickly in 67th position, with Chris O’Connor a further 20 places to the rear in 87th place. Adam Pepper, Tony Bird, John Vaitkunas and Dave Boyd constituted our remaining competitors.
At the front of the field, Simon Field, Lee Troop, Paul Fenn, Shane Nankervis, Nigel Adkins, Julian Dwyer, Rod de Highden, Magnus Michelsson and Daniel Quin were all prominent in the group which broke away from the rest of the field. Four of the leading group, Troop, Nankervis, de Highden and Nick Harrison, had recently been selected in the Australian marathon team for the World Athletic Championships, to be held later this year, meaning that the top end of the field was a strong one.
By the time the leading runners reached the finish for the first time, prior to completing their second lap, Troop had opened up a small but significant lead of approximately 12 to 15 metres over Steve Moneghetti, with Simon Field a further 15 metres behind in third place. Shane Nankervis was seven seconds further behind. Paul Fenn had fallen off the pack, and Nigel Adkins, now running for APS was starting to assert himself.
Troop looked extremely determined as he ascended the rise after the first long loop near the finishing line, with about three kilometres still to run. Troop was still being pursued by the remarkable Steve Moneghetti. However, Troop was running fluently and pulling away from all his chasers. Simon Field was weakening and Nankervis was beginning to close the gap on third place. Meanwhile, Marcus Tierney was slipping back through the field slowly, but Hamish McElwee, having run conservatively in the first lap, was moving forward passing numerous opponents, including club mate, John Meagher. John had made up significant ground on Marcus Tierney himself, and was staging his own battle with the characters running around him. Graeme Olden was running a steady race, whilst Sam Hassett was slowly losing ground paying the price for an ambitiously fast early pace. Chris O’Connor was improving his position throughout the first lap and beyond, and passed Sam Hassett, who completed the Section 1 team in 83rd place.
Tony Bird ran a strong second leg to be the 7th Box Hill athlete over the line, having improved his position in the second lap. Adam Pepper was next over the line in a little under 31 minutes, with John Vaitkunas 20 seconds behind Adam. Dave Boyd completed the course a little under 6 minutes later to be our final senior athlete across the finishing line.
Chris O’Connor was placed 4th in the 40+ age group and Tony Bird placed 2nd in the 50+ age group.
|
Runner |
Place First Lap |
Time 1st Lap |
Final Place |
Time 2nd Lap |
Total Time |
|
Lee Troop (Geel) |
1 |
11:43 |
1 |
11:57 |
23:40 |
|
Steve Moneghetti (BYCW) |
2 |
11:45 |
2 |
12:15 |
24:00 |
|
Shane Nankervis (BYCW) |
4 |
11:55 |
3 |
12:16 |
24:11 |
|
Simon Field (St K) |
3 |
11:48 |
4 |
12:40 |
24:18 |
|
Nigel Adkins (APS) |
8? |
5 |
24:29 |
||
|
Paul Fenn |
5 |
6 |
24:29 |
||
|
Rod de Highden (Don) |
9? |
7 |
24:41 |
||
|
Julian Dwyer (St K) |
7 |
12:06 |
8 |
12:37 |
24:43 |
|
Box Hill Results |
|||||
|
Hamish McElwee |
43 |
12:48 |
20 |
12:44 |
25:32 |
|
Marcus Tierney |
22 |
12:38 |
29 |
13:25 |
26:03 |
|
John Meagher |
33 |
12:58 |
32 |
13:21 |
26:14 |
|
Graeme Olden |
47 |
13:29 |
48 |
13:37 |
27:06 |
|
Chris O’Connor |
60 |
13:50 |
65 |
14:03 |
27:53 |
|
Sam Hassett |
67 |
13:57 |
83 |
14:33 |
28:32 |
|
Tony Bird |
133 |
14:43 |
129 |
14:51 |
29:34 |
|
Adam Pepper |
174 |
15:07 |
176 |
15:49 |
30:56 |
|
John Vaitkunas |
15:17 |
187 |
15:59 |
31:16 |
|
|
Dave Boyd |
18:20 |
289 |
18:37 |
36:57 |
|
Please note: Estimated final places are not official, and times were recorded from the running watch.
U/20
We were also represented in the junior races at Geelong. There were three competitors in the U/20 race, held over 4 k. Andrew White was our leading performer again, placing eighth overall and 4thin the Under 20 race. Andrew was further back in this race early than he wanted to be but finished off well, passing several opponents in the concluding stages of the race. Not far behind him was Adrian Vincent who finished very strongly. Alex de Greenlaw completed the team, finishing 12 places further back in the field.
Running in the same race, but in the Under 18 division was Michael Bourne, fronting up for the second time following the morning AGS Cross Country. Michael was 36 seconds astern of Alex de Greenlaw and finished a creditable 15th in the U/18 division.
|
Place |
Runners |
Time |
|
4. |
Andrew White |
12:59.0 |
|
5. |
Adrian Vincent |
13:12.0 |
|
17. |
Alex de Greenlaw |
14:30.0 |
U/18
|
Place |
Runner |
Time |
|
15. |
Michael Bourne |
15:06.0 |
Box Hill had a good representation in the women’s open 6km cross country at Geelong last Saturday. In a strong field with 117 finishers, George Connell headed the Box Hill charge. After losing some ground in the middle stages, George finished strongly to take out 16th place. Jessica De Bruin is regaining fitness after a year away overseas and in her first senior cross country event finished a creditable 33rd. No doubt Jess will show continued improvement throughout the winter and should continue to place well in the winter events. Rachel Johnson changed her usual tactics and went out hard in this race. She managed to hang on to place 39th and be the 3rd Box Hill finisher in this event. Making up the division 1 team was Emily Smith.
Emily is coming back from injury and illness and should also show improvement as the year the goes on. Close behind Emily were Amanda Harper and Megan Sloane, with Megan taking out 3rdplace in the 45+ age group. Beth Bird finished in 66th place filling our division 3 team with Amanda and Megan. Beth is putting some good over- distance work this winter and will no doubt show the benefits on the track next summer. Kerry Putt had some difficulties just after half way but battled on to finish the event in a respectable 88th position.
Although official team results are not available it appears that Box Hill has finished 5th in Division 1 and 1st in Division 3. With Nikki Chapple, Fiona Turner, Alison Stokes and Melinda Missen all missing from the team, this is a great effort and promises some good results in the future.
|
Division 1 |
16. |
George Connell |
23:01 |
|
33. |
Jess De Bruin |
24:34 |
|
|
39. |
Rachel Johnson |
25:01 |
|
|
47. |
Emily Smith |
25:15 |
|
|
Division 3 |
55. |
Amanda Harper |
25:36 |
|
57. |
Megan Sloane |
25:56 |
|
|
66. |
Beth Bird |
26:33 |
|
|
88. |
Kerry Putt |
28:10 |
Box Hill had some great results in the junior events. The highlight was Sarah Cant winning the under 16 3km event in 10:48. Sarah not only won the under 16 event but also finished in front of all the under 18 girls as well.
Alice Baquie finished fourth in the under 18 event in a time of 11:39, just a few seconds outside of the medals.
In the under 20s Jocelyn Keage won the silver medal running 15:19 for the 4km journey.
Hopefully more junior girls will be available to run in future events and we can continue these great results.