Club Champs Day 1 - 5 Km 2007
There are spectacular views from Cowling road towards the Mountain and Ranges; trouble is though, when you have a South Easterly it makes for some difficult walking. Having woken up several times during the night because of the wind I didn’t expect too many to start for this one. How wrong can you be! Everyone must be really enjoying their walking this year, we had 26 on the start line and 6 helpers (they were the cold ones – so many thanks).
The club champs over 5K this year are Glenn Burrell (Men); Rachel Gilberd (Women); Natasha Lowl (W19) and Brian O’Shea (Vets). In the Junior 1.5K Dianna Moratti took line honours from Renee Moratti. Of course none of this tells the story at all! There was some really close racing before the champions were crowned!
The tussle between Rachel, Vanessa and Jeff was fantastic to watch. The 5K is definitely Rachel’s distance; whereas a tough 10K is Vanessa’s. Right from the start there was nothing to separate these 3, what a pity Sandra was injured because it would have been a race between the 4. The theory beforehand was that Jeff and Vanessa would let Rachel lead for the first 2.5K and then their superior strength would allow them to open up a lead on the next uphill section. This lead would have to be substantial because Rachel’s technique and speed on the downhill is superior to theirs. That was the theory – what a load of hogwash! They basically stuck together the whole way and Rachel out-sprinted the other 2, beating Vanessa by 1 second and Jeff was a further 6 seconds back (think he just liked the view to be honest).
You would expect with such difficult conditions that most people would be struggling on the day; the opposite seemed to be true. There were several PBs achieved today. Birthday boy Denis had the best race I have seen from him. I personally expect to beat him over 5K, because he normally starts slowly and doesn’t get going to about 4K. Today though he went from the gun and I never had a chance, he did a very respectable 31’28 and with Mike in his age group threatens to give him a hurry up at the 10K champs. Whatever you are doing to get faster Denis, keep it up – 30 minutes is within your sights next year.
Valda must have had a very good breakfast this morning. She passed me with 1 ¼ K to go and accelerated away from me, I just had no answer! This I am guessing was a PB at 32’25.
The performance of the day though was Gaylene. You are either getting fitter or you are used to being “exposed” on the golf course in all conditions. Compared to your 10K times, this was a fantastic result with a time of 34’20.
The points trophy has really heated up with the latest results bunching the field. Alan is still in the lead, but at this moment the contest is wide open. Everyone had better get their calculators, slide rules and logarithms dusted off for next week’s all important estimated time event at De Havilland Drive.
Results:
Name
Senior Men 5K
Glenn Burrell
Mike Nield
Denis Hastie
Dave Wackrow
Eric Kemsley
Alan Clarke
Dave Barrett
Jeff Wells
Gordon
Masters 5K
Brian O'Shea
Arthur
Senior Women 5K
Natasha Lowl
Rachel Gilberd
Katie Tahere
Tanya Campbell
Vanessa Lowl
Valda Goodey
Michelle Nicholson
Denise Stewart-Jack
Anne Fraser
Gaylene Phillips
Marlene White
Junior 1.5K
Dianna Moratti
Renee Moratti
Timekeeper(s) Trevor and Sue
Helpers Marion, Richard, Tony and Sandra
Other time 5K Nick 0:32:33
