August 12, 2017
Box Hill places third in Anglesea Ekiden Relay and wins the 50+ division
Box Hill AC was a bit depleted on Saturday at the Ekiden Relays at Anglesea with a number of runners unavailable or competing in the City to Surf race in Sydney. Weather conditions were unpleasant with a howling wind gusting at up to 80 knots or more. It was a miracle that Chris O’Connor managed to get the club tent in and secure it.
This event replaced the Coliban relays which were discontinued when AV formed the judgement that the course was too dangerous. The Geelong Region proposed that this Anglesea relay event replace the Coliban Relay. Each leg of this trail-type course is of a different length, with the longest leg run first and the shortest leg run last. The track through the scrub is narrow and it is difficult to get past an opponent. Some of the course is paved (especially around the start and finish).
The Division 2 race was the first to be despatched at 12.30 and there were another twelve starts to follow at five minute intervals.
We had a solid team in Division 1, but there were a few athletes missing. Melbourne University and SSH also were without key athletes, and Geelong and Knox surprised by getting excellent teams on the line, including athletes who have hardly been sighted this year, such as Jeff Riseley and Nick Wightman.
Division 1 was sent on its way at 12.40 and Essendon dashed to the lead, courtesy of a super-fast leg from Liam Adams (Essendon). Craig Appleby (Knox), Brenton Rowe (Geelong), Nick Earl (Melbourne University), and Mathew Johnsen (Doncaster) were also prominent, with our first runner, Will Potter completing his leg in sixth place, on Johnsen’s shoulder in a solid performance. The course, as attractive as it is, does not lend itself to spectators, and this report has limited detail about the changes that occurred in each leg. Box Hill was 82 seconds down on the race leaders. Competitive rival club, SSH had a modest first leg and were 21 seconds behind our team in seventh place.
Andre Waring, who has been performing exceptionally well this season ran a very competitive leg and claimed two places, bringing Box Hill into fourth position, 71 seconds behind Essendon, with Mitch Brown running their second leg. Harry Smithers piloted Geelong into second place, with James Hansen (Knox) 57 seconds ahead of our team. Zac Newman (Melb. Uni.) was 14 seconds behind our team. With Doncaster behind them in sixth place.
Sam Dipnall had been selected to run the third leg, and he performed soundly to maintain fourth position. At the conclusion of his leg Box Hill was 55 seconds behind Knox, in third position, behind leaders, Geelong, with Essendon holding second position Geelong was 45 seconds ahead of Essendon, with Knox 66 seconds in arrears of Essendon.
Our fourth competitor was Mitch Dyer, running in his last AV Winter race this year, before returning to the USA where he is studying. Mitch ran a dynamic leg and reduced the deficit to 29 seconds, behind third-placed Essendon, and it was obvious that their best runners had already competed, so we were confident that we could move into the bronze medal position in succeeding legs. Geelong, via Nick Wightman and Knox via Jeff Riseley were in first and second positions respectively. Riseley moved his team to within 10 seconds of Geelong. Essendon were just over two minutes behind Knox in third place, with Box Hill fourth.
Our fifth runner, James O’Connell, strode off purposefully chasing the Essendon athlete. The results suggest that he ran the fastest Division 1 fifth leg (apart from an errant time recorded for Doncaster where the recorder probably miscalculated the time). James moved past the Essendon athlete to get Box Hill into third place, an excellent effort, and he finished off very strongly, sprinting flat out to the changeover point. Knox had overtaken Geelong in this leg, claiming the lead by 28 seconds from Geelong with Box Hill a further one minute 44 down on second place. Essendon had slipped to fourth (73 seconds behind our team), ahead of SSH, fifth, and the University of Melbourne, sixth.
Nick Baggott had the shortest leg and was our last runner. He performed very creditably. With Knox and Geelong battling it out at the front, he moved Box Hill a little closer to the leaders, and really drew away from fourth position. Knox held off Geelong by 19 seconds to win the event, with Box Hill third. The Melbourne University runner, Matthew Scott, roared past SSH and Essendon to claim fourth position.
This outing was not our best effort, but a number of our runners performed extremely well, and the third place cements us at the top of the premiership table, with two events to go in the winter season. We have won five of the races, come second once and had two third placings. We do a solid buffer over all the other teams, however, we must not be complacent, and we have to aim to win at least one of the remaining events.
Our Division two team also went well, running across the line in fourth position. Alex Ritchie opened up and ran to the changeover point in third position, Michael Vaughan ran a very respectable leg to keep Box Hill in contention. Josh De Stefanis has been getting much fitter during the course of the winter season, and he ran a good leg. He handed over to Daniel Clark who has been returning to form this winter. Daniel was well-pleased with his efforts, as he should have been – he ran a really competitive time, one of the best of the day, and the second best in Division 2. These two legs lifted Box Hill into the pointy end of the field, as high as fourth. Russell Clowes also gave a good account of himself and maintained the team’s fourth position. It was really pleasing to see Matt O’Donnell competing again, after being lout with an injury. He anchored the team and crossed the line in fourth position. Matt has many good performances to come, and we all look forward to seeing his onward development and progress. Western Athletics were too strong ion this division and won by a long margin
Some of the provisional times did not equate when one added up the elapsed times for all the runners. Presumably AV will provide upgraded results and times.
Division 1 Team placings:
- Knox 2:27:20
- Geelong 2:27:39
- Box Hill 2:29:29
- Melbourne Uni 2:32:17
- Essendon 2:32:32
Division 1 times:
- Will Potter 33:45
- Andrew Waring 31:01
- Sam Dipnall 29:17
- Mitch Dyer 20:59
- James O’Connell 18:19
- Nick Baggott 15:56
Division 2 Team placings
- Western Athletics 2:33:39
- Frankston 2:37:48
- Old Xavier 2:38:59
- Box Hill 2:45:46
Division 2 times
- Alex Ritchie 36:29
- Michael Vaughan 34:41
- Josh de Stefanis 31:45
- Daniel Clark 21:24
- Russell Clowes 21:07
- Matt O’Donnell 20:20
Division 4 Team
- Box Hill 3:11:46
Division 4 times
- Nick Harper 45:06
- Jack Hill 42:38
- Joshua James 39:14
- Andrew Tunne 42:36
- Jonathon Harper 22:12
50 + team results
- Box Hill 1:35:01
- Ballarat 1:39:36
- Victorian Masters 1:42:21
Division 50 + times
- John Meagher 38:06
- Chris O’Connor 34:50
- Michael Eury 22:02
Women’s Division 1 results
- Glenhuntly
- Knox
- Western Athletics
7 Box Hill 2:36:55
Women’s times
- Steph Kondogonis 42:00
- Rhiannon Snipe 37:15
- Pia Hunter 26:49
- Chloe Rosenberg 25:34
- Megan Sloane 25:11