Sandown 10 km Road Race

BOX HILL SENIOR TEAMS IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

Box Hill AC fielded more athletes at the 10 K road championship, held on Saturday 29th May at Sandown Race Course. Sandown is a 3.1 kilometre course, so the runners commenced the race 700 metres from the finish well before the home straight, with another three laps to complete after reaching the finish the first time. Sandown is the traditional home of the Road Relay Championships and usually produces difficult weather conditions. However, for the second consecutive year, the weather was tolerable, with the sun shining for part of the women’s race and rain holding off whilst athletes were on the course.

Box Hill had 13 participants in the senior race this year, although not all entered before entries closed. Lee Troop (Geelong) and Simon Field (St Kevin’s) were expected to contest the title in Steve Moneghetti’s absence, although David Ruschena (GH,) Olympic Marathoner, Nick Harrison (GH) and Clint Perrett, now running for Mentone, were expected to challenge as well. These athletes were all amongst the leading group after they had completed their first circuit of the three and a bit lap course at Sandown racecourse.

John Meagher was the leading Box Hill athlete at the completion of the first lap in the early part of the race, in 18th place54 seconds behind Troop, Field, Ruschena and Perrett, with Chettle and Harrison in contention. Adrian Vincent and Lachlan Aspinall have moved into the senior ranks this year and both have recorded promising performances. Adrian, at the end of the first lap, was 11 seconds behind John Meagher, three seconds ahead of Graeme Olden and Kynan Dawes, running by invitation, Other Box Hill Athletes to show prominently were David Jimenez, who was moving through the field, with Paul Boxshall not far away. Alan Craigie and Lachlan Aspinall were a little further back, separated by a couple of seconds. New club member Ben McNab commenced impressively, whilst David Ayers, Adam Pepper and Matt Slater were mid field, with Dave Boyd completing our complement.

Glen Huntly looked unassailable in the teams’ race, with a very large number of athletes in the top 30. Box Hill appeared to be in about 4th or 5th position in Section 1 at this early stage of the race.

After the completion of the second lap, Simon Field had opened up a gap over Lee Troop, with the other runners detached from the leading group. Field went through in 19 m. 50, two seconds ahead of Troop. John Meagher was approximately two minutes behind the leaders, but putting up an excellent race performance, in 16th position. Adrian Vincent was also performing well, and backing up his good Cross Country form from Drouin, being 19 seconds adrift of John Meagher in 26th position. David Jimenez, 33rd was also running well, and led Kynan Dawes by about three seconds and four places. Paul Boxshall, was next through, about nine seconds behind Kynan Dawes, followed by Graeme Olden, running with the same group of runners. Alan Craigie and Lachlan Aspinall were a little further back, 20 seconds apart. David Ayers passed the line next, with Adam Pepper 20 seconds further back , holing an 18 second advantage over Matt Slater at the end of the second lap.

Simon Field extended his lead substantially over the course of the final lap and completed a fine victory in 28 m. 47,considerably faster than Steve Moneghetti’s winning time in excellent conditions in 2003, which suggest that Field is not only improving, but going well. Lee Troop, nearly recovered from his London Marathon, was satisfied with his race, and happy to record a time just over 29 minutes. David Ruschena was third, about 10 seconds behind Troop.

Box Hill runners showed their presence in the finishing chute shortly after with John Meagher placed 17th, unfortunately outsprinted in the last 60 metres by two opponents, running 31 m. 44 for the ten kilometre course. Adrian Vincent surged past four opponents in the last lap to place 22nd, a very encouraging run. David Jimenez also lifted in the last lap and placed 33rd, with Paul Boxshall 13 seconds behind him in 38th position. Kynan Dawes completed his race 9 seconds later placing 43rd with Graeme Olden ranked 50th a further 18 seconds behind. Lachlan Aspinall and Alan Craigie finished close together in 78th and 79th places respectively. Ben McNab was 109th. Our remaining runners were David Ayers (36 m. 04), Adam Pepper (37 m. 40), Matt Slater (38 m. 06) and David Boyd who looked happy to finish (49 m. 56).

Official team placings have not yet been posted on the AV website, but it appears that Box Hill was in around fourth place, behind Glen Huntly who won the teams’ race.

We had five U/20 starters, four of whom finished, plus an U/16 invitee, who had missed the earlier U/16 starting time. Andrew White was prominent in the Under 20 race finishing 5th. Graham and Kevin Craigie ran close together during the race with Graham (18th) eventually prevailing over Kevin (19th), closely followed by Iain Reitman. making up significant ground in the latter two laps to finish 20th. Michael Bourne didn’t complete the distance after competing in a school cross-country race in the morning. Matthew O’Connor, competing outside his age group, also finished the 10 kilometre course.

Leading Open Men’s 10 K Road Performances

Box Hill Performances

Junior Results

Under 20