The Box Hill Athletic Club fielded a number of athletes at the 10 K road championship, held on Saturday 28th May at Sandown Race Course. Sandown racecourse, a 3.1 kilometre course, requires the runners to start the race 700 metres from the finish, with another three laps to complete after running through the finish the first time. This year the runners started from the bottom of the home straight, a change from 2004. This year, the unpleasant weather conditions returned with some rain, cold wind and overcast conditions prevailing.
Box Hill had its best senior representation for some time with 15 participants in the senior men’s race this year, and five entries in the senior women’s race. The women’s race preceded the men’s race. Harriet Hodgkinson was the first Box Hill athlete to compete in the under 16 3000 m. road race. She placed 15th in a reasonable time.
The women’s race, combined with two underage male races followed, and Box Hill was represented by Fiona Turner, Jess de Bruin, Amanda Harper, Megan Sloane, Inge Magher and Hayley Tomlinson. Michael Bourne ran in the Men’s under 20 10 K road race as well.
Fiona Turner, Jess de Bruin and Hayley Tomlinson were running side by side for the first lap with barely half a second separating them. Further back were Amanda Harper, Megan Sloane and Inge Maher. Hayley pulled out after about 5 K, when the weather conditions deteriorated to the worst of the afternoon, although this was not related to her decision. Fiona and Jess were our first and second athletes respectively at the end of the second lap, with Amanda Harper about 85 seconds behind them and Megan Sloane a further minute or so behind her.
Fiona Turner ran a strong last lap to place 26th, with Jess 33 seconds behind. Amanda Harper ran a good third lap to finish in 42nd position, with Megan Sloane, 7th in her age division, finishing 60th. Inge Magher completed the course in 88th position. These results were strong enough to snare 3rd place in Division 2.
Michael Bourne ran a solid race in the Under 20 division finishing 12th in the time of 37 m. 45, after improving his position in the first two laps.
Steve Moneghetti graced the starting line and was looking in very good form as the leading group ran through the finish line for the first time. Of great interest to Box Hill supporters was John Meagher’s tremendous start in the second bunch of leading athletes, followed by Barry Lynch and then a very large group of Box Hill athletes all running in close proximity to each other. This group consisted of Simon Watson, Alan Craigie, Adrian Vincent, Steve Dineen, Daniel Clark and Andrew White. Buried in another group, eluding the gaze of the writer in the first lap, was Graeme Olden, not long after, and he was followed by Paul Boxshall.
John Meagher ran through at the end of the first lap, approximately 16th looking strong. The other athletes were holding their respective positions more or less in the same order that they had been in one lap down. Leading the field were Shane Nankervis, BYCW, Richard Jeremiah (running for Melbourne University, rather than Geelong), Scott Rantall, Geelong, Steve Moneghetti, BYCW, Simon Field, St Kevins, David Ruschina, GH, and Nick Harrison, GH. Former Box Hill member, Julian Dwyer was at the rear of the leading group in around tenth position.
Glen Huntly looked to be leading in the teams’ race at the end of the first, with a number of athletes in the top 30, although only two in the first 10. Box Hill appeared to be in second or third position in Division 1 and probably in the lead in Division 4, although this was much more difficult to calculate.
After the completion of the second lap, several runners had detached from the leading group, unable to maintain the pace. The leading group had reduced to eight or nine athletes with Nankervis leading from Moneghetti in 20 m. 36, with Jeremiah in third place. John Meagher was approximately 48 seconds behind the leaders, but running strongly, in 16th position. Barry Lynch was holding his race together well, and there was a large Box Hill contingent (Simon Watson, Alan Craigie, Adrian Vincent, and Steve Dineen)in the high twenties to the high thirties. Daniel Clark and Andrew White had drifted back from their team mates but were both running impressively perhaps 30 seconds down, whilst Graeme Olden was a little over a minute down on Andrew White. Very shortly after Paul Boxshall came into view. John Vaitkunas was running solidly. Chris Wall and Jamie Strudley were separated by 20 seconds or so, with Gary Strudley and Scott Jackson completing our contingent.
Steve Moneghetti’s final lap was a strong one and he ran clear of all the other competitors to record yet another win in the time of 29 m. 38 followed by Scott Rantall and Richard Jeremiah. Glen Huntly athletes clearly had the teams’ race sewn up, but Box Hill was extremely competitive in finishing 2nd, a great performance. John Meagher contributed significantly by placing 17th in the respectable time of 31 m.11. Barry Lynch was only five places being in 22nd in one of his best road performances ever. Recently joined member Simon Watson surged ahead of other members of the group to place 32nd, with, Adrian Vincent 34th, Steve Dineen 36th and Alan Craigie 37th. Daniel Clark appeared not long after to claim 46th position and Andrew White was three seconds behind in 48th position. Graeme Olden, 74th, was followed by Paul Boxshall, 86th. John Vaitkunas placed 171st. Full results appear below.
The Division 4 team excelled and clearly won the pennant, and our section 7 team was also very competitive placing equal second.
Leading Open Men’s 10 K Road Performances
1. Steve Moneghetti BYCW 29:38 2. Scott Rantall Geel 29:41 3. Richard Jeremiah M Uni 29:48 4. Shane Nankervis BYCW 29:56 5. Nick Harrison G H 30:02 6. Simon Field St.K 30:12 7. David Ruschena G H 30:35 8. Rowan Walker Geel 30:36
Box Hill Performances
Open Men 17. John Meagher 31:12 22. Barry Lynch 31:53 32. Simon Watson 32:19 34. Adrian Vincent 32:30 36. Steve Dineen 32:40 37. Alan Craigie 32:44 46. Daniel Clark 33:15 48. Andrew White 33:18 74. Graeme Olden 34:20 86. Paul Boxshall 34:53 171. John Vaitkunas 37:13 257. Chris Wall 39:48 262. Jamie Strudley 39:58 309. Gary Strudley 42:32 334. Scott Jackson 44:25 Teams Division 1 1. Glen Huntly 124 2. Box Hill 172 3. Ballarat YCW 179 4. Melbourne Uni 292 5. Geelong 295 6. APS 559 Division 4 1. Box Hill 2 408 2. Melb Uni 2 716 3. Ballarat YCW 2 733 Division 7 1. Mentone 2 985 =2. Box Hill 3 1110 =2. Collingwood 1110 Under 20 12. Michael Bourne 37:25
Women’s Performances
Open Women 26. Fiona Turner 39:50 29. Jessica De Bruin 40:23 42. Amanda Harper 42:07 60. Megan Sloane 44:39 88. Inge Magher 52:06 3k Under 16 15. Harriet Hodgkinson 11:20
