Cruden Farm, 27 May 2017

May 27, 2017

16 K Cross Country Cruden Farm (Langwarrin) 27 May 2017

Last year’s positive remarks about the 16 k Cross Country course selected by Athletics Victoria were strengthened this year.  There were a number of slight variations in the 2017 course, but the venue was in excellent order, and challenging too.  The Cruden Farm property belonged to Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who passed away in 2012.  It is a spectacular location. The farm is 54 hectares in size and supports livestock. A look at the ground in the paddocks revealed the largest cow pats that most of the athletes had ever seen in their life and strove desperately to avoid whilst on the course.  The Open Men’s race was a well-designed course of four laps of four kilometres, and the other races were of shorter lengths, but on the same course as the men ran.

Box Hill had at least three standout successes.  Thomas Diamond won the Under 14 race.  Will Potter claimed the silver medal for the senior men’s race and the Box Hill Premier Division team appears to have won the Premier Division team’s title from Doncaster and Melbourne University.

In perfect weather conditions, all the athletes in each race were despatched by Gayle Anderson.

Thomas Diamond represented Box Hill in the under 14 race and ran brilliantly to win the race after finishing eighth last year.  He ran a really great race and pulled away at the end from all the other competitors.  He ran over the finish line over more than 17 seconds ahead of the silver medallist.  Well done Tom – an excellent effort.

In the men’s under 20 race, Box Hill was represented by Alex Ritchie, who finished very respectable eighth, after being very prominent for the first half of the race.  When the pressure was put on the field by Cody Shanahan (Western Athletics), first, and Cassidy Shaw (Geelong), second, the other seven in the leading bunch were not able to maintain their tempo.   Alex placed 10^th in this race last year so his 2017 placing was an improvement and he is not far from a top five finish.

Joshua James placed 35^th in the Under 18 event.

The women’s race attracted a field of 219 competitors.  Box Hill was represented by Rhiannon Snipe who ran a strong race to place 33^rd.  Steph Kondogonis was a little further back in 40^th position.  Pia Hunter, who is in very good form at present, placed 58^th. Rachel Johnson finished 107^th, Chloe Rosenberg was 123^rd, Carolyn Fox was 172^nd and Beck Mitchell was 189^th.  Virginia Moloney won the event, returning to form after placing 4^th at Wandin.  Anna Kelly (South Melbourne) is performing well at the moment and won the silver medal after Moloney managed to ease ahead of her later in the race.  Kelly won the cross country at Wandin.  Karinna Fyfe (Glen Huntly) won the bronze medal finishing ahead of Alexandra Paterson (Old Xavier) and Tarli Bird (Glen Huntly).  This leading group ran together in the early stages, with Karinna Fyfe passing Bird and Paterson to place third.

In the men’s 16 k cross Country race there was a large field of athletes assembled (around 355 runners). We had a very strong team although Matt O’Donnell was unavailable with a foot injury.  Sam Dipnall was not racing and Tom Snibson and Michael Vaughan were unavailable.  However, Box Hill’s depth is strong and the club performed well.  Also, it turned out that SSH and Melbourne University were not at full strength, and missing athletes. This gave Box Hill an advantage, and enabled Doncaster to produce a surprise 2^nd place in the Team’s race in the men’s Premier Division.

In the first kilometre of the men’s race Box Hill was well represented.  Steve Dinneen went to the  lead, with Ben Ashkettle (Doncaster), Will Potter (BH), Dejen Gebreselessie (Mentone) all contesting the lead in the early stages, with James O’Connell prominent in the leading bunch.  Also running in the lead pack were Anthony Aloisio (Richmond), Matthew Johnsen (Doncaster) Thomas Hynes (Ballarat), Leon Russell-Keely (Bendigo).  Ryan Geard (Western Athletics) and Nick Baggott (Box Hill) were not far off the front either.  Michael Dowel missed the start and had to work his way through the field.  Andre Waring started off mindful that it was a four lap course and worked his way into the race.

After the midway point in the first lap, Ben Ashkettle then took the reins and led for a while.  Later on Matthew Johnsen took over.  James O’Connell, slipped back, and that may have been as a result of the early pace at the front. Several athletes who were not initially in the leading group started to make progress through the field.  Liam Adams (Essendon) took a while to get going but made rapid progress in the second lap.  Mitch Brown (Essendon) ran a similar race – relaxed at the start and then he cranked it up the further the race went.  Steve Dinneen dropped off the lead group in the second and third laps, and Gebreselessie, Will Potter, Johnsen, Hynes and Ashkettle were vying for the lead.  Adams and Brown made good progress into the fourth lap.  Box Hill athletes who were making an impression were Oscar Robinson who commenced conservatively and passed many fellow competitors eventually, Michael Dowel who passed many, many athletes as he forged forward and Peter Green who was running solidly.

In the finishing stages, the contest was between Gebreselessie and Will Potter. Liam Adams was too far off the pace to pose a threat, as was Mitch Brown who passed Buckingham (SSH), Russell-Keely, Hynes, Ashkettle and Johnson to reach fourth position.  Will Potter ran to capacity, but Gebreselessie had a little more on the day and held off Will Potter in the concluding stages to win by just three seconds.  So Will came away with the silver medal, a fine accomplishment, and a much more accurate reflection of his fitness and ability that the Wandin result a fortnight earlier.  Adams won the bronze medal with Brown fourth and Johnsen, fifth.   Nick Baggott kept plugging away and crossed the line in 13^th place.  Steve Dinneen fought on passing a number of fellow competitors in the final lap to claim 16^th spot with Andre Waring two places further back in 18^th place.  Oscar Robinson would have been well pleased with his 31^st place.  He ran a very sensible race and passed many athletes the whole way.  James O’Connell completed our Premier Division team, placing 36^th.

Others to finish for our club (in Division 2) were  Peter Green, 39^th,  Michael Dowel, 43^rd, the evergreen John Meagher (56^th ) and winner of his age division and Welday Mebrahtu, 78^th.  Ed Doyle recorded 82^nd place in a strong run and Garth Calder was 96^th and second in his age category.

Josh De Stefanis placed 119^th, Michael Petridis was 121^st, Jackson Deane, 131^ST, Zac Hunter 160^TH, Peter Stefanos, 175^th, Chris O’Connor, 191^st, Nick Harper, 239^th, Robert Ashbridge, 252^nd, Simon St Hill, 308^th, and Andrew Tunne finished 338th.

Many athletes ran one to two minutes quicker than they did the previous year, which was a little surprising, because conditions were pleasant in 2016, although a little warmer.

Men’s results

Anticipated Division 1 team placings

1. Box Hill 116
2. Doncaster 141
3. Melbourne University 237
4. SSH 262

Women’s results