July 27, 2019
Box Hill’s Andre Waring took home a silver medal and stepped on to the podium for the first time at the 15km road championship in Ballarat on 27 July. It was another great day for the club, with our women winning Division 2, Division 4 and the 50+ Division. Our mens 50+ team also claimed gold.
By Ian Sloane
What a miraculous day in Ballarat! Although chilly, it was not freezing and there was practically no wind. These were the most perfect conditions that longer-term members could recall since 1982, a hot year when the race was contested at Fisherman’s Bend. Box Hill life member, Brian Lewry, a Ballarat resident, who came to watch the race, noted the rarity of an absence of wind, the glass-like conditions on Lake Wendouree and the lack of snow and ice on competitors.
Many of the competitors were slowed up en route by roadworks at Rockbank where two lanes of the highway were reduced to one lane with a traffic snarl that took up to 30 minutes to clear. Fortunately most, if not all, travelling to the Lake Wendouree course arrived in time to compete.
There were fewer competitors than is usual for AV races, and there were 142 female finishers and 366 male finishers in the 15 kilometre road championship, which was well down on the number of contestants racing in the 10 k road race and the 10 k cross country race.
The junior races involved one circuit of Lake Wendouree, and preceded the open events. Box Hill was represented by Kennedy Chen in the under 20 6 k road race. He placed 21st.
The senior race consisted an out-and-back loop of three kilometres and two clockwise loops of Lake Wendouree. Box Hill had 20 male competitors and nine female competitors. The men’s and women’s races were run simultaneously.
The race commenced at 2.30pm and the runners set off running in an anti-clockwise direction on the out-and-back 3km loop. When the leaders came into view there was a pack of 11 or 12 runners. This pack included Andy Buchanan, the eventual winner, Ryan Geard (Western Aths), Liam Cashin (Western Aths), Jack Davies (SSH), Tom Fawthorpe (Knox), Andre Waring (Box Hill) and Julian Spence (Ballarat). Andre held 9th position at this stage. Nick Baggott (about 20th), Steve Dinneen Klarie McIntyre (both in the top thirty), John Dutton, about 27th, and Alex Ritchie around 32nd made up the Division 1 team A second pack formed and it included Joshua Maisey (Doncaster), Tom Thorpe (SSH), Jack Holden (St Kevins), Jamie Wagstaff (SSH) and Callum Drake (Western Aths).
At the completion of the first of the two full laps of the lake Andy Buchanan had developed an extremely wide gap over the rest of the field. The pursuing group had been whittled away to six runners, including Spence, Davies who was 4th, Andre Waring 5th (and looking extremely fluent and strong) and Thorpe. Nick Baggott passed the 9km point in 23rd, with Steve Dinneen, 26th, Klarie McIntyre, 27th Alex Ritchie 37th and John Dutton 40th, completing the Box Hill Premier Division team. St Stephens Harriers had six athletes in the top 25, so it was clear that they were in the lead in the team’s race. Western Aths had a strong showing with five runners through before our last Division 1 team member. Their sixth team member was approximately 50th, so it was evident that we would be struggling to win the team’s race.
Zac Hunter crossed in 67th place, John Meagher was 70th, Ross Thomas was 72nd, supported by Russell Clowes, Michael Vaughan, and Dylan Perera in the Division 2 team. Following these athletes were Jackson Deane, Paul Prentice, Tony Langenaan, Shane Holt, and Jack Hill our Division 3 team. Chris O’Connor, Simon St Hill and Andrew Tunne completed our list of competitors.
Andrew Buchanan held on strongly to win the race in the extremely fast time of 44:17. Andre Waring absolutely stormed home to run away from Spence, who was third and Davies and Thorpe who were fourth and fifth respectively. Andre’s time was 44:57, an extraordinarily fast time. The 15km road championship is normally won in 46 to 47 minutes. The times run by the leading athletes were reflective of the benign conditions.
Box Hill Division 1 team members were Nick Baggott, 22rd, Steve Dinneen, 23rd, Alex Ritchie (who passed a number of other clubs’ runners in the final lap) placed 27th, and John Dutton improved his position to 36th. The Box Hill Premier Division team finished third.
Box Hill’s Division 2 team comprised Zac Hunter, 65th, Ross Thomas, 66th, Russell Clowes 80th, John Meagher (second in his age division behind Steve Moneghetti), 82nd, Michael Vaughan, 86th, and Dylan Perera, who was 88th. The team was second in their division.
The Division 3 team was made up of Jackson Deane, 96th, Paul Prentice (third in his age division), 101st, Tony Langelaan (second in his age division), 121st, Shane Holt, 171st, and Jack Hill, 189th. The team placed third. Chris O’Connor was 270th, Simon St Hill was 264th and Andrew Tunne was 357th. Our 40+ team was 3rd. Our 50+ team had another win, its fifth for the season. More importantly, they regained the season’s lead on the premiership ladder from APS, which finished fourth at Ballarat.
The women’s race, like the 10 k road race, was harder to follow because the female athletes were interspersed among the generally larger male runners, which made it more difficult to count and identify them. Gemma Maini (Frankston) led early from Kiah Fry (Frankston), with Tamara Quinn (Collingwood) third. Later, Fry surged and Maini slowed marginally, to be overtaken by Quinn. Fry won the race easily and has been very successful in the winter races this year. Steph Kondogonis got off to one of her best starts this year and was clearly in the top 15. She lifted her position to 13th in the last lap, which was a very solid effort. Julie Norney is running brilliantly at the moment and she won her age division by over two-and-a-half minutes, which was a magnificent achievement. She placed 27th in the race overall. Kat Foley has been running very well this year and has improved each time she has raced. I stand to be corrected, but I believe this was her best winter placing. If it wasn’t it was still a great effort to make the top 30. Just two places behind Kat Foley was Lucinda Buckley who was 32nd, running to a sensible race plan, not leaving all it all on the road in the first part of the race. Running similarly was Jess Muirden who placed 34th. Together these five leading performances were good enough to eclipse all the other Division 2 teams for the fourth time in seven races. They now lead the Division 2 premiership race by a substantial margin.
The Division 4 team also won their division. Pia Hunter ran well to record 63rd, placing 4th in her age division. The same can be said of June Petrie who placed 69th, winning the gold medal in her age division by over nine minutes, a notable feat. Rachel Johnson placed 82nd (and 10th in her age group) and Kamen Ip was 102nd (she was 13th in her age division).
The 40+ team placed third and Box Hill is second on the ladder. The 50+ women’s team had their seventh win for the season and are head and shoulders above the other clubs in this competition.
Men’s 15 K road race results
Open
1. Andrew Buchanan Bendigo 44:17
2 Andre Waring Box Hill 44:57
3 Julian Spence Ballarat 45:05
4 Ryan Geard Western Athletics 45;12
5 Jack Davies St Stephens Harriers 45:20
6 Tom Thorpe St Stephens Harriers 45:32
22 Nicholas Baggott Box Hill 47:49
23 Steve Dinneen Box Hill 47:56
27 Alexander Ritchie Box Hill 48:04
32 Klarie McIntyre Box Hill 48:41
36 Peter Dutton Box Hill 49:04
65 Zac Hunter Box Hill 51:13
66 Ross Thomas Box Hill 51:15
80 Russell Clowes Box Hill 52:36
82 John Meagher Box Hill 52:42 (2nd 54 – 59)
86 Michael Vaughan Box Hill 52:49
88 Dylan Perera Box Hill 53:10
96 Jackson Deane Box Hill 53:48
101 Paul Prentice Box Hill 53:58 (3rd 45 – 49)
121 Tony Langelaan Box Hill 55:10 (3rd 50 – 54)
171 Shane Holt Box Hill 58:29
189 Jack Hill Box Hill 59:32
207 Chris O’Connor Box Hill 60:30 (11th 55 – 59)
264 Simon St Hill Box Hill 64:08 (15th 50-54)
357 Andrew Tunne Box Hill 82:48 (24th 60-99)
Team Placings
Division 1
1 SSH 98
2 Western Athletics 123
3 Box Hill 142
Division 2
1 APS 445
2 Box Hill 446
3 Bendigo 501
Division 3
1 VCCL 247
2 South Melbourne 620
3 Aths Waverley 640
4 Box Hill 671
40+
1 Geelong 28
2 Old Xavierians 37
3 Box Hill 42
4 Ballarat 42
50+
1 Box Hill 27
2 Bendigo 46
3 Ballarat 46
4 APS 68
Under 20 6 K road race
21 Kennedy Chen Box Hill 23:49
Women’s 15 K road race results
Open
1 Kiah Fry Frankston 51:42
2 Tamara Quinn Collingwood 52:47
3 Gemma Maini Frankston 53:02
13 Steph Kondogonis Box Hill 56:19
27 Julie Norney Box Hill 58:33 (1st 50 – 54)
30 Katherine Foley Box Hill 59:25
32 Lucinda Buckley Box Hill 59:39
34 Jessie Muirden Box Hill 60:00
63 Pia Hunter Box Hill 64:00 (4th 50 – 54)
69 June Petrie Box Hill 64:55 (1st 55 – 59)
82 Rachel Johnson Box Hill 67:12 (10th 40 – 44)
102 Kaman Ip Box Hill 71:14 (13th 40 – 44)
Team Placings
Division 2
1 Box Hill 162
2 Glen Huntly 213
3 Malvern 222
Division 4
1 Box Hill 164
2 Ballarat 268
3 Traralgon 277
40+
1 Mentone 34
2 APS 34
3 Box Hill 37
50+
1 Box Hill 10
2 Waverley 46
3 Doncaster 71