Box Hill teams performed well running over the hilly terrain of the Harcourt to Bendigo Coliban relay. Although Box Hill’s division 1 men’s team was narrowly beaten by Steve Moneghetti’s Ballarat YCW combination, our runners performed well and we have extended our lead over Geelong at the top of the winter premiership ladder. Our division 3 team had a big win to cement their place on top of the ladder, while a 2nd place by just 10 seconds by our division 5 team has put them into contention for the division 5 premiership. Box Hill’s division 1 women’s team was below full strength, but all our athletes performed well to finish 6th out of the 13 teams in division 1.
Daniel Clark started fast but struggled up the big hill at the end of the first leg to finish in 6th place. Matt Coloe made up time on the leaders and passed the sash over to Steve Kelly in equal 4th position, behind Glenhuntly, Geelong and Sandringham and on even terms with the Ballarat YCW team. Steve passed the Geelong and Sandringham runners and closed slightly on the leading Glenhuntly runner, but lost some ground to the runner from Ballarat YCW. Andrew White held onto 3rd position, picking up a few seconds on the Glenhuntly runner, but Steve Moneghetti ran a very fast leg to put YCW into the lead and 1min20s ahead of Box Hill. Chris Hamer easily accounted for his Glenhuntly opponent and put Box Hill into 2nd place, but lost a further 20s to Ballarat YCW’s Shane Nankervis. Bouchaib Chefnaoui ran strongly on the last leg and made up 40s on his rival, but the team had to settle for 2nd place.
MEN DIVISION 1: Second 1. Daniel Clark 5.5km 18:26 2. Matt Coloe 6.0km 20:26 3. Steve Kelly 8.4km 27:21 4a. Andrew White 10.0km 32:11 4. Chris Hamer 7.9km 23:35 5. Bouchaib Chefnaoui 5.1km 15:47
A great first leg by John Meagher put the division 3 team in front and they held the lead all the way, with all runners performing well. Paul Boxshall in particular ran well on the tough 8.4km leg.
MEN DIVISION 3: First 1. John Meagher 5.5km 19:14 2. Josh De Stefanis 6.0km 21:42 3. Paul Boxshall 8.4km 28:09 4. Adrian Vincent 7.9km 27:53 5. Michael Dowel 5.1km 17:20
This race was a neck and neck battle between Box Hill and the Bendigo Region team. Stuart Watson and Steve Griffin ran well to put the team in front and Andrew Nagle started the last leg in the lead, but despite a great run by Andrew, he was passed in final 400m.
MEN DIVISION 5: Second 1. Graeme Olden 5.5km 21:58 2. Stuart Watson 6.0km 22:20 3. Steve Griffin 8.4km 30:04 4. Chris O’Connor 7.9km 28:34 5. Andrew Nagle 5.1km 18:31
Kerry Putt finished the hilly first leg in 11th place against a strong field of runners. Megan Sloane put the team into 10th position. Rachel Johnson closed on the teams in front of her before handing over to Hayley Tomlinson. Hayley moved the team from 10th to 7th position then Talitha Crawford ran a strong last leg to pass the 6th placed team and just failed to catch the 5th team.
WOMEN DIVISION 1: Sixth 1. Kerry Putt 5.5km 26:56 2. Megan Sloane 6.0km 28:47 3. Rachel Johnson 8.4km 33:31 4. Hayley Tomlinson 7.9km 32:11 5. Talitha Crawford 5.1km 21:27
