Race Report by Dave Martini
There were some outstanding runs from the marathon contingent of OXAC as those 5 weeks out from the Melbourne Marathon do some final racing tune-up before the 42.195km race on Sunday 11th October.
The team was led by Annabelle Colman (54:18) who recorded the fastest time for both Old Xavs’ Men and Women over 15km and finished 5th overall in the Women’s race. Annabelle may have broken her 5km PB in the first third of the race with an ambitious start but held on valiantly for a strong finish. Pete Chappell (52:42) running unattached (but wearing the Red & Black) was first OXAC athlete over the line as he is primed for a fast time at the Melbourne Marathon in October. Alan Colman (55:29) continued his breakout AV season to take 1st place in the M55+ age group (Alan has finished on the podium in M55+ for all non-relay rounds of XCR this season) and he too is set for a fast marathon. Tim Tyeres (56:00) finished the 15km to make it the longest distance he has ever raced while Bruce Davie (59:41) finished 3rd in the M60+ age group. Lauren Mosbey (61:00) made her OXAC season debut, taking 3rd in F40 as she too puts the finishing touches on her marathon preparations for Melbourne. The team of Alan, Bruce and Michael Tsorlinis combined for first place in the M50 team competition.
For myself marathon preparations have been a challenge and gone sideways this year as I work towards another Melbourne Marathon. Sickness, niggles, and work have all conspired against me on this marathon campaign and the Burnley 15km kept to this script for me. Carrying an achilles niggle into the run on Sunday I also got a case of white line fever, getting sucked into a 4:15/4:20 km pace over the first 10km. This was faster than I had planned on running and exasperated the achilles niggle to the point that at 11km I had to break down and walk in the interest of not overdoing it and sustaining an all-out injury.
Walking dejectedly towards the finish, thinking that for the first time I may not make the start line of the Melbourne Marathon, I had John Roskam and Bob Meek run past with 2.5km to go. Taking this as my cue to get going again I started running with John and Bob. John, also working towards the Melbourne Marathon, was running strongly and, while my day had not played out the way I’d hoped, I was able to help John over the last 2.5km to get him to the finish in 77:27—a new PB for 15km, bettering his old time by 2 minutes.
In the 4km event Laurie Tod (12:47) finished 4th in the U20 division with Laurie’s mum Jenn Tod (22:39) equalling her son’s result with a 4th place of her own in the W40+ division (short course) and Josi Hicks (21:42) finished 5th in the W60+ division (short course).
Full OXAC results:
