Athletics Victoria XCR08 Series
Bundoora - Saturday, 26 July 2008
12 km Victorian Cross Country Championships

After a very cold start to the day, surprisingly mild conditions greeted athletes for the Athletics Victoria Cross Country Championships, the race used as the selection trials for the Victorian team to compete at the Australian Cross Country Championships.

First up was the women's 8 km event, with the club fielding arguably it's strongest women's team for the season, with the inclusion of Sharee Sharam. Solid again was Stacey Van Dueren who finished in 28th place and once again won her age grup, extending her unbeaten run now to four seasons and what must be some twenty races.

Carmel Taylor was across the line next with Deanne Nobbs hot on her heels. This champion ultra marathon woman should be very pleased with her time. And next in was Sharee Sharam who worked hard throughout. At the finish, the team finished in ninth place for their best performance of the year and gives them a slight chance of pulling themselves out of the relegation zone, having made up two points on the team above them

Unfortunately our second women's team was one short on the day and therefore could not consolidate their second place on the Division 4 ladder. However, what a great run by Jo Francken, who was only just behind Sheree Sharam at the finish. And a pity the hard work of Johanna Hayes went unrewarded in terms of points but it was nevertheless an encouraging performance from this emerging runner

To the men’s race, and home first for the Harriers in 82nd place was Jeremy Grey who was quietly satisfied with his consistently paced performance. Less pleased was Liam Magee who despite a brace effort with 45.47 was not happy with how he finished the race

Next home for the Harriers was the sorely missed Luong Dao. This versatile athlete is vital to the top team’s chances of a good performance and again it proved today. When you look at the results for our top team, you would see that without Dao the team is at least two places worse off.

Fighting all the way to the line with Dao was captain Philip van Dueren barely five seconds behind. And in one of his best performances to date, Rohan King held off a fast finishing John Braszell to nab the last spot in the club’s first team. King will be pleased to note that along with his fantastic performance that he was part of our equal best performed men’s team of the season, with our top team finishing in third place

And so it was that John Braszell led the club’s Division Four men’s team home. Not too far behind was Ken Souyave who with this performance moved into fourth place on the individual Men’s 55+ ladder. What another great overage athlete to put alongside Stacey van Dueren and Souyabe at the minute is coming into a rich vein of form. Next home was Mark Kelly, with junior athlete Josh Traine next to finish recording a massive personal best.. This was a brave performance by Traine in what would have been one of his longest races for the season. Anchoring the team home was marathon specialist Rob Virgona and he would see the team finish in a respectable sixth place.

The Division Five men’s team was led home by Brian Delaney. Daniel Norris was next home, with Len Hallett and Bernie Goggin completing the team. They would finish the event in ninth place. Daryl Thomson was home after Goggin in what would have been our Division Six team.

As always, thank you to all those that assisted in setting up the course. A very special mention to Bernie Goggin who coordinated the operation with surgical precision. Thank you also to Diane Brimacombe, Chris Harrap and Jackie Steel who acted as recorders and officials for the club

 

SPEEDY GONZALES AWARD

Men's Division 3 (12 km) – Jeremy Grey (43.33)
Men's Division 4 (12 km) – John Braszell (48.53)

Men’s Division 5 (12 km) – Brian Delaney (58.57)

Women's Division 1 (8 km) - Stacey van Dueren (31.33)

MOST IMPROVED AWARD (based on 2007 event)

Well done to the recipients of this year’s award given that last year’s course was short. The following athletes are to be commended :

Josh Traine ( -4:38)
Rohan King ( -1:54)
Joanne Francken ( -1:04)
Robert Virgona (- 0:04)
Daniel Norris (- 0:11)

ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD

BLOOPER OF DAY 

Like the last round, this is harsh but your correspondent was desperate for a good story this week. Your spy has been told that when the course was measured it was fifty metres too short and had to be let out a little. A corpse of new trees was blamed for the error. Apparently some new shrubs had been planted on the course where there was open ground before

Perhaps more appropriately, Blooper of the Week could go to the Coburg Harrier who neglected to inform Haris Polycarpou that his daughter Leah would not be required for club duties, with father Haris turning up with Leah and her brother Saul in tow!