Werribee CC Relays

MIXED RESULTS FOR BOX HILL

The National Equestrian Centre at Werribee was used for the second time for the Cross Country Relays in 2004. It was once again the first event on the Winter calendar. The course was very similar to the inaugural course, being relatively flat containing a few obstacles, including sandy rises and jumps. Times were faster this year, leading to the suggestion that the course may have been slightly shorter. Box Hill made a pleasing start to the Winter season, with some fine team performances by male and female teams. This year we lacked the depth of previous years, and it would be pleasing to see more athletes make themselves available to compete for Box Hill in the team events, particularly given it was the first event of the season.

Mens Results:

Our teams were weakened by Marcus Tierney’s absence due to illness, Hamish McElwee’s return to Western Australia and John Meagher, accompanying his school’s junior cross country teams overseas, and we look forward to Marcus’s and John’s return in future events. Barry Lynch started the Section 1 team and ran a serviceable leg, with relatively even splits. At the conclusion of the first leg, it was clear that we were going to have some difficulty pulling other leading clubs back as we were in 9th position, two minutes down on the leaders, APS, Melbourne University and Geelong. Paul Boxshall took over running consistently in the second leg, holding ninth position, running a similar time to Barry Lynch. Geelong had assumed the lead from APS and Glen Huntly, which had pushed up to third. The leaders had stretched their lead to over three and a half minutes over Box Hill.

Adrian Vincent was selected as our third leg runner, and ran very impressively recording the fastest Box Hill performance on the day. His exertions lifted Box Hill into 7th position, our highest placing on the day. He looks certain to have an excellent Winter, and we await better things to come. APS regained the lead, but Glen Huntly were poised ominously only 11 seconds behind.

Lachlan Aspinall took over in the 4th leg. He ran a slightly slower second lap compared to the first, and at the conclusion of his journey, Box Hill was placed 8th, nearly 8 minutes down on Glen Huntly, which was now leading by two minutes from APS, with Ballarat YCW making a late charge for a minor placing. Kynan Dawes took off as our fifth leg runner and ran very well. There was only a four second differential between his laps and he maintained the time gap between Essendon, the club we were chasing for 7th place.

Graeme Olden ran last for our club, and ran a solid leg. Graeme ran 10 seconds faster on his second lap, compared to his first. He was within sight of the athlete we were chasing but unable to catch him. Box Hill therefore finished in 8th position, which was a result we can definitely improve on as the season progresses. Glen Huntly increased their lead over other clubs, with APS winning the silver medal and Ballarat YCW holding on for 3rd, with a well received performance from their last runner, just holding off the fast finishing Doncaster for the Bronze medal.

Our second team was demoted to Section 4, because we couldn’t field a second team most weeks in 2003. Our team performed meritoriously, winning the event. The team’s performance was set up by the fast early pace of David Jiminez who ran the fastest Box Hill Section four performance. David positioned the team in the top three, and subsequent runners, most notably Alan Craigie, who ran the second fastest leg in Section 4, were able to capitalize on his fine beginning. Adam Pepper, followed by David Ayers were able to keep the momentum going maintaining Box Hill’s competitive position, so that when Chris O’Connor took over in the last leg he was able draw away from all other Section 4 clubs and lead our team to victory

Our Section 6 team, consisting of Dave Boyd and Matt Slater, were two runners short of a team. It is to be hoped that more athletes will make themselves available in forthcoming races so that we don’t finish up with inadequate runners to fill teams team again.

Our Under 20 runners performed very creditably in winning the Bronze medal. Recent recruit, Iain Reitman ran very impressively to have Box Hill within striking distance of other clubs. Michael Bourne who ran second kept Box Hill within sight of the second placed U/20 team, Glen Huntly. Andrew White ran a serviceable leg, finishing the team in third position, 20 seconds down on Glen Huntly in second place. Our second Under 20 team was a runner short of the team, and Kevin Craigie and Alan Craigie both had good hit outs and are sure to have a solid season.

Womens Results:

With a number of runners missing for the first event of the season we only managed to field one full senior team and one junior team

Jess De Bruin ran our fastest leg for the day leading off with 24:05, followed by Jocelyn Keage (who likes to run cross country when she is taking a break from triathlon training!) in 24:27. Kate Beever ran 25:49 followed by Megan Sloane who finished in 25:24 in 7th position. Fiona Turner was our only runner in the second team, showed that her form is starting to improve running 25:29.

Our under 20 team finished 4th to just miss a medal….or did they? The second team was at first disqualified for not supplying officials but later received their medals anyway. Sarah Cant ran the fastest junior time for the day, covering one lap of the course in 10:37, Sarah Walker followed in 12:43. Gemma Cooper ran the last leg in 13:38 to bring the team home in 4th position.

Division 1

1. Glen Huntly 112:17
2. APS 114:30
3. Ballarat YCW 116:27
4. Doncaster 116:43
5. PRR 118:01
6. Geelong Regional Centre 118:38
7. Essendon 119:56
8. Box Hill 120:42

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