Box Hill Athletc Club had a successful day in the 2007 Victorian Road Relay Championships at Sandown Race course placing third in the Open Men’s Division 1 race, third in Division 3, fifth in Division 5 and the 40+ team was the winner of the gold medal by 13 seconds. In the Female divisions Box Hill was 6th in Division 1 and 11th in Division 2. In the Junior divisions Box Hill fielded an Under 20 team, which won the silver medal and a Box Hill Little A?s team was 4th in the Under 14 race. There was a fairly strong headwind blowing in the back straight, which was par for the course on this time tested course.
Geelong has been the strongest club in 2007 and it was conceded by other clubs, that they would be difficult to surpass. However, the silver and bronze positions were open, and our Division 1 team set out purposefully to snare one of them. Doncaster and Glenhuntly always field good teams, although neither club has been as consistent as they usually are, in 2007. As mentioned in previous years, at Sandown, the best runners break 18 minutes for two laps and the elite run 17 minutes 30 or better. The Senior Men’s race involves teams of six runners each completing two circuits of the course, and the Senior Women?s race is completed by teams of four athletes.
Box Hill’s first leg was allocated to Daniel Clark, and got the team off to a good start, though probably expending a little too much effort in the first lap in his attempt to stay in touch with the leaders. At the conclusion of the first lap he was holding third place behind Ben Ashkettle (Don) and Ben Toomey (Knox). These two athletes remained in front and McDonagh (Geel) passed Daniel during the second lap, so that Box Hill held fourth place after the first leg. Chris Hamer was next off and he ran a solid leg maintaining fourth position and reducing the deficit behind Knox slightly. Doncaster and Geelong were some way clear of the other teams. Bouchaib Chefnaoui ran a swift first lap and was slightly less speedy on his second circuit. Box Hill was 72 seconds down on third placed Knox at this stage, with Doncaster 41 seconds in advance of Geelong well clear of the other teams at this stage. Glenhuntly trailed Box Hill by 84 seconds, in fifth place.
Matt Coloe maintained fourth position for Box Hill, whilst Geelong took over the lead, through an outstanding leg from Lee Troop who dipped under 18 minutes. Glenhuntly made up ground on Box Hill and we were 85 seconds adrift of Knox after four legs.
Steve Kelly ran a fast first lap to be four seconds down on his Knox opponent and caught and passed him in his second lap, moving 63 seconds clear in third place. Geelong extended their lead over Doncaster. Doncaster was 58 seconds clear of Box Hill in the silver medal position.
Andrew White was matched against Rod De Highden from Doncaster in the final leg. Andrew ran even split laps and narrowly missed running Rod de Highden down, finishing five seconds behind him at the conclusion of the race. Geelong extended their lead and won the event by slightly over three minutes. Andrew White?s time was the fastest recoded by any of our athletes and was a very worthy competitive effort. Glenhuntly were beaten into fourth place, three and a half minutes behind our team with Knox fading to fifth and Ballarat YCW coming through to claim sixth. It has been some time since Glenhuntly has struggled to maintain contact with the leading three placegetters.
Our second team, in Section 3 placed 3rd, with a great opening leg of 19 m. 26 s. from Barry Lynch, close to his fastest at Sandown. Otmane Tirhazouine and Paul Boxshall also ran close to 20 minutes.
The Division 5 team also ran a sound race, with Bill Dyer recording the fastest time. The team finished fifth.
The 40+ team of Graeme Olden, John Meagher and Chris O’Connor were victorious, winning by 13 seconds from Keilor St Bernards.
The Under 20 team, consisting of Alex Dioretes, Jackson Dyer and Cameron Nagle won the silver medal, with Alex?s time a smart one.
Our Division 1 female team performed creditably to place 6th. Rachel Johnson recorded the fastest time. The Division 2 female team placed 11th.
Division 1 Results and times Leg Runner Lap 1 Lap 2 Total Pos Leader BH time 1 Daniel Clark 9:15 10:04 19:19 4 18:40 19:19 2 Chris Hamer 9:49 9:48 18:54 3 37:13 38:13 3 Bouchaib Chefnaoui 9:42 9:57 19:39 4 55:30 58:00 4 Matt Coloe 9:27 10:01 19:28 4 74:08 77:28 5 Steve Kelly 9:23 9:54 19:17 3 93:24 96:45 6 Andrew White 9:19 9:19 18:38 3 112:15 115:23 Placings Division 1 Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4 Leg 5 Leg 6 Don 18:40 Don 37:13 Don 55:30 Geel 74:08 Geel 93:24 Geel 112:15 Knox 18:43 Geel 37:24 Geel 56:11 Don 74:54 Don 95:43 Don 115:18 Geel 18:52 Knox 37:36 Knox 56:48 Knox 76:03 BH 96:45 BH 115:23 BH 19:19 BH 38:13 BH 58:00 BH 77:28 Knox 97:48 GH 118:52 Sand 19:49 Sand 39:11 GH 59:24 GH 78:05 GH 98:19 Knox 119:28 GH 19:50 GH 39:28 Sand 59:58 BYCW 79:31 BYCW 99:05 BYCW 119:36 1. Geelong 112:15 2. Doncaster 115:18 3. Box Hill 115:23 4. Glenhuntly 118:52 5. Knox 119:28 6. Ballarat YCW 119:36 Fastest Times Lee Troop 17:57 David McNeill 18:17 Simon Field 18:30 Mark Tucker 18:33 David Ruschena 18:40 Clint Perrett 18:29 Liam Adams 18:37 Andrew White 18:38 Ben Toomey 18:43 Richard Jeremiah 18:49 M McDonough 18:51 Scott Rantall 18:51 S Crowther 18:53 Chris Hamer 18:54 Division 3 Leg Runner Lap 1 Lap 2 Total 1 Barry Lynch 9:37 9:49 19:26 2 Otmane Tirhazouine 10:05 10:05 20:10 3 Dave Ayers 11:48 11:45 23:23 4 Paul Boxshall 10:00 10:08 20:08 5 Adrian Vincent 10:14 10:42 20:56 Team Result: 1. Geelong 101:07 2. Ringwood 103:30 3. Box Hill 104:03 Division 5 Leg Runner Lap 1 Lap 2 Total 1 Bill Dyer 11:30 12:04 23:34 2 Dave Featherston 12:09 12:11 24:20 3 Barry Whittle 12:32 12:44 25:16 4 Scott Boxshall 12:06 11:55 24:01 Team Result 1. Mornington Peninsula: 90:59 2. Collingwood 92:40 3. Sandringham 95:09 5. Box Hill 97:10 Division 7 Leg Runner Total 1 Adam Pepper 27:16 2 Dave Stevens 26:58 Team Result Box Hill DNF Men 40+ Leg Runner Total 1 Graeme Olden 21:25 2 John Meagher 19:39 3 Chris O'Connor 21:39 Team Result: 1. Box Hill 62:43 2. Keilor St Bernards 62:56 3. APS 64:25 Junior Team Under 20 Leg Runner Lap 1 Lap 2 Total 1 Alex Dioretes 10:33 10:52 21:25 2 Jackson Dyer 11:44 12:16 24:00 3 Cameron Nagle 12:37 13:30 26:07 Team Result: 1. Essendon 64:17 2. Box Hill 71:32
Division 1 Leg Runner Total 1 Rachel Johnson 23:58 2 Amanda Harper 25:05 3 Joc Keage 24:12 4 Kris Hopkins 25:15 Team Result 1. Knox 86:01 2. Sandringham 91:15 3. Glenhuntly 92:14 6. Box Hill 99:30 Division 2 Leg Runner Total 1 Kate Ackland 28:00 2 E Barlow 27:32 3 C Pease 27.20 4 Megan Sloane 27:40 Team Result 11. Box Hill