In a sensational conclusion to the 2005 Winter Season, Box Hill came away with outstanding results, probably the best ever from the men’s team, on Sunday 18th September at the inaugural Tan Relay competition.
Box Hill men won the Section 1, the Section 4 and the Section 7 relay events, and our fourth team came second in Section 7. The Under 20 men were lying second until the last leg, without a third runner to complete the course. The Under 18 men’s team placed second. The Women’s Section 2 team placed second, whilst the Section 3 teams placed third, fifth and eleventh. The Under 18 women’s team placed first.
This was an outstanding team effort and one which will be remembered for a long time. Congratulations to all athletes who made themselves available and performed so well. One of the striking features of the day’s performances was the evenness of the athletes’ performances, with many athletes showing that they will challenge for a place in our top teams over the next few years.
The Tan Relays, held around the Tan track, were an innovation this year, one which our club supported and would wish to see continue. It was a relief to find that weather conditions were hugely improved over the wintry blast of the preceding day, and the Women’s and Junior Men’s races commenced in ideal sunny conditions starting from near the Swan Street Bridge at around 9.00 a.m. Our Under 18 Men’s and Under 18 Women’s teams were prominent in their respective races, with Hayley Tomlinson getting her Under 18 Women’s team off to a winning start. Coreena Cleeland and Harriet Hodgkinson both ran creditably, and both Hayley and Harriet recorded times which were impressive by open age standards. It is very pleasing to see success occurring with our junior teams.
The Under 20 Men’s team got off to a strong start through Iain Reitman, with Michael Bourne dusting off the cobwebs, running second. Unfortunately, whilst holding second place, the team’s third runner did not materialize.
The Under 18 Men’s team, comprised of Navin Arunasalam, Dom Aloisio and Ruben Arunasalam ran solidly and won the silver medal, just 39 seconds behind the Ballarat team and 83 seconds ahead of Geelong, which placed third. Navin ran particularly well to record the team’s fastest time, but all our Under 18 athletes are showing great potential and we have high hopes of continued solid improvement.
We had our best senior Women’s representation for the year with four teams finishing. Our Division 2 team placed second with even performances from Jess de Bruin (12th fastest female leg), Fiona Turner and Rachel Johnson all contributing to the success of the team’s performance. Rachel, in particular, recorded one of her best performances for a while and ran the quickest female leg from a Box Hill woman. She was the 10th fastest female on the day.
Our first Division 3 team placed third, with Amanda Harper running an excellent final leg, after earlier athletes, Joc Keage and Kate Wall did their best. Not too far behind was our second Division 3 team with Megan Sloane running a quick first leg, followed by Kylie King and Kerry Putt.
Our third Division 3 team placed 11th, represented by Inge Magher, Kin Larkin and Gemma Duhig.
Then it was the turn of the Senior Men’s teams, and we had four teams starting and finishing, which was extremely pleasing. Even better was the result, with Box Hill winning every Division in which we entered teams. Congratulations to all the athletes who made themselves available and who performed so well.
The Men’s Division 1 team was given an enormous start by Chris Hamer, who not only recorded the fastest time by any Box Hill athlete, but changed over in second place in Division 1 a mere 9 seconds behind Liam Adams, Essendon, who led the Division 1 field at the conclusion of the first leg. Chris recorded the fifth fastest time of the day, an excellent effort. This great start gave us every chance of a top performance, particularly as Geelong and Glen Huntly, whom we expected to be the strongest competitors on the day, were well back in the field. Eureka was the leading team at this stage of the race, with their first athlete very prominent. Doncaster was also well placed in Division 2.
John Meagher was our second runner in Division 1, and he performed up to the high standard he has exhibited all season, overtaking his Essendon opponent and propelling Box Hill to be the first placed Division 1 team, ahead of APS, Knox, Geelong, Glen Huntly and other Division 1 teams, but behind Eureka. Collis Birmingham, recorded the fastest time of the day, 10 minutes 58 seconds, in the second leg.
Steve Kelly ran the third leg, running creditably and just held off a surge from David McNeill from ASPS, meaning our Division 1 team held a one second advantage. Matt Coloe lifted this lead to a 66 second advantage over APS with Geelong and Glen Huntly a further 5 seconds behind, having made up some leeway in the third and fourth legs. Matt’s time was a top 15 time for the day.
Adrian Vincent maintained the lead and handed over 62 seconds in advance of Glen Huntly in second place with Geelong a further 24 seconds behind. APS began to fade out of contention. Andrew White recorded Box Hill’s second fastest lap time as he anchored our Division 1 team to an impressive 85 second victory over Geelong with Glen Huntly in third position. Andrew recorded the 13th fastest time of the day.
Results were just as good in Division 4 where Box Hill compiled an unbeatable lead through Simon Watson who recorded an outstanding time in the first leg (23rd fastest on the day) and was ably supported by Steve Dineen, Alan Craigie, returning from injury, Davis Jiminez and Daniel Clark, who ran an impressive final leg, to anchor the team to victory.
We entered two Division 7 teams and both teams were to the forefront during the race, with the teams swapping leading positions during the race. In the winning team were Kevin Craigie, Chris Wall, Chris O’Connor, with a standout time, and Tim Heron who broke 13 minutes for his leg. The second team placed second and was represented by Graham Craigie, Sam Dipnall, Patrick Kelly who recorded a fast leg time, and David Ayers.
Our final Men’s team placing for the Winter season was 2nd, one of our best recent performance, just 11 points behind Glen Huntly. We improved greatly during the 2005 season and this augurs extremely well for the future. The Women’s Section 2 team were premiers and should be promoted to Division 1 next year. Our Division 4 Men’s team won every competition when we had a full team. The implication here is that we need every runner to represent Box Hill every week, and by doing this our performances will be strengthened and improved.
Much of the credit for the day’s performance belongs to Chris O’Connor who did a fantastic job liaising with athletes and their coaches to ensure their availability. Well done Chris! You deserve to savour the great successes of the day. Thanks also to Doug Bourne and Julie Milner for officiating for the club as recorders and timekeepers and to Ian Sloane, Adam Pepper and Gemma Duhig who also assisted in recording times.
Division 2 Times Jess de Bruin 14:18 Fiona Turner 14:46 Rachel Johnson 14:12 Division 2 Placings 1. Athletics Essendon 42:03 2. Box Hill 43:16 3. Coburg 46:17 Division 3 Times Joc Keage 16:37 Kate Wall 16:06 Amanda Harper 15:27 Megan Sloane 15:53 Kylie King 16:49 Kerry Putt 17:04 Inge Magher 18:45 Kim Larkin 19:00 Gemma Duhig 18:27 Division 3 Placings 1. SSH 45:25 2. Athletics Essendon 47:26 3. Box Hill 48:11 5. Box Hill 2 49:46 11.Box Hill 3 56:12 Under 18 Times Hayley Tomlinson 14:45 Coreena Cleeland 16:00 Harriet Hodgkinson 15:24 Under 18 Placings 1. Box Hill 46:09 2. Western Athletics 48:00 3. KStB 49:25
Division 1 Individual Performances Leg Runner Lap time Pos Leader’s time BH time 1 Chris Hamer 11:23 2 11:14 11:23 2 John Meagher 11:53 1 23:16 23:16 3 Steve Kelly 12:02 1 35:18 35:18 4 Matt Coloe 11:45 1 47:03 47:03 5 Adrian Vincent 12:15 1 59:18 59:18 6 Andrew White 11:37 1 70:55 70:55 Division 1 Performance Running Sheet Leg 1 Leg 2 Leg 3 Leg 4 Leg 5 Leg 6 Ess 11:14 BH 23:16 BH 35:18 BH 47:03 BH 59:18 BH 70:55 BH 11:23 M Uni 23:31 APS 35:19 APS 48:09 GH 60:20 Geel 72:20 M Uni 11:32 Knox 23:54 M Uni 35:58 Geel 48:14 Geel 60:44 GH 72:37 Knox 11:36 APS 24:02 Geel 36:11 GH 48:14 APS 61:08 APS 73:19 APS 12:01 GH 24:05 GH 36:45 M Uni 48:48 M Uni 61:44 Knox 74:09 GH 12:02 Ess 24:14 Knox 36:49 Knox 49:10 Knox 61:54 M Uni 74:26 Division 1 Placings 1. Box Hill 70:55 2. Geelong 72:20 3. Glen Huntly 72:37 Leading Times Collis Birmingham Eureka 10:58 Liam Adams Athletics Essendon 11:14 David McNeill APS 11:17 Division 4 Times Simon Watson 11:56 Steve Dineen 12:18 Alan Craigie 12:43 David Jiminez 13:27 Daniel Clark 12:12 Division 4 Placings 1. Box Hill 62:36 2. Doncaster 63:51 3. Melbourne Uni 66:04 Division 7 Times Kevin Craigie 13:05 Chris Wall 13:52 Chris O’Connor 12:37 Tim Heron 12:56 Graham Craigie 13:15 Sam Dipnall 13:15 Patrick Kelly 12:55 David Ayers 14:25 Division 7 Placings 1. Box Hill 52:30 2. Box Hill #2 53:50 3. Sandringham 57:10 Under 20 Times Iain Reitman 12:51 Michael Bourne 13:43 Under 18 Times Navin Arunasalam 12:51 Dom Aloisio 13:35 Ruben Arunasalam 13:08 Under 18 Placings Ballarat Region 38:55 Box Hill 39:34 Geelong Region 40:57