In a magnificent team display, Box Hill’s Division 1 team was victorious for the second time in three years at the Tan Relay meeting. Anchored by Andrew White, who ran the team’s fastest leg, a brilliant lap of 11 minutes 15 seconds and converted a one second deficit behind Geelong into a 38 second victory, the team was remarkably even in the lap times that our athletes ran.
Even better, Geelong has been practically unbeatable the whole year, so to finish the Winter season on such a high note was a tremendous achievement. An added bonus was the Division 3 team’s victory, opening up the possibility of a promotion to Division 2.
The Division 1 team got off to an excellent start with Daniel Clark being the second athlete in Division 1 to cross the line, 17 seconds in arrears to Ben Toomey (Knox). Daniel has had an impressive season this year, and improved his time from the 11:30 lap he ran last year and the 12:12 lap he ran the year before. Steve Dinneen took over and brought Box Hill up to first position, gaining a 20 second lead over Sandringham. Glenhuntly moved from 5th to 3rd just ahead of Knox, Geelong and Doncaster. He recorded the twelfth fastest lap of the day in the Senior men’s divisions. Chris Hamer was our third runner and he also ran a very solid leg. He was being chased hard by Mark Tucker (Geelong), who ran the fastest lap of the day in 11:04. Box Hill held an advantage of 9 seconds over Geelong, now in second place, with Glenhuntly 3rd and Sandringham 4th. Chris ran the same time as Daniel Clark in the first lap and this was ranked equal seventh fastest on the day.
Matt Coloe ran his fastest time around the tan, recording 11 m 31 for the fourth leg and he stretched the lead over Geelong to 24 seconds, with Glenhuntly a further 31 seconds further back. This ranked 9th fastest time of the day. Sandringham, Doncaster and Knox had fallen out of contention. Barry Lynch was our fifth athlete and he was matched with Scott Rantall, Geelong’s second athlete in form. Rantall made a bold surge and caught Barry about two-thirds of the way around the Domain. Barry held on gamely, being perhaps eight metres behind Rantall at the conclusion of his lap. The official margin was a deficit of one second. Andrew White was our last Division 1 runner and he had a look of quiet determination about him as he took over. He had caught his Geelong opponent, Brett Coleman well before Anderson Street and pulled well clear to reach the finish line in first place, 38 seconds in advance of Geelong. Glenhuntly came third, 62 seconds adrift of Geelong. Andrew recorded the fourth fastest senior men’s time of the day.
Geelong’s second place in the Tan relays propelled it to its first Winter Premiership, breaking a ten year domination by Glenhuntly. Our Tan Relay performance could well be a portent for 2008, when we look sure to be more competitive.
Our Division 3 team was also ascendant, with particularly good legs from Bouchaib Chefnaoui (11:37), Adrian Vincent (12:04) and Otmane Tirhazouine (12:05). The Division 3 team won by 58 seconds from Geelong with Ringwood two-and-a-half minutes further back in third place.
Our Divsion5 team was placed 6th, though two teams which beat Box Hill were recorded as competing by invitation in the official results. Our Division 7 team was placed fourth.
Our 40 plus team (Graeme Olden, John Meagher and Chris O’Connor) placed second, being overtaken for the gold medal position late in the last lap.
The Under 20 men’s team, comprising Alex Dioretes, Mark Poli and Matthew O’Connor won the silver medal, finishing a little over 90 seconds behind Knox. Our Under 20 team won the Winter Premiership on the back of excellent performances by all team members throughout the season.
Box Hill’s Under 16 Men’s team placed 5th in their race.
Box Hill Women placed 8th in the Women’s Division 1 race with the two fastest performances coming from Amanda Harper and Emma Steer. The Division 2 team, competing by invitation came 11th. The two main highlights were bronze medals for the Under 20 Women’s team (Hayley Tomlinson, Kate Wall and Coreena Cleland) and the Under 18 team (Helen McRae, Ali Wilson and Harriet Hodgkinson) in an even performance. Hayley Tomlinson, in particular, ran a very smart lap recording 14:00, clearly our fastest female performance on the day. Our Under 16 female team placed 5th in their relay competition.
At the time of writing, official results for the Winter premiership were not available on the Athletic Victoria Web site. Geelong won the Division 1 Championship from Glenhuntly with Box Hill third. Our Division 3 team is expected to finish in the top three positions. With the larger number of junior teams competing in the Tan relays, we are hopeful that this will lead to improved results for our club and stronger representation during 2008.
Thanks to club members and supporters who acted as officials and recorders for our various teams. Ian Sloane, Chris O’Connor, Graeme Olden and Julie Milner are thanked for their efforts during the Winter season, providing the administrative support for our strong performances. Many thanks also to Megan Sloane and Chris O’Connor for providing a wonderful spread for afternoon tea after all the races which was enjoyed by our athletes, parents and friends.
Division 1 Individual Performances Leg Runner Time Pos Leader BH time 1 Daniel Clark 11: 27 2 11:10 11:27 2 Steve Dinneen 11: 32 1 22:59 22:59 3 Chris Hamer 11: 27 1 34:26 34:26 4 Matt Coloe 11: 31 1 45:57 45:57 5 Barry Lynch 11: 43 2 57:39 57:40 6 Andrew White 11: 15 1 68:56 68:56 Division 1 Performance Running Sheet Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4 Leg 5 Leg 6 Knox 11:10 BH 22:59 BH 34:26 BH 45:57 Geel 57:39 BH 68:56 BH 11:27 Sand 23:19 Geel 34:35 Geel 46:21 BH 57:40 Geel 69:34 Sand 11:32 GH 23:27 GH 35:10 GH 46:52 GH 59:07 GH 70:36 Geel 11:38 Knox 23:29 Sand 35:54 Sand 48:19 Don 60:16 Don 72:41 GH 11:46 Geel 23:31 Knox 36:03 Don 48:21 Knox 61:00 Knox 74:05 Rich 11:48 Don 23:48 Don 36:09 Knox 48:49 Sand 61:21 Sand 74:23 Division 1 Placings 1. Box Hill 68:56 2. Geelong 69:34 3. Glenhuntly 70:36 4. Doncaster 72:41 Leading Times (Open) Mark Tucker Geelong 11:04 Ben Toomey Knox 11:10 Liam Adams Essendon 11:12 Andrew White Box Hill 11:15 Scott Rantall Geelong 11.17 A McGregor Nunawading 11.25 Daniel Clark Box Hill 11.27 Chris Hamer Box Hill 11.27 Matt Coloe Box Hill 11.31 David Ruschena Glenhuntly 11.31 Daniel Hornery Sandringham 11.31 Steve Dinneen Box Hill 11.32 Bouchaib Chefnaoui Box Hill 11.37 Division 3 Times Adrian Vincent 12:04 Otmaine Tirhazouine 12:05 Paul Boxshall 12:18 David Jiminez 12:57 Bouchaib Chefnaoui 11:37 Division 3 Placings 1. Box Hill 61:01 2. Geelong 61:59 3. Ringwood 64:29 Division 5 Times Steve Griffin 13:30 Chris Wall 13:23 Fu Heng 15:56 John Vaitkunas 13:31 Division 5 Placings 1. Frankston (Inv) 49:29 2. APS (Inv) 52:08 3. Knox 54:20 4. Collingwood 55:36 5. Bendigo 55:37 6. Box Hill 56:20 Division 7 Times David Stevens 16:32 Braden Cuss 17:03 Scott Boxshall 14:26 Andrew Nagle 14:21 Division 7 Placings 1. Wendouree 57:37 2. Collingwood 57:42 3. Waverley 62:04 4. Box Hill 62:22 40+ Division John Meagher 13:01 Graeme Olden 12:18 Chris O'Connor 12:51 1. APS 38:00 2. Box Hill 38:10 3. Keilor SB 38:37 Under 20 Men's Times Alex Dioretes 12:10 Mark Poli 12:18 Matthew O?Connor 12:46 Cameron Nagle 15:31 Under 20 Men's Team Placings 1. Knox 35:37 2. Box Hill 37:13 3. Doncaster 38:00 Under 16 Men's Times Danny Krause 15:46 Mitchell Milnes 14:28 Michael Dowel 12:55 Under 16 Men's Team Placings 1. Essendon 38:06 2. Williamstown 39:30 3. Malvern 41:50 4. Knox 43:03 5. Box Hill 43:09
Division 1 Women's Times Amanda Harper 14:56 Emma Steer 14:56 Kris Hopkins 16:17 Joc Keage 15:17 Division 1 Women's Team Placings 1. Knox 53:46 2. Eureka 57:18 3. Glenhuntly 57:20 8. Box Hill 61:29 Division 2 Women's Times Kate Ackland 16:45 Suzanne Andrews 16:12 Megan Sloane 16:06 Rosemary Cleland 18:41 (Inv) Division 2 Women's Team Placings 1. Ringwood 57:27 2. Doncaster 57:50 3. Ballarat YCW 59:27 11. Box Hill 67:44 (Inv) Under 20 Women's Team Hayley Tomlinson 14:00 Kate Wall 16:06 Coreena Cleland 16:21 Under 20 Women's Team Placings 1. Keilor St Bernards 44:27 2. Geelong 45:40 3. Box Hill 46:27 Under 18 Women's Team Helen McRae 15:27 Ali Wilson 15:33 Harriet Hodgkinson 15:47 Under 18 Women's Team 2 Olivia Turnbull 17:28 Emily De Luca 16:05 Bridget Aughton 15:44 Under 18 Women's team Placings 1. Doncaster 43:47 2. Glenhuntly 44:46 3. Box Hill 46:47 5. Box Hill 2 49:17 (Inv) Under 16 Women's Team Charlotte Mahoney 17:04 Amy Carrig 17:43 Anna Carrig 15:39 Under 16 Women's Team Placings 1. Glenhuntly 45:16 2. Essendon 46:43 3. Ballarat YCW 47:53 4. MPA 48:01 5. Box Hill 50:26
