Home  >   News & Events  >   News Articles  >   Winter Race Reports  >   XCR Round 6 – Albert Park

XCR Round 6 – Albert Park

July 21, 2018

Full race report by Ian Sloane

On Sunday 22 July, the Victorian 10 kilometre road race was held at the Albert Park course selected by AV in very cool conditions.  It was very still, thirty minutes before the race, however, the wind started whistling across the waters of Albert Park Lake in time for the start of the race.

The junior race preceded the main event and Box Hill was represented in some of the age divisions and our younger athletes performed very creditably.

Carla Dreyer placed 18th in the under 16 female 3000 m race in 11:43.  Stella Crawford-Rust was 19th in the under 18 female 3000 m. race in 11:42.

In the junior male races, we had three competitors. Lachlan Doehmann ran superbly to take out the under 16 male race.  He ran strongly the whole way and ran the extremely fast time of 9:11, to win by just over as second in a tightly contested race.  This points to a very promising future in the sport.  Thomas Diamond, running in the same age group, also performed very creditably, to place 7th in the very respectable time of 9:38.

Kennedy Chen contested the under 18 male 10,000 m, coming 17th in 38:07.

Once the junior races were complete, the large field gathered at the start line awaiting the starter’s instructions.  Box Hill had a large male contingent and we finished five senior men’s teams (Division 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7) and three age divisions.  Athletics Victoria had offered some time incentives, with substantial prize money and the leaders looked like they wanted to have a crack at liberating this prize money.  There were 226 female finishers and 509 male finishers in the open division.

Very quickly after the runners were despatched, a group of around eight athletes broke clear from the field and it was quite apparent that the pace was on.

Eventual winner, Jack Rayner (WES), Nick Earl (MUNI), Matthew Clark (OXA), Charlie Park (MUNI), Collis Birmingham (EKA), Liam Adams (ESS) and Harry Summers (BH) were amongst the leading athletes at the five kilometre mark.  Harry had become slightly detached from the leaders but recovered his tempo to rejoin the group, which went through in 14:35.  There was a second larger pack which formed with about 24 athletes perhaps 25 to 30 seconds behind the leaders, and we had four athletes in this group: Andre Waring, Nick Baggott, Matt O’Donnell and Will Potter.  This group ran through the half way mark in around 15:13.  Just a little way behind these runners was Steve Dinneen who ran through the 5000 m mark in approximately 15:26.

We had a number of other runners who looked strong as well, up in the front end of the field.  Klarie McIntyre was running really strongly in about 35th position, closely followed by James O’Connell, who is starting to get back in to very competitive form, and Michael Dowel was perhaps 10 to 15 seconds behind them, in around 40th position. Barry Lynch was having a good hit-out too, There appeared to be only one other athlete in Barry’s age category ahead of him, which underscores how well he was going.  Josh de Stefanis and John Meagher were also in the top 100.  This promised well for strong team results in Division 1 and 2. However, in the top 20, there were two SSH athletes, three athletes from Melbourne University, two Western Athletics runners, two Geelong runners and three Box Hill Athletes.  This looked like it could be problematic for our team.

Julie Norney was the first placed Box Hill female athlete in the women’s race, where Sinead Diver had a commanding lead.  Rachel Johnson was also in the top hundred. We finished a female team placing 9th in the teams’ race.

The second half of the race saw the leading athletes dropped off, one by one, with Nick Earl being the first casualty, as Rayner cranked up the pace in running a negative split for the second half.  Rayner established a winning break near the end and claimed a time bonus award of $2,500 for breaking 29:00, crossing the finishing line in 28:52.  This was the fastest time on this course that the writer can recall. Matt Clarke ran an excellent race and finished second 15 seconds behind.  Liam Adams finished strongly to secure the bronze medal, some six seconds behind Clarke.  Collis Birmingham placed fourth a further eight second in arrears.  Harry Summers, our leading athlete in the race, exerted himself in the concluding stages, but, although narrowing the gap, was unable to overhaul Birmingham and placed fifth, just three seconds behind his opponent. Harry’s time of 29:24 was very slick and demonstrates that he is getting faster with every race.  This was an excellent result in a high quality field, and he was amongst multiple Australian team representatives, including Australian Olympic representatives.

There were four teams in contention for the teams’ race: Melbourne University, SSH, Western Athletics and Box Hill. A quick calculation at the half way mark suggested it was very tight, but Box Hill appeared to have a slight advantage in having six athletes in the top 35.  Have a look at the finish results to see what I mean about how close it was (http://athsvic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Round-6-All-Results.pdf).  I suggest that you be mindful that Ben Buckingham from SSH did not start and one of the SSH athletes pulled out mid-race, when he appeared to be in their scoring team.

Andre Waring had recovered from his illness and put in a very solid effort to finish 14th in 30:34.  Immediately behind him, also performing exceptionally well was Matt O’Donnell, who recorded 30:43, also a fine performance.  These two runners underpinned the excellent team result and deserve congratulations for the way in which they put absolutely everything into their performance, leaving no question unasked.

Just outside the top 20 another two SSH runners finished 21st and 22nd, and Box Hill’s Will Potter, 23rd (31:06) and Nick Baggott, 24th(31:08) were next across the line.  They both held out the fourth Melbourne University runner by a small margin, a crucial part of the team’s performance in a fine outcome. The 27th position was taken by a Western Aths athlete and the third Geelong athlete placed 28th.  Next over the line, and the final scoring Box Hill team member was the almost ageless Steve Dinneen, who placed 29th in a very smart time of 31:21.  When the arithmetic was completed, Box Hill had won the race provisionally by a narrow margin of 13 points from Melbourne University with SSH in third place.  This was an excellent result and takes us a little further ahead of SSH. A number of our other runners in other divisions and age categories also did extremely well.

Let’s start with Klarie McIntyre.  Klarie finished within sight of Steve Dinneen, in 33rd place, a great result.  He would have made the Division 1 team of every other club.  He is destined to continue to improve.  His time of 31:31 was his fastest ever in a road 10 k event.  He should be extremely proud of his effort on this day.

James O’Connell also showed substantial improvement to get back towards where he should be, in placing 38th, running 31:48.  This was a very encouraging sign and he looks certain to maintain this upward trajectory. This performance would also have made any other club’s Division 1 team.

Michael Dowel also had a good outing, running confidently along the whole course, placing 51st (32:18) which is definitely a step in the right direction.  If he can maintain his improvement, he will threaten for a position in the Division 1 team as well.  Barry Lynch, 60th, was also a great performer.  He placed second in his age division, beaten only by Brett Colman (Geelong), crossing the finish line in 32:46.

Josh de Stefanis would also have been well satisfied with his race.  He placed 82nd in recording the time of 33:41.  John Meagher made the top hundred too, finishing 97th in the time of 34:07, winning his age group by a substantial margin in a noteworthy effort. The performance of these runners enabled Box Hill to win Division 2 provisionally. Our Division 3 team placed third and the Division team 5 was second. Our Division 7 team was 7th. Box Hill won Division 1 from Melbourne University, with SSH in third place.

The 40 – 49 team was 7th. Our 50-59 teams were 1st and 4th respectively. John Meagher’s outstanding result was noted above, as was Barry Lynch’s second place result, and Garth Calder had a cracker of a race, winning the gold medal in his age division and running the extraordinary time of 36:10.  Chris O’Connor came 4th in his age category. Tony Langelaan was placed 7th in his age category, showing that we had a number of top performers in the age category divisions.

Sinead Diver (SME) led the women’s race from start to finish winning in the time of 33:04, but missing the AV time bonus.  Whitney Sharp (SSH) was second in 33:58, with Kiah Fry (FRA) third in 34:25. Two Box Hill athletes made the top 100, being Julie Norney, 41st in 38:36 and Rachel Johnson, 81st in 41:51.

Open Men’s Provisional 10 k results

  1. Jack RaynerWestern                   28:52
  2. Matthew ClarkeOX                          29:01
  3. Liam AdamsEssendon                29:13
  4. Collis BirminghamEureka                    29:21
  5. Harry Summers Box Hill                  29:24
  6. Charlie Park Melb. Uni               29:30
  7. Andre Waring Box Hill                  30:32
  8. Matt O’Donnell Box Hill                  30:43
  9. Will Potter Box Hill                  31:06
  10. Nick Baggott Box Hill                  31:08
  11. Steve Dinneen Box Hill                  31:21
  12. Klarie McIntyre Box Hill                  31:31
  13. James O’Connell Box Hill                  31:48
  14. Michael Dowel Box Hill                  32:18
  15. Barry Lynch Box Hill                  32:48 (2nd 40- 44)
  16. Josh de Stefanis Box Hill                  33:41
  17. John Meagher Box Hill                  23:07 (1st 50-54)
  18. Michael Vaughan Box Hill 35:41
  19. Aaron Shorter Box Hill 35:44
  20. Garth Calder Box Hill 36:10 (1st 55-59)
  21. Alex Ritchie Box Hill 36:44
  22. Michael Petridis Box Hill 36:23
  23. Luke Crozier Box Hill 37:06

228 Tony Langelaan                 Box Hill                  37:28

  1. Russell Clowes Box Hill 37:39
  2. Chris O’Connor Box Hill 37:44
  3. Peter Stefanos Box Hill 37:46
  4. Stephen Ross Box Hill 41:50
  5. David Dougan Box Hill 43:20
  6. Andrew Tunne Box Hill 53:43

 

Women’s 10 k Provisional results

  1. Sinead DiverSouth Melb.            33:02
  2. Whitney SharpeSSH                         33:58
  3. Kiah FryFrankston                34:25
  4. Julie Norney Box Hill                  38:36
  5. Rachel Johnson Box Hill                  41:51
  6. Kristine Hopkins Box Hill                 48:29
  7. Carolyn Fox Box Hill 50:26
  8. Belinda Dutton Box Hill 56:15

 

Under 16 female 3000 m

  1. Carla Dreyer Box Hill 11:43

 

Under 16 Male 3000 m.

  1. Lachlan Doehmann Box Hill                  9:11
  2. Thomas Diamond Box Hill                  9:38

 

Under 18 female 3000 m.

  1. Stella Crawford-Rust Box Hill 11:42

 

Under 18 male 10,000 m.

  1. Kennedy Chen Box Hill 38:07

 

Open Men’s Premier Division

  1. Box Hill 110
  2. Melbourne University123
  3. SSH143

Division 2

  1. Box Hill 360
  2. Ballarat362
  3. Melbourne University451

Division 3

  1. Box Hill

Division 5

  1. Melbourne University757
  2. Box Hill 828
  3. APS861

Division 7

  1. Box Hill

40-49 age category

  1. Box Hill

50-59

  1. Box Hill 15
  2. Waverley 27
  3. APS 56

 

Women’s Provisional team results

Division 1

  1. Box Hill

40 – 49

  1. Box Hill