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, 11^th, Peter Green 16^th Andre Waring, 26^th, and Nick Baggott, 27^th. 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 23^rd and Nick moved to 21^st. 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 30^th, it appeared, and Alex Ritchie also in the under 20 race, was around 55^th.  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 11^th place. Steve Dinneen followed in 13^th position.  Peter Green picked up another spot in the last loop to place 16^th.  Andre Waring came in 24^tt, followed by Klarie McIntyre 36^th, which completed the Division 1 team.

Melbourne University had runners placing 4^th, 7^th, 15^th, 17^th, 27^th and 29^th, 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 36^th, followed by Chris Bradford, who ran a very impressive 46^th (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 50^th.  John Meagher placed 59^th and he also won the gold medal for the 50 – 54 age group. The other team members were Welday Mebrahtu, 74^th and David Jimenez, 88^th.

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 9^th. This was an excellent effort also.  And Carlos Norman rounded out the team finishing 21^st.  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 8^th 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 14^th place. Georgie Meehan was 35th, Pia Hunter ran solidly to claim 66^th position.  Amanda Harper claimed 85^th, Rachel Johnson finished 120^th and Kerry Putt came 160^th.  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 10^th, but was omitted from the provisional results, and Chloe Rosenberg who finished 12^th.

 

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

12. Chloe Rosenberg               Box Hill               12:37