Orchard Handicap Race Report by Christine Williams
What a morning at Albert Park Lake — the annual Orchard Handicap – where runners, looking more like explorers, take on one or two laps of the lake.
Over 80 runners lined up this year, split almost evenly between the 5.3 km and 10 km distances. The forecast threatened showers but instead our fleet-of-foot pioneers were gifted a calm, mild, beautiful afternoon — perfect for hunting down the finish line.
Registration was a sight to behold: a conga‑line‑meets‑Monty‑Python procession of runners shuffling forward, being asked the existential question:
“Excuse me, 5km or 10km?”
followed by the ceremonial scanning of timing bands and the issuing of each runner’s magical handicap start time.
Field Rickards, Doug Lee and Marg Fitzgerald were exceptional — running the registration desk with absolute aplomb. They presided over the chaos like seasoned masters of ceremonies, guiding runners through the “5km or 10km?” dilemma, scanning timing bands, and doing on‑the‑spot maths to work out everyone’s start times.
Then came the race briefing from Old Wesley, sharing the history of the event and the story of Ken Orchard, after whom the race is named — an APSOC athlete who tragically died in battle when just a young man. The crowd welcomed Ken’s niece, attending the race on behalf of Ken’s family and all stood in solemn silence, honouring the memories of Ken and the other fallen in true ANZAC tradition.
And then — the countdown – led by Marg Fitzgerald, who counted the seconds backwards to ‘Go’ over 80 times to send each intrepid runner off at their allotted handicap time.
“In this race, you’re never quite sure if you’re coming or going — and how many obstacles you’ll need to dodge along the way.”
And that was especially true if you had to weave through or dodge a range of species – swans, ducks, dogs and other humans walking, running, cycling with some pushing prams – all doing their own laps of Albert Park Lake.
Congratulations Michael Tsorlinis and Simon Holt, each winning 2nd place outright in their selected races. There were many other fine performances; full results below.
🦁 OXAC Scratch Results — 5.3 km
- 2nd – Michael Tsorlinis — 21:58 — 1st M50
- 5th – Christos Tsorlinis — 24:37 — 2nd M23
- 6th – Aya Fukunaga — 25:27 — 1st W50
- 7th – Claudia Haeger — 25:30 — 1st W40
- 12th – Marina Scarff — 27:20 — 2nd W50
- 21st – Silvia Warren — 31:50 — 3rd W50
- 23rd – Margaret Cass — 32:29 — 5th W50
- 30th – Jamieson Whiteley — 37:42
- 31st – Nell Buchanan — 37:53
🦁 OXAC Scratch Results — 10 km
- 2nd – Simon Holt — 37:01 — 2nd M40
- 8th – Davide Peano — 41:23
- 14th – Pablo Campillos — 44:04 — 3rd M50
- 16th – Carlo Manolitsas — 45:26
- 26th – Belinda Lucy Blackburn — 48:29 — 2nd W50
- 30th – Montana Whiteley — 50:50
- 36th – Neda Jamshidi — 52:33 — 2nd W40
- 38th – Lucy Permezel — 56:12 — 4th W50
- 39th – Hannah Stagoll — 57:13 — 5th W50
- 44th – Dean Whiteley — 1:00:33
- 46th – Amelie Lague — 1:04:55 — 2nd W23
- 50th – Christopher Worsnop — 1:12:31 — 5th M60
The Orchard is always a special race — part chaos, part beauty, part comedy, part history. Today, OXAC had the chance to explore all of it: the spirit of Ken Orchard, the joy of running together, and the thrill of chasing down a finish line that sometimes felt like it was moving.
Well done, team. Onward to the next hunt.
