In another fine performance Box Hill consolidated its excellent recent performances during the Winter season with a stirring second place in the 15,000 m. Road Championships at Albert Park on Sunday 10th September.
On commencement, Marcus Tierney moved into contention in the leading group of 10 athletes sitting back in 6th position. He looked really solid throughout the race moving up as high as second place, whilst in the company of the six athletes in the leading bunch. The athletes who moved away from the rest of the field included Magnus Michelsson (Coll), David Eadie (GH), Lee Troop (Geelong), Shane Nankervis (BYCW), Linton Gloster (GH), Daniel Quin (Melb Uni) and Grant Schmidlechner (Don). This group established a clear lead after half a lap. A series of surges later in the race reduced the group to six athletes with Marcus Tierney looking in grand shape. In the last lap, Lee Troop put pressure on the other runners in the leading pack and they slipped off the pace one by one. Marcus succumbed to one tough surge half way around the circuit but still held his form and finished the race full of running in his best ever placing in an AV championship.
Scott Jackson and Graeme Olden started more conservatively settling into around 15th and 16th positions and set about gradually picking off runners who had started too quickly and who came back to the runners behind them. Running in close proximity to each other for three-and-a-half of the four laps, they reeled in a number of their opponents, with Scott finishing in 10th place and Graeme 14 seconds behind, in 12th position. Both athletes looked to be running confidently and produced excellent last laps to cement their places on the finishing line. Both built on their Coliban Relay performances and look set to continue in good form in the forthcoming Summer season. Scott has previously finished 2nd in 1996 and 3rd in 1997 in this race and Graeme finished 4th in 1996, so it is a race both clearly perform well in.
Dale Bickham produced his best ever winter result in placing 29th. Running as high as 20th in the early stages of the race, he produced a very determined performance and finished full of running. Behind him Adam Pepper, 59th, performed well, with Jonathon Tyler running 76th in one of his best Winter performances, completing the A grade team.
Chris O’Connor, 90th, and Dave Boyd, 167th, completed all the men’s performances in the open race. Kynan Dawes was unable to finish after being in 34th position half way.
In the Women’s race, Anna Thompson again placed third, in the time of 52 m. 46 s. Megan Sloane, second in her age division finished 26th in 64 m. 09, and Marion Gamble was 33rd in 66 m. 32.
Sam Hassett ran an impressive race and unleashed a sustained finishing sprint to hold off his fast finishing opponent in the Under 20 5 K. Road championship, winning the Silver medal. This was a very impressive performance, and augurs really well for the future. His time of 15 m. 34 was very promising.
Emily Smith won the Under 18 5 K. road race in the time of 18 m. 38 s.
Men
| Leg | Runner | Club | Lap 1 | Lap 2 | Lap 3 | Final Time |
|
1 |
Lee Troop |
Geelong |
11:39 |
23:09 |
34:45 |
45:24 |
|
2 |
Shane Nankervis |
BYCW |
11:39 |
23:09 |
34:45 |
45:51 |
|
3 |
David Eadie |
GH |
11:39 |
23:09 |
34:45 |
45:55 |
|
4 |
Magnus Michelsson |
Coll. |
11:39 |
23:09 |
34:45 |
46:35 |
|
5 |
Marcus Tierney |
Box Hill |
11:40 |
23:10 |
34:45 |
46:43 |
|
6 |
Daniel Quin |
Melb Uni |
46:57 |
|||
|
10 |
Scott Jackson |
BH |
12:11 |
24:08 |
36:08 |
47:41 |
|
12 |
Graeme Olden |
BH |
12:11 |
24:09 |
36:08 |
47:55 |
|
29 |
Dale Bickham |
BH |
12:18 |
24:45 |
37:31 |
50:31 |
|
59 |
Adam Pepper |
BH |
13:03 |
26:26 |
39:50 |
53:18 |
|
76 |
Jonathon Tyler |
BH |
13:49 |
27:14 |
41:10 |
55:15 |
|
90 |
Chris O’Connor |
BH |
14:20 |
28:22 |
42:17 |
56:04 |
|
167 |
David Boyd |
BH |
15:42 |
31:35 |
48:10? |
64:36 |
Team Placings Section 1
|
3 |
Anna Thompson |
BH |
13:10? |
26:34 |
39:50 |
52:46 |
|
26 |
Megan Sloane |
BH |
16:27 |
32:24 |
48:31 |
64:09 |
|
33 |
Marion Gamble |
BH |
16:45 |
33:20 |
50:05? |
66:52 |
Team Placings Section 1
1. Peninsula RR 27
2. Athletics Essendon 29
3. Knox Sherbrooke 39
4. Collingwood 40
5. Ballarat Harriers 60
6. Box Hill 62