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2016 Winter Bulletin No. 21

August 25, 2016

TRIVIA NIGHT THIS SATURDAY NIGHT!

Have you booked yet? It’s still not too late! Let us know as soon as possible if you are planning to come, we have room for one more table and there are a couple of free spots on tables that are already booked.

All members and friends are encouraged to come along and have a great night supporting the Club.

Where: Upstairs at the clubrooms

When: This Saturday, August 27

Time: 7:00pm (questions from 7:30pm)

Cost: $20

BYO drinks and munchies!

 

We are still accepting silent auction items, so let us know as soon as possible if you have items to donate.

 

BURNLEY HALF MARATHON ON SEPTEMBER 4

Round 9 of the XCR’16 season will be the Burnley half marathon (and 6km junior race) to be held on Sunday morning, September 4. If you do not have a season’s entry, please enter as soon as possible as entries close soon. After a poor team performance in this event last year we are determined to get a better result this time.

 

DION 3RD AT SUNSHINE COAST MARATHON

Congratulations to Dion Finocchiaro who continued his outstanding form by finishing 3rd in the Sunshine Coast Marathon last weekend. Dion ran 2:27:25 which was 1:36 faster than his time in 2015 when he finished 2nd.

 

NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Results from the Australian cross country champion ships in Canberra.

Men Open:

Nick Baggott   20th

James O’Connell 29th

(Daniel Balassone running for NSW 36th)

Men Under 18:

Scott McKenzie 20th

Men Under 16:

Kieren Hesse 63rd

Women Under 16:

Amy Atkinson 45th

Men Under 14:

Mac Anderson 10th

Women Under 14

Ashlea Treagus 39th

Men Under 13:

Thomas Diamond 6th

 

 

HAVE YOU LOST SOMETHING?

There is a great amount of lost property in the club rooms kept under the stairs. We are planning a clean out of this lost property. So if there is a possibility that some of it may be yours, please check as soon as possible as it is likely to soon disappear!

  

 

SUMMER IS COMING!

It might be hard to believe while training through a Melbourne winter, but the summer track and field season is not far off.

The Athletics Victoria Summer Calendar has just been released.

October 8, Saturday, Shield Round 1

October 15, Saturday, Shield Round 2

October 22, Saturday, Shield Round 3 (zone v zone)

October 29, Saturday, Shield Round 4

November 4-6 All schools championships

November 12, Saturday, Shield Round 5

November 20, Sunday, Shield Round 6

November 26, Saturday, Victorian Relay Championships

December 3, Saturday, Shield Round 7

December 8, Thursday, Zatopek 10

December 10, Saturday, Shield Round 8 (zone v zone)

December 15, Thursday, Shield Round 9

January 7, Saturday, Shield Round 10

January 14, Saturday, Shield Round 11 (zone v zone)

January 21, Saturday, Shield Round 12

January 26-28, Country Championships

February 4-5, Multi Event Championships

February 11, Saturday, SHIELD FINAL

February 24-26, Victorian Open and Junior Championships

March 3-5, Victorian Open and Junior Championships

 

 

ARE YOU REGISTERED?

Remember that to train at the track you need to be a registered member (or have paid a training fee). If you have not registered for the 2016/17 athletics year, we encourage you to do so now. Your registration is valid until April 1 next year. Register online via the AV website.

 

2016 Winter Bulletin No. 20

August 19, 2016

TRIVIA NIGHT! TRIVIA NIGHT! TRIVIA NIGHT!

Have you booked yet?

The annual Box Hill Trivia night is just over 1 weeks away!

We urge all members and friends to come along and have a great night supporting the Club.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you are planning to attend.

Where: Upstairs at the clubrooms

When: Saturday, August 27

Time: 7:00pm (questions from 7:30pm)

Cost: $20

 

Also let us know if you can donate any items for the silent auction.

 

BURNLEY HALF MARATHON ON SEPTEMBER 4

Round 9 of the XCR’16 season will be the Burnley half marathon (and 6km junior race) to be held on Sunday morning, September 4.

 

ZOE MAKES THE SEMI FINAL IN RIO

Congratulations to Zoe Buckman who performed so well in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Zoe finished 6th in her heat in a time of 4:06.93 to progress to the semi-finals. In a very rough semi-final Zoe ran 4:06.95 to finish 9th and just miss out on making the final.

 

BOX HILL AT THE CITY TO SURF

Box Hill runners put in some outstanding performances in the 14km Sydney City to Surf event last weekend.

Steve Dinneen, Peter Green and James O’Connell finished 5th, 7th and 8th respectively out of more than 67,000 finishers.

Other great performances came from Scott McKenzie who finished in 69th place and was the 4th under 20 across the line and from John Meagher (71st overall) and Julie Norney (12th women) who both won their age group divisions.

 

GOOD LUCK AND NATIONALS

Good luck to all Box Hill athletes who are competing in Canberra at the national cross country championships this Saturday

 

SUMMER IS COMING!

IT might be hard to believe while training through a Melbourne winter, but the summer track and field season is not far off.

The Athletics Victoria Summer Calendar has just been released.

October 8, Saturday, Shield Round 1

October 15, Saturday, Shield Round 2

October 22, Saturday, Shield Round 3 (zone v zone)

October 29, Saturday, Shield Round 4

November 4-6 All schools championships

November 12, Saturday, Shield Round 5

November 20, Sunday, Shield Round 6

November 26, Saturday, Victorian Relay Championships

December 3, Saturday, Shield Round 7

December 8, Thursday, Zatopek 10

December 10, Saturday, Shield Round 8 (zone v zone)

December 15, Thursday, Shield Round 9

January 7, Saturday, Shield Round 10

January 14, Saturday, Shield Round 11 (zone v zone)

January 21, Saturday, Shield Round 12

January 26-28, Country Championships

February 4-5, Multi Event Championships

February 11, Saturday, SHIELD FINAL

February 24-26, Victorian Open and Junior Championships

March 3-5, Victorian Open and Junior Championships

 

 

 

ARE YOU REGISTERED?

Remember that to train at the track you need to be a registered member (or have paid a training fee). If you have not registered for the 2016/17 athletics year, we encourage you to do so now. Your registration is valid until April 1 next year. Register online via the AV website.

2016 Winter Bulletin No. 19

August 9, 2016

TRIVIA NIGHT! TRIVIA NIGHT! TRIVIA NIGHT!

Have you booked yet?

The annual Box Hill Trivia night is just over 2 weeks away!

We urge all members and friends to come along and have a great night supporting the Club.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you are planning to attend.

Where: Upstairs at the clubrooms

When: Saturday, August 27

Time: 7:00pm (questions from 7:30pm)

Cost: $20

 

Also let us know if you can donate any items for the silent auction.

 

BURNLEY HALF MARATHON ON SEPTEMBER 4

Round 9 of the XCR’16 season will be the Burnley half marathon (and 6km junior race) to be held on Sunday morning, September 4.

 

ANGLESEA EKIDEN RELAY RESULTS

The XCR’16 season has been a very successful one for the Club so far, but we had many of our runners unavailable for the Ekiden relay at Anglesea on the weekend. Although not achieving the sorts of results that became routine in the early rounds this season, there were still some good performances over the rough hilly tracks.

Notably our men’s under 20 team of Alex Ritchie, Lucas Pamminger and Carlos Norman won a silver medal, while our men’s premier division team and men’s over 50 team both finished in 4th position, just a few seconds out of the medals.

It was also great to see the return of Daniel Clark and Mitch Dyer to the team and Georgia Griffith running extremely well in her first race of the winter season.

Special thanks to Megan Sloane and to Conor Yung and Zac Hunter who helped with officiating and to Kirsty Ritchie and Bert Pelgrim, who along with Ian Sloane helped with timekeeping.

Results (note that a last minute course change means that runners covered at least 300m more than the designated distance)

Men Premier Division          4th

  1. Nick Baggott           34:22   9.8km
  2. Peter Green             32:34   8.8km
  3. James O’Connell    28:58   7.9km
  4. Mitch Dyer              21:13   6.0km
  5. Andre Waring         18:01   5.2km
  6. Daniel Clark            16:30   4.6km

 

Men Division 2                    9th

  1. Zac Hunter              39:34   9.8km
  2. Michael Vaughan    34:49   8.8km
  3. Michael Dowel       32:26   7.9km
  4. David Jiminez         25:03   6.0km
  5. Andrew Hester        21:44   5.2km
  6. Conor Yung            20:08   4.6km

 

Men Division 4                      DNF

  1. Ron Ashbridge        42:07   9.8km
  2. Jack Prendergast     40:06   8.8km
  3. Bill Dyer                 41:13   7.9km
  4. Andrew Tunne        34:52   6.0km

 

Men Over 50                         4th

  1. Peter Stefanos         42:30   9.8km
  2. Chris O’Connor      36:13   7.9km
  3. Simon St. Hill         25:45   5.2km

 

Men Under 20                       2nd

  1. Alex Ritchie            32:18   8.8km
  2. Lucas Pamminger   31:57   7.9km
  3. Carlos Norman        23:57   6.0km

 

Women Premier Division     7th

  1. Amy Carrig             45:11   9.8km
  2. June Petrie              39:35   8.8km
  3. Georgia Griffith      24:25   6.0km
  4. Pia Hunter               23:31   5.2km
  5. Kerry Putt               25:31   4.6km

 

 

KLARIE AND DION SCORE IMPRESSIVE WINS

Klarie McIntyre ran and impressive 11 minute PB to win the Brisbane marathon by 3 minutes in a time of 2:35:28. Congratulations to Klarie on this terrific performance.

Meanwhile in Sydney, Dion Finocchiaro has won the Centennial Park Ultra, 50km event in a time of 3:07:05.

These are two great results from the Box Hill distance running team!

SUMMER IS COMING!

IT might be hard to believe while training through a Melbourne winter, but the summer track and field season is not far off.

The Athletics Victoria Summer Calendar has just been released.

October 8, Saturday, Shield Round 1

October 15, Saturday, Shield Round 2

October 22, Saturday, Shield Round 3 (zone v zone)

October 29, Saturday, Shield Round 4

November 4-6 All schools championships

November 12, Saturday, Shield Round 5

November 20, Sunday, Shield Round 6

November 26, Saturday, Victorian Relay Championships

December 3, Saturday, Shield Round 7

December 8, Thursday, Zatopek 10

December 10, Saturday, Shield Round 8 (zone v zone)

December 15, Thursday, Shield Round 9

January 7, Saturday, Shield Round 10

January 14, Saturday, Shield Round 11 (zone v zone)

January 21, Saturday, Shield Round 12

January 26-28, Country Championships

February 4-5, Multi Event Championships

February 11, Saturday, SHIELD FINAL

February 24-26, Victorian Open and Junior Championships

March 3-5, Victorian Open and Junior Championships

 

ARE YOU REGISTERED?

Remember that to train at the track you need to be a registered member (or have paid a training fee). If you have not registered for the 2016/17 athletics year, we encourage you to do so now. Your registration is valid until April 1 next year. Register online via the AV website.

Anglesea Ekiden Relays, 6 August 2016

August 6, 2016

The XCR’16 season has been a very successful one for the Club so far, but we had many of our runners unavailable for the Ekiden relay at Anglesea on the weekend. Although not achieving the sorts of results that became routine in the early rounds this season, there were still some good performances over the rough hilly tracks.

Notably our men’s under 20 team of Alex Ritchie, Lucas Pamminger and Carlos Norman won a silver medal, while our men’s premier division team and men’s over 50 team both finished in 4th position, just a few seconds out of the medals.

It was also great to see the return of Daniel Clark and Mitch Dyer to the team and Georgia Griffith running extremely well in her first race of the winter season.

Special thanks to Megan Sloane and to Conor Yung and Zac Hunter who helped with officiating and to Kirsty Ritchie and Bert Pelgrim, who along with Ian Sloane helped with timekeeping.

Results (note that a last minute course change means that runners covered at least 300m more than the designated distance)

Men Premier Division          4th

  1. Nick Baggott           34:22   9.8km
  2. Peter Green             32:34   8.8km
  3. James O’Connell    28:58   7.9km
  4. Mitch Dyer              21:13   6.0km
  5. Andre Waring         18:01   5.2km
  6. Daniel Clark            16:30   4.6km

 

Men Division 2                    9th

  1. Zac Hunter              39:34   9.8km
  2. Michael Vaughan    34:49   8.8km
  3. Michael Dowel       32:26   7.9km
  4. David Jiminez         25:03   6.0km
  5. Andrew Hester        21:44   5.2km
  6. Conor Yung            20:08   4.6km

 

Men Division 4                      DNF

  1. Ron Ashbridge        42:07   9.8km
  2. Jack Prendergast     40:06   8.8km
  3. Bill Dyer                 41:13   7.9km
  4. Andrew Tunne        34:52   6.0km

 

Men Over 50                         4th

  1. Peter Stefanos         42:30   9.8km
  2. Chris O’Connor      36:13   7.9km
  3. Simon St. Hill         25:45   5.2km

 

Men Under 20                       2nd

  1. Alex Ritchie            32:18   8.8km
  2. Lucas Pamminger   31:57   7.9km
  3. Carlos Norman        23:57   6.0km

 

Women Premier Division     7th

  1. Amy Carrig             45:11   9.8km
  2. June Petrie              39:35   8.8km
  3. Georgia Griffith      24:25   6.0km
  4. Pia Hunter               23:31   5.2km
  5. Kerry Putt               25:31   4.6km

 

2016 Winter Bulletin No. 17

July 26, 2016

TRIVIA NIGHT – BOOK NOW!

The annual Box Hill Athletic Club Trivia Night will, this year, be held at the club rooms on Saturday, August 27.

BOOK NOW: you can book a table of 6 – 8 people or book just for yourself and we will organise a table for you. Book now by reply email and then pay $20 entry fee on the night. All members, friends and families are welcome.

DONATIONS: can you donate items for the silent auction? Or can you contact local shops or services to donate something? Please let us know!

CAN YOU HELP?: we are happy to hear from anyone who can help us organise and coordinate the Trivia Night. Let us know if you would like to get involved.

DON’T MISS OUT! BOOK NOW!

 

 

ZOE IS OFF TO RIO!

Congratulations to new Box Hill member, Zoe Buckman, who has been selected to run for Australia in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. This will be the second Olympics for Zoe, who also ran in the 1500m at the London Olympics four years ago.

Let’s hope that Zoe can have a successful Olympic campaign.

 

 

RESULTS FROM BYDGOSZCZ!

Congratulations to Georgia Hansen, Sarah Billings, Kathryn Brooks and Nana Owusu-Afriyie who all performed creditably at the world junior championships in Poland. Sarah Billings ran 2:06.13 to place 3rd in her heat of the 800m and progressed to the semi final, where she ran 2:06.86 to be ranked 14th overall. Georgia Hansen ran 2:09.51 in her 800m heat to miss out qualifying for the semi-finals by just 0.57s. After an injury plagued preparation, Kathryn Brooks threw well in the javelin to finish 16th with a distance of 50.54m. Nana Owusu-Afriyie was a part of the 4x100m relay team that finished 7th in the final in a time of 45.15. We are sure that all of these athletes will have benefited greatly from this experience and go onto even greater things in the future.

 

 

ANGLESEA EKIDEN RELAY ON SATURDAY WEEK, AUGUST 6

Round 8 of the XCR’16 season will be the Anglesea Ekiden Relay on Saturday, August 6, starting at 12:30pm.

Please let us know if you are available for this event as the club must enter teams by Monday. We are hoping to enter teams in all age groups.

2016 Winter Bulletin No. 16

July 19, 2016

TRIVIA NIGHT – BOOK NOW!

The annual Box Hill Athletic Club Trivia Night will, this year, be held at the club rooms on Saturday, August 27.

BOOK NOW: you can book a table of 6 – 8 people or book just for yourself and we will organise a table for you. Book now by reply email and then pay $20 entry fee on the night. All members, friends and families are welcome.

DONATIONS: can you donate items for the silent auction? Or can you contact local shops or services to donate something? please let us know!

CAN YOU HELP?: we are happy to hear from anyone who can help us organise and coordinate the Trivia Night. Let us know if you would like to get involved.

DON’T MISS OUT! BOOK NOW!

 

 

GOOD LUCK AT WORLD JUNIORS!

Good luck and best wishes to Georgia Hansen, Sarah Billings, Kathryn Brooks and Nana Owusu-Afriyie who will be representing Australia in the World Under 20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, this week. Let’s hope that they can all perform at their best and can produce some pleasing results.

 

 

ANGLESEA EKIDEN RELAY ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 6

Round 8 of the XCR’16 season will be the Anglesea Ekiden Relay on Saturday, August 6.

Please let us know if you are available for this event. We are hoping to enter teams in all age groups.

 

 

MEDALS TO O’DONNELL AND MCKENZIE AS BOX HILL’S WINNING STREAK COMES TO AN END

Box Hill failed to make is seven wins from seven events in the men’s premier division of XCR’16, finishing second behind MUAC for the first time this year.

It was nevertheless a good performance from our team that was not at full strength.

Box Hill also had some great results in the junior events, with Matt O’Donnell winning a bronze medal in the U20 division and Scott McKenzie picking up a bronze in the U18s.

See below for Ian Sloane’s full report.

Results:

Men Premier Division

11 James O’Connell    31:12.5

13 Steve Dinneen        31:38

16 Peter Green            31:42.2

19 Nicholas Baggott   31:46.8

24 Andre Waring        31:59.5

35 Klarie McIntyre     32:33.9

Men Division 2

35 Dion Finocchiaro   32:49.8

45 Chris Bradford       33:09.2            (2nd 40-44)

49 Zac Hunter             33:28.5

58 John Meagher        33:56.6            (1st 50-54)

73 Welday Mebrahtu 34:47.0

87 David Jimenez       35:10.1

Men Division 4

121 Edward Doyle      36:12

148 Garth Calder        37:08.7            (9th 50-54)

156 Andrew Hester     37:19.7

158 Jackson Deane     37:20.2

167 Tony Langelaan   37:29.1            (7th 45-49)

Men Divison 6

173 Luke Crozier        37:43.0

196 Peter Stefanos      38:40.0            (16th 50-54)

218 Chris O’Connor    39:31.1            (4th 55-59)

245 Robert Ashbridge 40:20.7

Men Division 7

278 Jack Hill               41:47.4

347 Simon St Hill       45:00.8            (50th 50-54)

Under 20 Men

3 Matt O’Donnell        32:08.3

9 Alex Ritchie             33:32.5

21 Carlos Norman       37:06.2

Under 18 Men

3 Scott McKenzie       33:30.5

8 Lucas Pamminger    36:46.3

Women Premier Division

14 Julie Norney          36:49.4            (1st 45-49)

35 Georgie Meehan    39:02.8

66 Pia Hunter              41:20.9            (2nd 45-49)

85 Amanda Harper     42:29.0            (4th 45-49)

120 Rachel Johnson    44:26.4

Women Division 2

160 Kerry Putt            47:55.0            (17th 45-49)

Under 20 Women – 3km

10 Jess Muirden          12:15?

12 Chloe Rosenberg    12:37.6

 

 

LOOKING FOR A HOST FAMILY

A 16 year old German athlete on a student exchange is looking for a host family. His English is good and he competes in sprints and jumps. If anyone is interested, let us know and we will pass on more details.

 

 

Victorian 10 K Road Championship Albert Park Lakeside 17 July, 2016

Another clear day on the winter calendar, but with a buffeting wind and low temperature to compensate. The women’s race was run separately from the men’s race due to safety concerns, and the men’s race and under 20 races, combined, were despatched at 8.30 a.m. Box Hill was hoping for a continuation of its winning streak, but, unfortunately, that was not to be.

There were well over four hundred open age competitors (nearly 425 runners), 26 under 20 athletes and 18 under 18 competitors lining up at the start of the men’s races. Box Hill had 22 open-age and over-age group competitors and 5 athletes competing in the underage races.

The course consists of the start, followed by a two out and back loop of around four kilometres each and then the sprint to the finish with the last 250 metres being run on the Lakeside track. It’s essential to wear a timing chip or the athlete faces disqualification.

The race commenced and a small group of six athletes immediately detached itself from the rest of the field.  This group consisted of Liam Adams (Essendon), shortly to represent Australia in the Olympic Marathon, Mitchel Brown (Essendon), Nick Earl (Melbourne University), Nick Whiteman (Geelong), Jordan Nelson (Knox) and Tim Norton (Ringwood).  The next time the athletes were visible, Liam Adams was exerting pressure on the other leaders and went clear near the five kilometre mark.  Box Hill had five athletes near the front, being James O’Connell, ninth, Steve Dinneen, 11th, Peter Green 16th Andre Waring, 26th, and Nick Baggott, 27th. After another six or seven hundred metres as they commenced their second loop James, Steve and Peter held the same positions, Andre had moved up to 23rd and Nick moved to 21st. Klarie McIntyre and Dion Finocchiaro were also running strongly a little further back, quite close to each other.  Chris Bradford was also going exceptionally well, probably his best race for the winter. So was Zac Hunter, who seems to have been improving with every race for the season.  Also in the top 100 were John Meagher, Welday Mebrahtu and David Jimenez. Three of our under age athletes were running exceptionally well and mixing it with the seniors: Matt O’Donnell, following his triumph at Sandown the previous week, was in a really good position, around 30th, it appeared, and Alex Ritchie also in the under 20 race, was around 55th.  They were both moving extremely well.  Equally as pleasing, was that Scott McKenzie, running in the under 18 race, was also doing extremely well, also in the low fifties overall. .

Liam Adams opened up a very large gap during the second loop and was over 20 seconds ahead of Mitch Brown as he ran through on to the track towards the finish. Mitch was clear of Nick Wightman by around eight seconds. Nick Earl lead in the University team, fourth, five seconds back, and Tim Norton finished firth, another 25 seconds later.  Our runners then started arriving, with James O’Connell first in in 11th place. Steve Dinneen followed in 13th position.  Peter Green picked up another spot in the last loop to place 16th.  Andre Waring came in 24tt, followed by Klarie McIntyre 36th, which completed the Division 1 team.

Melbourne University had runners placing 4th, 7th, 15th, 17th, 27th and 29th, so they beat our team by 19 points.  They have really been performing well this year, and deserved their win.  We are confident that we have placed second, with SSH in third place.  So our run of unbroken victories this year concluded at Albert Park.  It appears that Frankston and Knox may not have finished a team.  We are clearly leading the Premier Division Championship this year and with only three events left, we are in a very strong position.  We have great depth this year and our athletes are running PBs most times that they compete.

Our Division 2 team also appears to have finished second, behind Essendon.  Dion Finocchiaro was 36th, followed by Chris Bradford, who ran a very impressive 46th (winning the silver medal in the 40 – 44 age group), and only just behind the winner, Brett Coleman of Geelong) and Zac Hunter who was 50th.  John Meagher placed 59th and he also won the gold medal for the 50 – 54 age group. The other team members were Welday Mebrahtu, 74th and David Jimenez, 88th.

In the under 20 race, Matt O’Donnell ran home really well and crossed the line in the bronze medal position, a tremendous result.  Congratulations Matt.  You are having a really excellent winter season and improving at every outing. Alex Ritchie also impressed again and made a top ten position, finishing 9th. This was an excellent effort also.  And Carlos Norman rounded out the team finishing 21st.  We believe that Box Hill won the silver medal in the team’s race behind Western Athletics.

The under 18 men’s race also produced a bronze medal result for Box Hill.  Scott McKenzie ran extremely well at Sandown last week, with one of the fastest performances in his age group.  This week, he ran really impressively with a very fast time and won third place. Well done Scott – a very fine effort.  Lucas Pamminger also did well, placing 8th in the same race.

Box Hill had six senior women on the course for the women’s race. This race produced a great duel between Virginia Moloney (Collingwood) and Sinead Diver (South Melbourne), with Moloney eventually prevailing by a slender margin.  Third place was taken by Tarli Bird (Glenhuntly).  Julie Norney ran extremely well and took 14th place. Georgie Meehan was 35th, Pia Hunter ran solidly to claim 66th position.  Amanda Harper claimed 85th, Rachel Johnson finished 120th and Kerry Putt came 160th.  There were 226 finishers in this race.

We had two under 20 female competitors in the 3 k road championship: Jess Muirden who finished approximately 10th, but was omitted from the provisional results, and Chloe Rosenberg who finished 12th.

 

Individual placings and times men’s 10 k road

  1. Liam Adams                       Essendon              29:48
  2. Mitchel Brown                   Essendon              30:21
  3. Nick Wightman                  Geelong               30:23
  4. Nick Earl                            Melb Uni              30:28
  5. Tim Norton                        Ringwood            30:51
  6.   James O’Connell            Box Hill               31:12
  7.   Steve Dinneen                  Box Hill               31.38
  8. Peter Green                     Box Hill               31:42
  9.   Nick Baggott                    Box Hill               31:46
  10. Andre Waring                 Box Hill               31:59
  11. Klarie McIntyre              Box Hill               32:33
  12.   Dion Finocchiaro            Box Hill               32:49
  13.   Chris Bradford                Box Hill               33:09
  14. Zac Hunter                      Box Hill               33:28
  15. John Meagher                 Box Hill               33:56
  16. Welday Mebrahtu          Box Hill               34:47
  17.   David Jimenez                 Box Hill               35:10
  18. Ed Doyle                           Box Hill              36:12
  19. Garth Calder                   Box Hill               37:08
  20. Andrew Hester                Box Hill               37:19
  21. Jackson Deane                 Box Hill               37:20
  22. Tony Langelaan              Box Hill               37:29
  23. Luke Crozier                   Box Hill               37:43
  24. Peter Stefanos                 Box Hill               38:40
  25. Chris O’Connor              Box Hill               39:31
  26. Rob Ashbridge                Box Hill               40:27
  27. Jack Hill                           Box Hill               41:47
  28. Simon St Hill                   Box Hill               45:00

 

Premier Division team placings (provisional)

  1. Melbourne University       99
  2. Box Hill                              116
  3. SSH                                   168
  4. Geelong                             214
  5. APS                                   352
  6. Doncaster                          455
  7. Collingwood                      460
  8. Glenhuntly                         552

 

Under 20 men 10 k road

  1. Liam Cashin                       Western Aths       31:52
  2. Cassidy Shaw                     Geelong               31:59
  3. Matt O’Donnell                Box Hill               32:08
  4. Alex Ritchie                     Box Hill               33:32
  5. Carlos Norman               Box Hill               37:06

Box Hill second

 

Under 18 men 10 k road

  1. William Ockenden             Glenhuntly           32:36
  2. Callen Goldsmith               Mornington         32:56
  3. Scott McKenzie                Box Hill               33:30
  4. Lucas Pamminger          Box Hill               36:46

 

Women’s placings and times 10 k road

  1. Virginia Moloney              Collingwood        33:53
  2. Sinead Diver                      Sth Melbourne     34:00
  3. Tarli Bird                            Glenhuntly           34:39
  4. Julie Norney                    Box Hill               36:49
  5. Georgie Meehan               Box Hill              39:02
  6. Pia Hunter                       Box Hill               41:20
  7. Amanda Harper             Box Hill               42:29
  8. Rachel Johnson               Box Hill               44:26
  9. Kerry Putt                       Box Hill               47:55

 

Under 20 women 3k road

      10? Jess Muirden                    Box Hill               Timing chip malfunction

  1. Chloe Rosenberg               Box Hill               12:37

Sunday 17 July 2016 – Albert Park Road Races

July 17, 2016

Box Hill failed to make is seven wins from seven events in the men’s premier division of XCR’16, finishing second behind MUAC for the first time this year.

It was nevertheless a good performance from our team that was not at full strength.

Box Hill also had some great results in the junior events, with Matt O’Donnell winning a bronze medal in the U20 division and Scott McKenzie picking up a bronze in the U18s.

Another clear day on the winter calendar, but with a buffeting wind and low temperature to compensate. The women’s race was run separately from the men’s race due to safety concerns, and the men’s race and under 20 races, combined, were despatched at 8.30 a.m. Box Hill was hoping for a continuation of its winning streak, but, unfortunately, that was not to be.

There were well over four hundred open age competitors (nearly 425 runners), 26 under 20 athletes and 18 under 18 competitors lining up at the start of the men’s races. Box Hill had 22 open-age and over-age group competitors and 5 athletes competing in the underage races.

The course consists of the start, followed by a two out and back loop of around four kilometres each and then the sprint to the finish with the last 250 metres being run on the Lakeside track. It’s essential to wear a timing chip or the athlete faces disqualification.

The race commenced and a small group of six athletes immediately detached itself from the rest of the field.  This group consisted of Liam Adams (Essendon), shortly to represent Australia in the Olympic Marathon, Mitchel Brown (Essendon), Nick Earl (Melbourne University), Nick Whiteman (Geelong), Jordan Nelson (Knox) and Tim Norton (Ringwood).  The next time the athletes were visible, Liam Adams was exerting pressure on the other leaders and went clear near the five kilometre mark.  Box Hill had five athletes near the front, being James O’Connell, ninth, Steve Dinneen, 11th, Peter Green 16th Andre Waring, 26th, and Nick Baggott, 27th. After another six or seven hundred metres as they commenced their second loop James, Steve and Peter held the same positions, Andre had moved up to 23rd and Nick moved to 21st. Klarie McIntyre and Dion Finocchiaro were also running strongly a little further back, quite close to each other.  Chris Bradford was also going exceptionally well, probably his best race for the winter. So was Zac Hunter, who seems to have been improving with every race for the season.  Also in the top 100 were John Meagher, Welday Mebrahtu and David Jimenez. Three of our under age athletes were running exceptionally well and mixing it with the seniors: Matt O’Donnell, following his triumph at Sandown the previous week, was in a really good position, around 30th, it appeared, and Alex Ritchie also in the under 20 race, was around 55th.  They were both moving extremely well.  Equally as pleasing, was that Scott McKenzie, running in the under 18 race, was also doing extremely well, also in the low fifties overall. .

Liam Adams opened up a very large gap during the second loop and was over 20 seconds ahead of Mitch Brown as he ran through on to the track towards the finish. Mitch was clear of Nick Wightman by around eight seconds. Nick Earl lead in the University team, fourth, five seconds back, and Tim Norton finished firth, another 25 seconds later.  Our runners then started arriving, with James O’Connell first in in 11th place. Steve Dinneen followed in 13th position.  Peter Green picked up another spot in the last loop to place 16th.  Andre Waring came in 24tt, followed by Klarie McIntyre 36th, which completed the Division 1 team.

Melbourne University had runners placing 4th, 7th, 15th, 17th, 27th and 29th, so they beat our team by 19 points.  They have really been performing well this year, and deserved their win.  We are confident that we have placed second, with SSH in third place.  So our run of unbroken victories this year concluded at Albert Park.  It appears that Frankston and Knox may not have finished a team.  We are clearly leading the Premier Division Championship this year and with only three events left, we are in a very strong position.  We have great depth this year and our athletes are running PBs most times that they compete.

Our Division 2 team also appears to have finished second, behind Essendon.  Dion Finocchiaro was 36th, followed by Chris Bradford, who ran a very impressive 46th (winning the silver medal in the 40 – 44 age group), and only just behind the winner, Brett Coleman of Geelong) and Zac Hunter who was 50th.  John Meagher placed 59th and he also won the gold medal for the 50 – 54 age group. The other team members were Welday Mebrahtu, 74th and David Jimenez, 88th.

In the under 20 race, Matt O’Donnell ran home really well and crossed the line in the bronze medal position, a tremendous result.  Congratulations Matt.  You are having a really excellent winter season and improving at every outing. Alex Ritchie also impressed again and made a top ten position, finishing 9th. This was an excellent effort also.  And Carlos Norman rounded out the team finishing 21st.  We believe that Box Hill won the silver medal in the team’s race behind Western Athletics.

The under 18 men’s race also produced a bronze medal result for Box Hill.  Scott McKenzie ran extremely well at Sandown last week, with one of the fastest performances in his age group.  This week, he ran really impressively with a very fast time and won third place. Well done Scott – a very fine effort.  Lucas Pamminger also did well, placing 8th in the same race.

Box Hill had six senior women on the course for the women’s race. This race produced a great duel between Virginia Moloney (Collingwood) and Sinead Diver (South Melbourne), with Moloney eventually prevailing by a slender margin.  Third place was taken by Tarli Bird (Glenhuntly).  Julie Norney ran extremely well and took 14th place. Georgie Meehan was 35th, Pia Hunter ran solidly to claim 66th position.  Amanda Harper claimed 85th, Rachel Johnson finished 120th and Kerry Putt came 160th.  There were 226 finishers in this race.

We had two under 20 female competitors in the 3 k road championship: Jess Muirden who finished approximately 10th, but was omitted from the provisional results, and Chloe Rosenberg who finished 12th.

 

Individual placings and times men’s 10 k road

  1. Liam Adams                       Essendon              29:48
  2. Mitchel Brown                   Essendon              30:21
  3. Nick Wightman                  Geelong               30:23
  4. Nick Earl                            Melb Uni              30:28
  5. Tim Norton                        Ringwood            30:51
  6.   James O’Connell            Box Hill               31:12
  7.   Steve Dinneen                  Box Hill               31.38
  8. Peter Green                     Box Hill               31:42
  9.   Nick Baggott                    Box Hill               31:46
  10. Andre Waring                 Box Hill               31:59
  11. Klarie McIntyre              Box Hill               32:33
  12.   Dion Finocchiaro            Box Hill               32:49
  13.   Chris Bradford                Box Hill               33:09
  14. Zac Hunter                      Box Hill               33:28
  15. John Meagher                 Box Hill               33:56
  16. Welday Mebrahtu          Box Hill               34:47
  17.   David Jimenez                 Box Hill               35:10
  18. Ed Doyle                           Box Hill              36:12
  19. Garth Calder                   Box Hill               37:08
  20. Andrew Hester                Box Hill               37:19
  21. Jackson Deane                 Box Hill               37:20
  22. Tony Langelaan              Box Hill               37:29
  23. Luke Crozier                   Box Hill               37:43
  24. Peter Stefanos                 Box Hill               38:40
  25. Chris O’Connor              Box Hill               39:31
  26. Rob Ashbridge                Box Hill               40:27
  27. Jack Hill                           Box Hill               41:47
  28. Simon St Hill                   Box Hill               45:00

 

Premier Division team placings (provisional)

  1. Melbourne University       99
  2. Box Hill                              116
  3. SSH                                   168
  4. Geelong                             214
  5. APS                                   352
  6. Doncaster                          455
  7. Collingwood                      460
  8. Glenhuntly                         552

 

Under 20 men 10 k road

  1. Liam Cashin                       Western Aths       31:52
  2. Cassidy Shaw                     Geelong               31:59
  3. Matt O’Donnell                Box Hill               32:08
  4. Alex Ritchie                     Box Hill               33:32
  5. Carlos Norman               Box Hill               37:06

Box Hill second

 

Under 18 men 10 k road

  1. William Ockenden             Glenhuntly           32:36
  2. Callen Goldsmith               Mornington         32:56
  3. Scott McKenzie                Box Hill               33:30
  4. Lucas Pamminger          Box Hill               36:46

 

Women’s placings and times 10 k road

  1. Virginia Moloney              Collingwood        33:53
  2. Sinead Diver                      Sth Melbourne     34:00
  3. Tarli Bird                            Glenhuntly           34:39
  4. Julie Norney                    Box Hill               36:49
  5. Georgie Meehan               Box Hill              39:02
  6. Pia Hunter                       Box Hill               41:20
  7. Amanda Harper             Box Hill               42:29
  8. Rachel Johnson               Box Hill               44:26
  9. Kerry Putt                       Box Hill               47:55

 

Under 20 women 3k road

      10? Jess Muirden                    Box Hill               Timing chip malfunction

  1. Chloe Rosenberg               Box Hill               12:37

Albert Park Road Race July 17, 2016

Victorian 10 K Road Championship Albert Park Lakeside 17 July, 2016

Another clear day on the winter calendar, but with a buffeting wind and low temperature to compensate. The women’s race was run separately from the men’s race due to safety concerns, and the men’s race and under 20 races, combined, were despatched at 8.30 a.m. Box Hill was hoping for a continuation of its winning streak, but, unfortunately, that was not to be.

There were well over four hundred open age competitors (nearly 425 runners), 26 under 20 athletes and 18 under 18 competitors lining up at the start of the men’s races. Box Hill had 22 open-age and over-age group competitors and 5 athletes competing in the underage races.

The course consists of the start, followed by a two out and back loop of around four kilometres each and then the sprint to the finish with the last 250 metres being run on the Lakeside track. It’s essential to wear a timing chip or the athlete faces disqualification.

The race commenced and a small group of six athletes immediately detached itself from the rest of the field.  This group consisted of Liam Adams (Essendon), shortly to represent Australia in the Olympic Marathon, Mitchel Brown (Essendon), Nick Earl (Melbourne University), Nick Whiteman (Geelong), Jordan Nelson (Knox) and Tim Norton (Ringwood).  The next time the athletes were visible, Liam Adams was exerting pressure on the other leaders and went clear near the five kilometre mark.  Box Hill had five athletes near the front, being James O’Connell, ninth, Steve Dinneen, 11th, Peter Green 16th Andre Waring, 26th, and Nick Baggott, 27th. After another six or seven hundred metres as they commenced their second loop James, Steve and Peter held the same positions, Andre had moved up to 23rd and Nick moved to 21st. Klarie McIntyre and Dion Finocchiaro were also running strongly a little further back, quite close to each other.  Chris Bradford was also going exceptionally well, probably his best race for the winter. So was Zac Hunter, who seems to have been improving with every race for the season.  Also in the top 100 were John Meagher, Welday Mebrahtu and David Jimenez. Three of our under age athletes were running exceptionally well and mixing it with the seniors: Matt O’Donnell, following his triumph at Sandown the previous week, was in a really good position, around 30th, it appeared, and Alex Ritchie also in the under 20 race, was around 55th.  They were both moving extremely well.  Equally as pleasing, was that Scott McKenzie, running in the under 18 race, was also doing extremely well, also in the low fifties overall. .

Liam Adams opened up a very large gap during the second loop and was over 20 seconds ahead of Mitch Brown as he ran through on to the track towards the finish. Mitch was clear of Nick Wightman by around eight seconds. Nick Earl lead in the University team, fourth, five seconds back, and Tim Norton finished firth, another 25 seconds later.  Our runners then started arriving, with James O’Connell first in in 11th place. Steve Dinneen followed in 13th position.  Peter Green picked up another spot in the last loop to place 16th.  Andre Waring came in 24tt, followed by Klarie McIntyre 36th, which completed the Division 1 team.

Melbourne University had runners placing 4th, 7th, 15th, 17th, 27th and 29th, so they beat our team by 19 points.  They have really been performing well this year, and deserved their win.  We are confident that we have placed second, with SSH in third place.  So our run of unbroken victories this year concluded at Albert Park.  It appears that Frankston and Knox may not have finished a team.  We are clearly leading the Premier Division Championship this year and with only three events left, we are in a very strong position.  We have great depth this year and our athletes are running PBs most times that they compete.

Our Division 2 team also appears to have finished second, behind Essendon.  Dion Finocchiaro was 36th, followed by Chris Bradford, who ran a very impressive 46th (winning the silver medal in the 40 – 44 age group), and only just behind the winner, Brett Coleman of Geelong) and Zac Hunter who was 50th.  John Meagher placed 59th and he also won the gold medal for the 50 – 54 age group. The other team members were Welday Mebrahtu, 74th and David Jimenez, 88th.

In the under 20 race, Matt O’Donnell ran home really well and crossed the line in the bronze medal position, a tremendous result.  Congratulations Matt.  You are having a really excellent winter season and improving at every outing. Alex Ritchie also impressed again and made a top ten position, finishing 9th. This was an excellent effort also.  And Carlos Norman rounded out the team finishing 21st.  We believe that Box Hill won the silver medal in the team’s race behind Western Athletics.

The under 18 men’s race also produced a bronze medal result for Box Hill.  Scott McKenzie ran extremely well at Sandown last week, with one of the fastest performances in his age group.  This week, he ran really impressively with a very fast time and won third place. Well done Scott – a very fine effort.  Lucas Pamminger also did well, placing 8th in the same race.

Box Hill had six senior women on the course for the women’s race. This race produced a great duel between Virginia Moloney (Collingwood) and Sinead Diver (South Melbourne), with Moloney eventually prevailing by a slender margin.  Third place was taken by Tarli Bird (Glenhuntly).  Julie Norney ran extremely well and took 14th place. Georgie Meehan was 35th, Pia Hunter ran solidly to claim 66th position.  Amanda Harper claimed 85th, Rachel Johnson finished 120th and Kerry Putt came 160th.  There were 226 finishers in this race.

We had two under 20 female competitors in the 3 k road championship: Jess Muirden who finished approximately 10th, but was omitted from the provisional results, and Chloe Rosenberg who finished 12th.

 

Individual placings and times men’s 10 k road

  1. Liam Adams                       Essendon              29:48
  2. Mitchel Brown                   Essendon              30:21
  3. Nick Wightman                  Geelong               30:23
  4. Nick Earl                            Melb Uni              30:28
  5. Tim Norton                        Ringwood            30:51
  6.   James O’Connell            Box Hill               31:12
  7.   Steve Dinneen                  Box Hill               31.38
  8. Peter Green                     Box Hill               31:42
  9.   Nick Baggott                    Box Hill               31:46
  10. Andre Waring                 Box Hill               31:59
  11. Klarie McIntyre              Box Hill               32:33
  12.   Dion Finocchiaro            Box Hill               32:49
  13.   Chris Bradford                Box Hill               33:09
  14. Zac Hunter                      Box Hill               33:28
  15. John Meagher                 Box Hill               33:56
  16. Welday Mebrahtu          Box Hill               34:47
  17.   David Jimenez                 Box Hill               35:10
  18. Ed Doyle                           Box Hill              36:12
  19. Garth Calder                   Box Hill               37:08
  20. Andrew Hester                Box Hill               37:19
  21. Jackson Deane                 Box Hill               37:20
  22. Tony Langelaan              Box Hill               37:29
  23. Luke Crozier                   Box Hill               37:43
  24. Peter Stefanos                 Box Hill               38:40
  25. Chris O’Connor              Box Hill               39:31
  26. Rob Ashbridge                Box Hill               40:27
  27. Jack Hill                           Box Hill               41:47
  28. Simon St Hill                   Box Hill               45:00

 

Premier Division team placings (provisional)

  1. Melbourne University       99
  2. Box Hill                              116
  3. SSH                                   168
  4. Geelong                             214
  5. APS                                   352
  6. Doncaster                          455
  7. Collingwood                      460
  8. Glenhuntly                         552

 

Under 20 men 10 k road

  1. Liam Cashin                       Western Aths       31:52
  2. Cassidy Shaw                     Geelong               31:59
  3. Matt O’Donnell                Box Hill               32:08
  4. Alex Ritchie                     Box Hill               33:32
  5. Carlos Norman               Box Hill               37:06

Box Hill second

 

Under 18 men 10 k road

  1. William Ockenden             Glenhuntly           32:36
  2. Callen Goldsmith               Mornington         32:56
  3. Scott McKenzie                Box Hill               33:30
  4. Lucas Pamminger          Box Hill               36:46

 

Women’s placings and times 10 k road

  1. Virginia Moloney              Collingwood        33:53
  2. Sinead Diver                      Sth Melbourne     34:00
  3. Tarli Bird                            Glenhuntly           34:39
  4. Julie Norney                    Box Hill               36:49
  5. Georgie Meehan               Box Hill              39:02
  6. Pia Hunter                       Box Hill               41:20
  7. Amanda Harper             Box Hill               42:29
  8. Rachel Johnson               Box Hill               44:26
  9. Kerry Putt                       Box Hill               47:55

 

Under 20 women 3k road

      10? Jess Muirden                    Box Hill               Timing chip malfunction

  1. Chloe Rosenberg               Box Hill               12:37

 

2016 Winter Bulletin No. 15

July 12, 2016

ALBERT PARK ROAD RACE THIS SUNDAY (Changed start times)

Round 7 of the XCR’16 season will be the Albert Park Road Race, starting and finishing at Lakeside Stadium this Sunday, July 17.

Please arrive early, in time to find a car park and get to the start warmed up and ready to go.

The Box Hill table will be located in the grandstand in the back straight inside Lakeside stadium.

If you have not already entered (and do not have an XCR or Max package registration), you need to enter online by noon on Wednesday.

Don’t forget you bib numbers and your timing chip!

Note the change of start times:

8:30am: 10km Road Race: Men: Open, overage, U20 and U18

9:30am:  10km Road Race, Women: Open and overage

10:30am: 3km Road Race, U14 men and women, U16 men and women, U18 women, U20 women.

 

 

BOX HILL TRIUMPH AT SANDOWN ROAD RELAYS

Box Hill won a thrilling race in the men’s premier division road relay championships at Sandown race course on Saturday. Despite missing three of our top runners a gutsy even team effort was enough to bring Box Hill to a narrow lead after five of the six relay legs and Steve Dinneen did the job on the last leg to carry off a convincing win. Congratulations to Nick Baggott, Matt O’Donnell, James O’Connell, Peter Green, Andre Waring and Steve Dinneen on a great team performance.

On a brilliant day for the Box Hill men, we also won the youngest age group, with Connor Ogilvie, Murray Lovass and Mac Anderson winning the U14 race, and the oldest age group as John Meagher, Peter Stefanos and Garth Calder grabbing gold in the Over 50s event.

We also had several near misses with our U20 team (Alex Ritchie, Carlos Norman and Sam Rattray), Under 18 (Darcy Powne, Lucas Pamminger and Scott McKenzie) and Over 40s (Chris Bradford, Tony Langelaan and Anthony Whitby) all winning silver medals.

A special thanks to Megan Sloane, Francis Pamminger, Graeme Olden and Rachel Johnson who helped with officiating and all those who helped as time keepers.

See the attachment for Ian Sloane’s extensive report.

Results:

Men Premier Division – 1st

  1. Nick Baggott          19:11
  2. Matt O’Donnell      19:32
  3. James O’Connell     19:08
  4. Peter Green             19:10
  5. Andre Waring         19:29
  6. Steve Dinneen         19:13

Men Division 2 – 4th

  1. Michael Vaughan    20:41
  2. Klarie McIntyre      20:10
  3. Welday Mebrahtu   21:15
  4. Ray Chan                22:16
  5. Zac Hunter              20:15
  6. David Jiminez         22:33

Men Division 4 – 3rd

  1. Andrew Hester       22:38
  2. Edward Doyle        21:53
  3. Graeme Olden         24:34
  4. Rob Ashbridge        23:51
  5. Ben Cox                  22:55

Men Division 6 – 7th

  1. Steven Ross            26:35
  2. Simon St. Hill         27:20
  3. Jack Hill                  26:26
  4. Andrew Tunne        29:52

Men Over 40 – 2nd

  1. Chris Bradford        20:35
  2. Tony Langelaan      23:06
  3. Anthony Whitby     25:01

 Men Over 50 – 1st

  1. John Meagher          20:41
  2. Peter Stefanos         23:04
  3. Garth Calder           23:31

Men Under 20 – 2nd

  1. Alex Ritchie            20:36
  2. Carlos Norman        22:08
  3. Sam Rattray             20:54

Men Under 18 – 2nd

  1. Darcy Powne          9:46
  2. Lucas Pamminger    10:04
  3. Scott McKenzie      9:23

Men Under 14 – 1st

  1. Conor Ogilvie         10:48
  2. Murray Lovass        12:19
  3. Mac Anderson        10:47

Women Premier Division – 5th

  1. Georgie Meehan      22:49
  2. Amy Carrig             24:47
  3. Louise Ton              25:06
  4. Amanda Harper      25:56
  5. Julie Norney            22:53

Women Division 2 – 5th

  1. Jess Muirden           26:47
  2. Caitlin Harrison       28:59
  3. Pia Hunter               25:30
  4. Rachel Johnson       26:05

Women Over 40

  1. Kerry Putt               28:40

 

 

 

SHUT THE GATE!

It has been brought to our attention that the gate to the athletics track has at times been left open overnight and, at times, the club rooms themselves have been left unlocked.

It is important that the last ones to leave the track at night make sure that the rooms are shut and that the gate is closed. When you are leaving, please remind other track users that the track must be locked up at night

 

 

XCR’16 CALENDAR

Round 7 – Albert Park Road Race                         Date: Sunday 17 July

10km open race, 3km junior race

Round 8 – Anglesea Surf Coast Ekiden Relay       Date: Saturday 6 August

Various distances

Round 9 – Victorian Half Marathon                       Date: Sunday 4 September

21.1km along Burnley boulevard (including junior 6km race).

Round 10 – Tan Relays                                            Date: Saturday 17 September

Each runner complete the 3.8km lap of the tan.

Saturday 9 July 2016 – Sandown Road Relays

July 9, 2016

Sandown is one of the key events on the Athletics Victoria winter calendar. This is always a difficult race to win as you have to have six strong runners on the line and hope that no-one has a bad day.  We have had some success here in the recent past with very good to outstanding teams from 2007 onwards.  In the old days we would feel as if we had done extremely well to win a silver or a bronze medal, against Glenhuntly, Ballarat (or Ballarat YCW), Doncaster, Knox and Geelong, who all did well at various stages.

The conditions at this venue are normally not competitor friendly, but this year they were extraordinarily benign, being temperate without the usual piercing wind and driving rain. Box Hill has several runners recovering from injury, recovering from long races or who’ve had a run of illness who were not available.  Nevertheless, we have won every Division 1 race this year, so we were hoping that our team would rise to the occasion, and they did exactly that, with a brilliant finish propelling us to the gold medal position.

It was a remarkable race.  There were five teams looking good on paper: Melbourne University, which has been a real surprise packet this year, SSH, ditto, plus Knox and Geelong.  APS and Frankston are also capable of causing an upset, but they need everyone on deck because one weak leg can wreck a team’s chances.  We felt that Melbourne University and SSH were the most dangerous of our opponents, and it turned out that was correct.

Nick Baggott was selected to run first for Box Hill. Nick has had some remarkably good performances this year and he produced yet another one on the day.  He was in the leading bunch at the conclusion of the first lap, with the field headed by SSH, APS, Knox and Melbourne University.  He was about two or three seconds behind the leader, and looked OK.  He held it together in the second lap, recording the fine time of 19:11.  This was a 44 second PB.  Think about that for a moment – it’s a massive improvement.  I looked at the 2014 results to see what he did then.  He recorded 21:39 in 2014, so in the course of two years he has reduced his time for this two lap course by a gargantuan two minutes and 28 seconds.  If anyone can point out a bigger improvement over a similar period, I would like to hear about it. So this excellent achievement laid the foundation for later runners, and Box Hill held seventh position 28 seconds down on Melbourne University with Nick Earl (M. Uni) completing the first leg in the lead. Earl was followed by Sean Guiney (APS) who recorded 18:49, Jordan Nelson (Knox) who ran 18:53 and SSH, with Ben Buckingham running 18:54.  Nick was close behind Geelong (19:08) and Frankston (19:10).

Matt O’Donnell was promoted to run Premier Division because the selectors believed he would perform creditably and he did not disappoint them one bit.  He ran a really excellent leg for an under 20 athlete, and can be certain that he earned the gold medal hanging around his neck at the presentation ceremony.  He ran a faster second lap than his first one and recorded a big PB, with an elapsed time of 19:32. Not only that, but he passed his Geelong and Frankston opponents and moved the team into fifth place, a ripping performance.  At the front of the field Martin Mashford (M. Uni) ran a very strong leg and got his team into a 41 second lead over Knox, through Craig Appleby, holding second. Also ahead of Box Hill at this stage were APS (Jack Holden) and SSH (Lachlan Aspinall).  Box Hill was 21 seconds down on SSH at this stage.

Our third runner was James O’Connell and he responded to the challenge with another PB and the fastest time recorded by any of our Division 1 runners.  James has improved dramatically this year to become a top 10 winter performer. Two years ago, when he was an under 20 runner, he recorded 20:00. So he has brought his time down by 52 seconds between then and now.  That’s pretty impressive and he looks certain to be capable of doing even better in future outings. During this leg, Melbourne University, through Charlie Park, extended their lead over Knox (Ben Toomey) by 93 seconds.  James passed his APS and SSH opponents and brought Box Hill into third place just 19 seconds behind second-placed Knox.  At this stage the race was still wide open, and our remaining runners needed to perform at their best.  We had an inkling that most other Premier Division clubs had deployed their leading runners in the earlier legs, and because we have very good depth, we started to believe we were in with a chance.

Peter Green was selected to run fourth leg and he moved into gear very quickly.   His first lap was run in 9:24 and the photo below shows a decisive moment in the race where he caught and passed his Knox opponent.  In his second lap he made a big gain on leaders, Melbourne University reducing the deficit from one minute 52 at the start of his leg to 41 second deficit. He also got away from the Knox and SSH runners.  Geelong had dropped back to be further behind in fifth place. Peter’s time was also a PB, and I looked back at the 2014 results and discovered that he ran 19:55 in the relays that year.  So Peter has also recorded a dramatically improved time at Sandown as he has got fitter.  Four big PBs in the first four legs is indeed impressive.  Incredibly, it got better still in the next leg.

Andre Waring is running in the best form of his life and recently cracked the 32 minute barrier over 10 kilometres on the road. He was chosen to run the fifth leg and he performed brilliantly.  He turned the 41 second deficit into a two second lead at the changeover, having mowed down David Paroissien (Melbourne University) and stretched the lead over the other clubs.  He also broke 19:30 which has to be a PB as well (19:29 was his time.). This was tremendously exciting for the many Box Hill supporters on the course, all of whom were very vocal in their encouragement of every one of our Premier Division runners.

The photo below is of the last changeover and it clearly shows the advantage that Andre had given our team with his great fifth leg. Knox were running third at the last changeover, with SSH fourth and Geelong fifth.

Steve Dinneen was our last runner and was suffering the after-effects of a monster training session assisting Liam Adams (Essendon) prepare for his Olympic Games Marathon in a few weeks’ time. He showed grit and determination in an evenly run leg to pull away from Zac Newman (Melbourne University) to anchor our team to a highly valued victory.  It was a performance that long-time members will remember for a long time and rate as one of the best competitive performances in a very even field, equal to the best of those where we have been very competitive and recorded faster times.

Meanwhile, behind us Knox surrendered their bronze medal position to SSH who finished third with Jamie Wagstaff running the smart time of 19:01.  Geelong (with Harry Smithers) also got by Knox’s last runner to place fourth.

All our Division 1 team played their part in this win and deserved their gold medal, with such little difference in the times that each recorded for the time-tested two lap course.

Leading performers were Liam Adams, Essendon (17:59), Jack Davies, Ballarat (18:23) and Mitchel Brown, Essendon (18:29).

As winners of the Premier Division, we were awarded the Perry Cup, an added bonus. It was also marvellous to see all our team members stay on for the awards ceremony.

 

Our Division 2 Team performed well to place fourth in their race. Michael Vaughan ran a serviceable leg, opening our account with a time of 20:47.  Klarie McIntyre extraordinarily evenly, running 10:05 for each lap and recorded 20:10 also a fine effort. Zac Hunter did really well, too.  He broke 10 minutes for his first circuit and recorded the smart time of 20:15.  Zac is improving with every race and it won’t be long before he is knocking on the door for Division 1 selection. Our other team members were WeldayMebrahtu (21:15), Ray Chan (22:16) and David Jimenez (22:23). They placed fourth in this Division, a commendable effort.

Our Men’s Division 4 team finished in third place. The team was made up Andrew Hester, Edward Doyle (who recorded 21:53), Graeme Olden, Robert Ashbridge and Benjamin Cox.

Our Division 7 team finished seventh. Team members were Stephen Ross, Sim St Hill, Jack Hill (who had the fastest time of 26:26) and Andrew Tunne.

Our 40+ team won the bronze medal. Chris Bradford ran the fastest time of 20:35 with solid performances from Tony Langelaan and Anthony Whitby.

The 50 + team won the gold medal. John Meagher ran the remarkable time of 20:14.  Other team members Peter Stefanos and Garth Calder saw off teams from VCCL and Athletics Waverley.

Our junior team performances were excellent.

The under 20 team won the silver medal and held off SSH, third by a second, according to the results.  Team members Alex Ritchie (20:26, Carlos Norman (22:06) and Sam Rattray (20:54) deserved their medal.

The under 18 team also won the silver medal and there were two extremely fast legs from our team members with Darcy Powne (9:46), Lucas Pamminger (10:04) and Scott McKenzie (9:23) finishing just five seconds down on the winners, Glenhuntly, with Western Athletics placing third.

Our under 14 team won the gold medal. Team members Connor Ogilvy (10:48), Murray Lovass (12:19) and Mac Anderson (10:47) excelled and won by a little under a minute, in a very pleasing result for them and our club.

The women’s Division 1 result was a sound one for Box Hill.  Our women placed fifth with rivals, South Melbourne winning, Glenhuntly, second and Geelong, third. Our team comprised Georgie Meehan (22:29), Amy Carrig (24:41), Louise Ton (25:06), Amanda Harper (25:56) and Julie Norney (22:53).  It was pleasing to see Amy Carrig back running after a long interruption with injury.  Fastest times were recorded by Virginia Moloney, Collingwood (20:18), Sinead Diver, South Melbourne (20:20) and Gemma Maini, Frankston (20:59) were the fastest performers on the day.

Our women’s Division 3 team placed fifth as well. Jessie Muirden (26:57), Caitlin Harrison (28:59), Pia Hunter (25:30) and Rachel Hunter (26:05) made up the team.

Provisional results

Division 1

Leg Runner Lap 1 Lap 2 Total Position Leader’s time BH time
1 Nick Baggott 9:32 9:39 19:11 7 18:43 (M. Uni) 19:11
2 Matt O’Donnell 9:49 9:43 19:32 5 37:21 (M. Uni) 38:43
3 James O’Connell 9:23 9:45 19:08 3 55:59 (M. Uni) 57:37
4 Peter Green 9:24 9:46 19:10 2 76:20 (M. Uni) 77:01
5 Andre Waring 9:41 9:48 19:29 1 96:30 (Box Hill) 96:30
6 Steve Dinneen 9:37 9:36 19:13 1 115:43 (Box Hill) 115:43

 

Placings

  1. Box Hill 115:43
  2. Melbourne University 116:10
  3. SSH 117:50
  4. Geelong 118:12
  5. Knox 118:42

 

Box Hill Division 2 times

Name 1st Lap 2nd Lap Total time
Michael Vaughan 10:10 10:37 20:47
Klarie McIntyre 10:05 10:05 20:10
WeldayMebrahtu 10:27 10:48 21:15
Ray Chan 10:57 11:19 22:16
Zac Hunter 9:58 10:17 20:15
David Jimenez 11:08 11:25 22:33

 

Division 2 Team Placings

  1. Essendon 117:03
  2. Western Aths 124:32
  3. Ballarat 125:23
  4. Box Hill 127:18

 

Women’s results

Box Hill Division 1 times

Georgie Meehan                               22:49

Amy Carrig                                       24:41

Louise Ton                                       25:06

Amanda Harper                                25:56

Julie Norney                                     22:53

 

Division 1 Team Placings

1.South Melbourne                           109:53

  1. Glenhuntly 111:12
  2. Geelong 114:23
  3. Knox 115.15
  4. Box Hill 121:31

 

Box Hill Division 3 times

Jessie Muirden                                  26:47

Caitlin Harrison                                28:59

Pia Hunter                                        25:30

Rachel Johnson                                26:05

 

Division 3 Team Placings

  1. Yarra Ranges 101:03
  2. SSH 101:30
  3. Traralgon 102:02
  4. Williamstown 105:12
  5. Box Hill 107:21