 |
 |
June 25th, 2008
Posted by Dave Barnett
ANSW State Cross-Country Championships Report - Nowra
The tough, unrelenting cross-country course at Willandra, near Nowra, tests the hearts and minds of all who run it. The day also tests the commitment of those who make the journey to represent the club whether they be elite athletes or normal club athletes. They may have different motives for running but many do it not for individual glory but are just willing to support their club in the Winter Club championship or, alternatively, their teams in the winter team's premiership. Either way it is not so much about the first runner home in each team but often the fourth runner home that makes the difference. This is where KJs are special. They have significant depth in talent to make up for a difference if someone can't make it or fails valiantly because of injury.
This cold, blustery, winter's day at Willandra proved without any shadow of a doubt the die-hard nature of our runners and there were some excellent performances in the muddy conditions. I can't mention them all but Jules Cleary put in a super run in the U12's and Joshua Head was also outstanding in the same age group with a 4th place at only 9yrs old. Other good runs came from Holly Twitchen (U14F), Miles Waring (3rd in U16's) and Ben Scollary, also in the U16's.
In the seniors Lorraine Hince put in a sensational second lap to mow down several of the best runners in the State, including Noni Clarke, Brook Simpson and Magda Poulos (ANSW Distance Runner of the Year last year), to come in 4th place in the senior women's race. Finally, Marty Weston also put in a blistering run in the Open men's race, one full of enthusiasm that left him with everything taken out of the petrol tank.
I arrived about an hour before the start of the races and found that the cold southerly wind was ripping through my KJ tracksuit making me wish that I had put on something much warmer. I was not alone and many of the terrific turn out of about 85-90 KJs huddled behind the KJs van or just withstood the harsh conditions bravely. Great effort in the U12's race with around 9 girls and 5 boys lining up on the start line. Off they went with James Seal slipping momentarily in the first rush before re-gathering himself - great runner this little kid with lot's of potential at 7 years of age - he certainly set about pulling the others back, which he did.
There was no stopping the Sutherland kid from winning. He was twice the size of most other kids and there was no doubt that his Sudanese ancestry was going to propel him to a winning time that was faster than the U14's, comparatively speaking. Josh Head was always worrying the other leaders and Jules Cleary was another to impress in fighting it out all the way to the line with James De Luca. Valiant was the operative word as the U12 team tried but just missed out on the gold medal after three count backs.
In the U12 girls race Jordy Gregson ran superbly, along with Campbell Rutty, to again just miss out to the Sutherland team in their quest for the gold medal. Little Hannah Preo made a great debut and would not have been disappointed to follow in the footsteps of an equally fleet Kristen Martinoski. Likewise the other U12 girls contributed greatly to a large points haul for KJs in the Winter Club trophy.
The U14 boy's race was an equally competitive affair and Hamish Paine and Christian Tozer were right on the heels of Morgan McDonald (RBH), one of the best age runners in Australia. Christian, unfortunately, due to a toe injury he suffered a few weeks back, had to pull out leaving Hamish to clinch 2nd position and an automatic place in the NSW team for the nationals. The loss of Christian did have an affect on our chances of a team gold medal but KJs still had sufficient depth to get the bronze team medal.
Likewise in the U14 girl's race we had to settle for bronze with a strong Illawong team getting the numbers well ahead of us in the final count. Holly Twitchen ran an extremely fine race, with Jessica Hull also contributing to KJs sound performance. Olivia Lavelle and Caitlin Brown followed only seconds behind and Eileesha Smith showed great improvement as she worked her way through the field in the later stages of the race. Again, she was one of the important 8 U14 girls who scored valuable points for KJs.
The U16M, U16F and U18F race over 4K was a very fast affair with a great start and a shuffling for positions as they turned the corner and made their way round the lake. Miles Waring was not about to leave himself wondering why and immediately set himself to stay with the leaders, come what may. In the end he won the bronze individual medal by keeping top class athlete, Nathan Derriman of RBH, out of the placings. Not far behind came an extremely competitive Ben Scollary, who always excels on the Willandra course. Both Hunter and RBH, led by the eventual winner, Zach Rea, did have the personnel to keep us out of the gold position and we had to settle for bronze. What I did like was Kyle Eardley who turned up with his broken arm in plaster and asking which team I would like him to run in, the U16's or U18's? It didn't matter to him much either way as long as he could help the club.
Same in the girls. Another great run by Bree Jones who gained the individual bronze medal in the U16's, after closing in fast on second place over the last stages, only to fail by the slenderest of margins, just 1sec behind second place and 5secs behind the eventual winner, Chloe Douglas of Sutherland - so near yet so far! With Sarah Carli and Elyse Foster contributing, the U16's only just missed out on the bronze medal and finished unrewarded in 4th place. The U18F race was almost as competitive and Madison Rutter held her own with an excellent fourth place against some of the best girls in the State. Apparently her mountain running abilities had her leading over the mountain but the superior track speed of the other top runners held sway in the critical down hill section. Again, KJs just failed to get the gold medal and had to be satisfied with the silver.
Well, the U20M race had to bring us good luck and for the first time it did. With Ryan Gregson leading the way with a one and half minute victory over Chris McDonald of Sutherland he became KJs first individual gold medal winner of the day in a time of 26.07 for the 8K. It was not the length of his victory that mattered so much but the ease in which he ran. I am sure that had he been in the senior's race he would have been one of the only one's to go with Russell Chin when he made his move - then what would have happened we will never know. Bart McPherson put in a smart performance as did Daniel Bulmer who had come all the way down from Tweed Heads to run for KJs. Excellent run by Alastair Day who came in less than a minute behind Daniel to clinch the teams gold medal for KJs, the first of the day.
Meanwhile, in the Women's Open event, we had a roll up of 14 determined ladies ready to take on Sutherland who normally out last KJs in this event and so they should since, along with SSR, they were at the top of the ladies open premiership. Lorraine Hince's chances took a bit of a dive when she slipped over at the start and she had a formidable number of runners to overtake before she could get herself back in contention. What followed was one of the runs of the day.
By the end of the first lap Lorraine had worked herself into about 10th place so she had not let the mishap upset her in any way. There were a formidable bunch of runners in front of her including two of the top Sutherland runners. Nothing more was expected of her and KJs chances of a medal had receded significantly. Not in Lorraine's mind! She methodically set about hauling most of those in front of her including the two Sutherland runners. Eric and I were doing the numbers when the women crossed the finishing line and to our surprise it was Lorraine that was bearing down on third place with every bit of determination she could muster, followed a short time later by Anita in 8th place.
Having two runners in the top ten gave us some confidence that KJs may get a medal but Sutherland with three runners in already and SSR and HIL's following suit this prospect started to disappear. Our third runner, Alisa Williams, came home in 17th place with another fine run so the gold medal was again anybody's with all four teams sweating on the fourth runner home. Who would it be?
KJs was the rank outsider and their fourth runner had to beat the fourth runner of the other teams by several places for us to win gold. Janice Henderson came in sight and finished in a very credible 28th place so we had a chance now - where was the Sutherland runner, the Striders too and the HIL's fourth runner.
The Striders runner came one place behind Janice and that put them about 3 places behind us overall and out of contention for gold. The HIL's runner came in 37th place which also put them out of contention too. Then the fourth Sutherland appeared just behind in 40th place - it was going to be tight but the numbers added up - KJs had won gold - the first time in many years for the women's open race - good one Lorraine, Anita, Alisa and Janice!
This meant weakening the 35+F team to achieve this day in the sun for KJs but Narelle Smith, Pia Angelucci, Heather Rutty and Cathy Hewitt all ran exceptionally well to win a silver medal and still keep us in contention for the premiership. Some good individual runs from Kelly Owens, Jane Cleary, Suzie and Jana Mumby who made up a solid Women's Open B team that deservedly took out the Womeen's Open B championship.
Whilst all this was going on the Men's Open event was taking place and I just managed to get a glimpse of the leaders go by to start their second lap. KJs were well represented at all levels and I noted Stephen Brown in the leading bunch of three containing Russell Chin and Jeff Hunt, last years Australian X/C champion. Next came Barry Keem in about sixth place looking a bit uncomfortable due to the stomach problems that eventually caused him to pull out from the race. Behind came an avalanche of KJ runners headed by Murray Smith who, as usual, was running his normal well controlled and coordinated race. Then it was back to do the final calculations in the women's race and to submit the teams to the organisers. Before I knew it, it was time to return to the finish line to get the finishing order for the Men's Open race. Could Steve Brown hold on to his third place?
Absolutely no doubt about it! With the cool air of a mountain runner he breezed across the line to win the individual bronze medal for the second year in a row. There was no taking away from Russell's commanding victory in winning his third ANSW race of the year by a margin of just a little over a minute. The state of play, however, regarding which team would win the gold medal for the Open men's event, was still very much in question. Sydney Striders again had several runners home in the top 20 but KJs were making a surge to fill the all important first six runners in their team before anyone else - it was a direct contest between KJs and SSR who would get there first. The only way it could possibly be done was if KJs could use the best placed finishers from the elite 35+ runners that we had.
Would it make a difference? Well it nearly did. Murray Smith ran superbly to come home in 18th place followed by Marty Weston and Paul Micale in 28th and 29th places. With Elad not far behind, followed a short time later by Blair Day, we still remained a chance and doing the numbers again we held our breath as we put our team sheet directly to the organisers so that no one would know our selections. After a long wait the gold medal winner was announced and, unfortunately, this time it was Striders who won by the slenderest of margins (7 pts) to stop KJs from winning both the men's and women's teams events at the State Championships.
In the 35+M event our "second" team rose to the occasion and Done, Neil, Stephen Smart and John O'Connell (promoted from the 45's) just narrowly failed to win the gold medal, again by the slenderest of margins - 3pts. Great run from Darrin James who nearly caught El Presidente with a particularly strong run over the last lap. There were also a number of fine individual performances from the other KJ runners who continued the good performance of the Open Men's B team's so far this year with a second placing behind Bankstown.
One couldn't do justice to all the efforts made at Nowra but everyone did their best.
Although it is not over until the fat lady sings we should go into the next ANSW event at Abbotsbury with a commanding lead in the Winter Club trophy and to continue the extremely close fight to wrest the Men's Open premiership away from Striders. Currently we are only 5pts behind with the short cross country and the road relays in Wollongong to come next. When all the results are available from Nowra I will post the current standings in the Winter Club Trophy and Teams Premierships on the website.
This cold, blustery, winter's day at Willandra proved without any shadow of a doubt the die-hard nature of our runners and there were some excellent performances in the muddy conditions. I can't mention them all but Jules Cleary put in a super run in the U12's and Joshua Head was also outstanding in the same age group with a 4th place at only 9yrs old. Other good runs came from Holly Twitchen (U14F), Miles Waring (3rd in U16's) and Ben Scollary, also in the U16's.
In the seniors Lorraine Hince put in a sensational second lap to mow down several of the best runners in the State, including Noni Clarke, Brook Simpson and Magda Poulos (ANSW Distance Runner of the Year last year), to come in 4th place in the senior women's race. Finally, Marty Weston also put in a blistering run in the Open men's race, one full of enthusiasm that left him with everything taken out of the petrol tank.
I arrived about an hour before the start of the races and found that the cold southerly wind was ripping through my KJ tracksuit making me wish that I had put on something much warmer. I was not alone and many of the terrific turn out of about 85-90 KJs huddled behind the KJs van or just withstood the harsh conditions bravely. Great effort in the U12's race with around 9 girls and 5 boys lining up on the start line. Off they went with James Seal slipping momentarily in the first rush before re-gathering himself - great runner this little kid with lot's of potential at 7 years of age - he certainly set about pulling the others back, which he did.
There was no stopping the Sutherland kid from winning. He was twice the size of most other kids and there was no doubt that his Sudanese ancestry was going to propel him to a winning time that was faster than the U14's, comparatively speaking. Josh Head was always worrying the other leaders and Jules Cleary was another to impress in fighting it out all the way to the line with James De Luca. Valiant was the operative word as the U12 team tried but just missed out on the gold medal after three count backs.
In the U12 girls race Jordy Gregson ran superbly, along with Campbell Rutty, to again just miss out to the Sutherland team in their quest for the gold medal. Little Hannah Preo made a great debut and would not have been disappointed to follow in the footsteps of an equally fleet Kristen Martinoski. Likewise the other U12 girls contributed greatly to a large points haul for KJs in the Winter Club trophy.
The U14 boy's race was an equally competitive affair and Hamish Paine and Christian Tozer were right on the heels of Morgan McDonald (RBH), one of the best age runners in Australia. Christian, unfortunately, due to a toe injury he suffered a few weeks back, had to pull out leaving Hamish to clinch 2nd position and an automatic place in the NSW team for the nationals. The loss of Christian did have an affect on our chances of a team gold medal but KJs still had sufficient depth to get the bronze team medal.
Likewise in the U14 girl's race we had to settle for bronze with a strong Illawong team getting the numbers well ahead of us in the final count. Holly Twitchen ran an extremely fine race, with Jessica Hull also contributing to KJs sound performance. Olivia Lavelle and Caitlin Brown followed only seconds behind and Eileesha Smith showed great improvement as she worked her way through the field in the later stages of the race. Again, she was one of the important 8 U14 girls who scored valuable points for KJs.
The U16M, U16F and U18F race over 4K was a very fast affair with a great start and a shuffling for positions as they turned the corner and made their way round the lake. Miles Waring was not about to leave himself wondering why and immediately set himself to stay with the leaders, come what may. In the end he won the bronze individual medal by keeping top class athlete, Nathan Derriman of RBH, out of the placings. Not far behind came an extremely competitive Ben Scollary, who always excels on the Willandra course. Both Hunter and RBH, led by the eventual winner, Zach Rea, did have the personnel to keep us out of the gold position and we had to settle for bronze. What I did like was Kyle Eardley who turned up with his broken arm in plaster and asking which team I would like him to run in, the U16's or U18's? It didn't matter to him much either way as long as he could help the club.
Same in the girls. Another great run by Bree Jones who gained the individual bronze medal in the U16's, after closing in fast on second place over the last stages, only to fail by the slenderest of margins, just 1sec behind second place and 5secs behind the eventual winner, Chloe Douglas of Sutherland - so near yet so far! With Sarah Carli and Elyse Foster contributing, the U16's only just missed out on the bronze medal and finished unrewarded in 4th place. The U18F race was almost as competitive and Madison Rutter held her own with an excellent fourth place against some of the best girls in the State. Apparently her mountain running abilities had her leading over the mountain but the superior track speed of the other top runners held sway in the critical down hill section. Again, KJs just failed to get the gold medal and had to be satisfied with the silver.
Well, the U20M race had to bring us good luck and for the first time it did. With Ryan Gregson leading the way with a one and half minute victory over Chris McDonald of Sutherland he became KJs first individual gold medal winner of the day in a time of 26.07 for the 8K. It was not the length of his victory that mattered so much but the ease in which he ran. I am sure that had he been in the senior's race he would have been one of the only one's to go with Russell Chin when he made his move - then what would have happened we will never know. Bart McPherson put in a smart performance as did Daniel Bulmer who had come all the way down from Tweed Heads to run for KJs. Excellent run by Alastair Day who came in less than a minute behind Daniel to clinch the teams gold medal for KJs, the first of the day.
Meanwhile, in the Women's Open event, we had a roll up of 14 determined ladies ready to take on Sutherland who normally out last KJs in this event and so they should since, along with SSR, they were at the top of the ladies open premiership. Lorraine Hince's chances took a bit of a dive when she slipped over at the start and she had a formidable number of runners to overtake before she could get herself back in contention. What followed was one of the runs of the day.
By the end of the first lap Lorraine had worked herself into about 10th place so she had not let the mishap upset her in any way. There were a formidable bunch of runners in front of her including two of the top Sutherland runners. Nothing more was expected of her and KJs chances of a medal had receded significantly. Not in Lorraine's mind! She methodically set about hauling most of those in front of her including the two Sutherland runners. Eric and I were doing the numbers when the women crossed the finishing line and to our surprise it was Lorraine that was bearing down on third place with every bit of determination she could muster, followed a short time later by Anita in 8th place.
Having two runners in the top ten gave us some confidence that KJs may get a medal but Sutherland with three runners in already and SSR and HIL's following suit this prospect started to disappear. Our third runner, Alisa Williams, came home in 17th place with another fine run so the gold medal was again anybody's with all four teams sweating on the fourth runner home. Who would it be?
KJs was the rank outsider and their fourth runner had to beat the fourth runner of the other teams by several places for us to win gold. Janice Henderson came in sight and finished in a very credible 28th place so we had a chance now - where was the Sutherland runner, the Striders too and the HIL's fourth runner.
The Striders runner came one place behind Janice and that put them about 3 places behind us overall and out of contention for gold. The HIL's runner came in 37th place which also put them out of contention too. Then the fourth Sutherland appeared just behind in 40th place - it was going to be tight but the numbers added up - KJs had won gold - the first time in many years for the women's open race - good one Lorraine, Anita, Alisa and Janice!
This meant weakening the 35+F team to achieve this day in the sun for KJs but Narelle Smith, Pia Angelucci, Heather Rutty and Cathy Hewitt all ran exceptionally well to win a silver medal and still keep us in contention for the premiership. Some good individual runs from Kelly Owens, Jane Cleary, Suzie and Jana Mumby who made up a solid Women's Open B team that deservedly took out the Womeen's Open B championship.
Whilst all this was going on the Men's Open event was taking place and I just managed to get a glimpse of the leaders go by to start their second lap. KJs were well represented at all levels and I noted Stephen Brown in the leading bunch of three containing Russell Chin and Jeff Hunt, last years Australian X/C champion. Next came Barry Keem in about sixth place looking a bit uncomfortable due to the stomach problems that eventually caused him to pull out from the race. Behind came an avalanche of KJ runners headed by Murray Smith who, as usual, was running his normal well controlled and coordinated race. Then it was back to do the final calculations in the women's race and to submit the teams to the organisers. Before I knew it, it was time to return to the finish line to get the finishing order for the Men's Open race. Could Steve Brown hold on to his third place?
Absolutely no doubt about it! With the cool air of a mountain runner he breezed across the line to win the individual bronze medal for the second year in a row. There was no taking away from Russell's commanding victory in winning his third ANSW race of the year by a margin of just a little over a minute. The state of play, however, regarding which team would win the gold medal for the Open men's event, was still very much in question. Sydney Striders again had several runners home in the top 20 but KJs were making a surge to fill the all important first six runners in their team before anyone else - it was a direct contest between KJs and SSR who would get there first. The only way it could possibly be done was if KJs could use the best placed finishers from the elite 35+ runners that we had.
Would it make a difference? Well it nearly did. Murray Smith ran superbly to come home in 18th place followed by Marty Weston and Paul Micale in 28th and 29th places. With Elad not far behind, followed a short time later by Blair Day, we still remained a chance and doing the numbers again we held our breath as we put our team sheet directly to the organisers so that no one would know our selections. After a long wait the gold medal winner was announced and, unfortunately, this time it was Striders who won by the slenderest of margins (7 pts) to stop KJs from winning both the men's and women's teams events at the State Championships.
In the 35+M event our "second" team rose to the occasion and Done, Neil, Stephen Smart and John O'Connell (promoted from the 45's) just narrowly failed to win the gold medal, again by the slenderest of margins - 3pts. Great run from Darrin James who nearly caught El Presidente with a particularly strong run over the last lap. There were also a number of fine individual performances from the other KJ runners who continued the good performance of the Open Men's B team's so far this year with a second placing behind Bankstown.
One couldn't do justice to all the efforts made at Nowra but everyone did their best.
Although it is not over until the fat lady sings we should go into the next ANSW event at Abbotsbury with a commanding lead in the Winter Club trophy and to continue the extremely close fight to wrest the Men's Open premiership away from Striders. Currently we are only 5pts behind with the short cross country and the road relays in Wollongong to come next. When all the results are available from Nowra I will post the current standings in the Winter Club Trophy and Teams Premierships on the website.
