Saturday 23rd April 2005 saw extremely warm conditions for the running of the 14th Box Hill 5 kilometre handicap at Bennettswood. The race again was extremely will supported by the club’s pole vaulters, nine of whom ran, including Mark Stewart, who put in a dazzling display of runway sprinting at the end of his two laps. Predicting what pole vaulters will run for a distance they would never normally consider running is a task requiring considerable imagination, and best achieved by using previous years’ performance as a basis. This makes it tricky when they didn’t run in the previous year.
29 starters lined up at the start, accompanied by numerous club supporters and parents. Club Captain, Cameron Baker, turned up looking exhausted at the starting line. It seems that his recent extensive world travel commitments and the heavy weight he has had to bear hanging around his neck, with all the medals he has won recently have taken their toll, as he was unable to produce the inspirational effort required to win yet another gold medal on the day.
Fiona Turner looked the winner after one lap, but was overtaken not far from the finish by John Vaitkunas, who clearly snuck under the handicapper’s guard. Only five seconds separated first and second places at the finish. Half a minute later there was a similar gap between evergreen Chris O’Connor and Megan Sloane who were separated by five seconds on the finishing line, for third and fourth places.
The best was yet to come. There was a titanic battle between Mark Stewart and Fiona Buchanan for fifth and sixth place. Spectators scattered as they fought it out to the line, with Fiona avoiding running on the course because that would have meant she had to run the full five kilometre distance. There was huge shouting and encouragement from club member spectators including Steve Hooker, Cam Sherry and Rosie Ditton (amongst others). Mark luckily had a smidgeon up his sleeve, and just hung on to fifth place by a very slender margin. Fiona was subsequently awarded the “Put The Cork In It” award to encourage her not to come up with such elaborate subterfuge to influence the handicapper with a heartrending e-mail begging for lenient treatment in the future. There was the hint of a protest about Fiona being paced by a pooch in the first lap, but this dissipated after the finish.
Andrew White had the fastest time on the day with 16 m 25 with the rapidly improving Iain Reitman recording a respectable time of 16 m. 33.
It was pleasing to see a number of younger club members, many of whom are coached by Westly Windsor, attempting the course for the first time. It was pleasing to see Haley Tomlinson (a previous winner) getting fitter after injury, and her brother complete the course stylishly.
Thanks to Ian Sloane for once again setting handicap marks for the event, to Doug Bourne and Julie Milner for their assistance at the finish, to Graeme Olden for setting up the course and to Angela Robbie and Julie Milner for providing refreshments after the race.
Place Elapsed Time Handicap Race time 1. John Vaitkunas 26 m. 00 7:15 18 m. 45 2. Fiona Turner 26 m. 05 6:10 19 m. 55 3. Chris O’Connor 26 m. 41 9:45 16 m. 56 4. Megan Sloane 26 m. 46 5:50 20 m. 56 5. Mark Stewart 27 m. 07 2:40 24 m. 27 6. Fiona Buchanan 27 m. 08 2:00 25 m. 08 7. Iain Reitman 27 m. 13 10:40 16 m. 33 8. Graeme Olden 27 m. 17 10:20 16 m. 57 9. Harriet Hodgkinson 27 m. 18 6:05 21 m. 13 10. Jamie Strudley 27 m. 21 6:40 20 m. 44 11. Andrew White 27 m. 23 11:00 16 m. 25 12. Wes Windsor 27 m. 30 6:30 21 m. 00 13. Haley Tomlinson 27 m. 36 8:30 19 m. 06 14. Michael Bourne 27 m. 43 9:00 18 m. 43 15. Adam Tomlinson 27 m. 48 5:15 22 m. 13 16. Kate Wall 27 m. 49 5:55 21 m. 54 17. Joel Pocklington 28 m. 00 7:00 21 m. 00 18. Ben Pocklington 28 m. 03 6:00 22 m. 03 19. Coreena Cleland 28 m. 08 6:00 22 m. 08 20. Chris Wall 28 m. 13 8:30 19 m. 43 21. Scott Jackson 28 m. 20 6:40 21 m. 40 22. Jess de Bruin 28 m. 21 7:15 21 m. 06 23. Anna Drutschinin 28 m. 28 5:40 22 m. 48 24. Cameron Baker 29 m. 05 6:10 22 m. 55 25. James Filshie 30 m. 21 5:50 24 m. 51 26. Georgia White 31 m. 23 1:30 29 m. 53 27. Jen Chan 33 m. 12 1:30 31 m. 42 28. Jacqui Williams 33 m. 12 1:00 32 m. 12