Athletics Victoria XCR08 Series
Lardner Park, Drouin - Saturday, 3 May 2008
8 km Cross Country

Cold and wet conditions greeted the Coburg Harriers for the second round of the Athletics Victoria XCR08 winter series. To be held in farmland just outside of Warragul, this course near the small town of Drouin offered steep hills, ditches to negotiate and a gate to steeplechase. This course was last used in the 2004 season and from that day eight Coburg Harriers were tackling the course again

Overnight and morning rain ensured the course was slippery in places, muddy in others. In all some twenty Coburg Harriers lined up with the men to do two four kilometre laps for eight kilometres all up and the women's race was 6 kilometres in length

This meandering course starts on the flattest section of the course before encountering a large, steep hill through a narrow gateway only 150 metres from the start. Runners encounter a long uphill section about 1.5 kilometres into the race which leads up to a closed gate, with athletes having to jump onto and/or over it.

A little further on one is greeted with a series of ditches, with four jumps over a section of about 200 metres. You then meet a short steep uphill of about 50 metres. Some relief with about 400 metres of flat trails before hitting road for another short uphill. You are now at the top of the course. Another short flat section and you turn left into a long steep downhill that is almost impossible not to almost roll down. A sharp right turn at the bottom - careful not to smash into the fencing and you are back at the start

Fastest Coburg Harrier on the day was Jeremy Grey, who was disappointed with his time of 29:51. This should be compared against the AV event over the same distance last season which saw Grey record 28:38, albeit on a flatter course. Perhaps most telling is that this time is only twenty seconds quicker when a much less fit Jeremy Grey ran this course in 2004

Better performances came from Josh Traine who was simply outstanding. This 16 year old ever improving athlete was seventh Coburg Harrier home and every race brings a new personal best for this versatile athlete. This could be a breakthrough season for Josh, who enjoyed a very good summer season

Glenn Caroll impressed with 33:15, which was an encouraging performance in his first competitive race back after the 100 km Trailwalker. Sam Tabit, more suited to the longer events,  would have been pleased with his 33:27 and what a finish staged by Mark Kelly and 15 year old Josh Persson with only two seconds between them at the finish. Kelly recorded a faster time than at the 2004 event

Remarkably the fastest time for Division 4 and 5 were recorded by the same athletes as in Round 1. Rohan King was fastest for Division 4 and Mohammed Reese led our Division 5 team home, in a performance that was much improved on his 2004 effort

The women’s team were bolstered by the season debut of Australian 100 km World Cup representative Deanne Nobbs. Stacey Van Dueren ran very well and looks to be getting back into some form after her long lay off from injury, while Daniella Modesti and Johanna Hayes completed our Division 1 women’s team on the day

To the results and a fantastic, if not surprising, result for our second team who took third place in Division 4, while our Division 3 men improved from the previous round to come home in sixth place. Unfortunately, we were one athlete short of completing a fourth team so did not score any points in Division 6, which was a bit tough for Daryl Thomson, Bernie Goggin and Ken Carte

As always a big thank you to our official on the day in the still injured Philip Van Dueren

SPEEDY GONZALEZ AWARDS

Division 3 Men - Jeremy Grey (29:51)
Division 4 Men - Rohan King (34:10)
Division 5 Men - Mohammed Reese (37:03)
Division 1 Women - Stacey Van Dueren (24:39)
Division 4 Women - Rita Pana (30:40)

BIG IMPROVER AWARD (from 2004 event)

Mohammed Reese – 3:55
Mark Kelly – 1:42
Jeremy Grey – 0:21
Stacey Van Dueren – 0:02

ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD

The award for this round goes to Josh Persson and Josh Traine, both of whom elected to tackle the men’s event, rather than the junior 4 km race. Persson is an emerging talent who works very hard at his running – he was very pleased with this run as were club officials. And Traine continues to go from strength to strength. Both these gutsy runners are real talents for the future

BLOOPER OF THE DAY

This was a comedy of errors. Not only did Jeremy Grey leave his house so late that the two hour journey had him arrive at Drouin ten minutes before the start of the race, but he also left his directions behind. A couple of frantic mobile phone calls to the ever reliable and trusty Daniel Norris had Jeremy reach his destination in just enough time