Running Writing ©
No. 18    January 1999
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S C T
Short Runs
December

Interview 
~  ~ 
   Michelle Ward-Pearson 
From Tuggie Athlete # 46

SCT Vets Clean up Annual Awards
ACT Veterans Athletics Club stalwart Jim White was honoured at their annual presentations by being named "Club Person of the Year". Jim is a big behind-the-scenes person for the Vets. He organises relay teams and has transported the club tent on many occasions. Charlie Modrak demonstrated his consistent high level of running throughout the year by taking out the overall handicap trophy for the Thomas Series. Michael Ward-Pearson was also a contender for this prize starting the last race at Lake Ginninderra with the fourth highest points tally. Karen Daniels won the Frylink Series consistency award for W35 which is presented to the fastest runner in each age-group throughout the year. Marlene Reid picked up the same award in the W40 category.

The MSOOO Fun Run
Was conducted on November 16 on a 6.5km bike path course around Lake Tuggeranong. A hurculean effort was put in by Gordon Nightingale and his assistants in organising the course and start/finish procedures. Due to Gordon's coolness under pressure a few near disasters were averted. Because of the expertise shown by SCT club members it looks like we have a chance of "Race Directing" this event next year on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and thus raise some much needed funds for athlete travel assistance. Please put up your hand if asked to help next year - it will help your cause when asking for funds. By the way, Kelly Roberts defended her title in the women's event. A great run also from Darryl Hill who was first junior male and amazingly 5th outright!

Winter Awards Presentation at the Cotter
The traditional winter season pointscore awards are presented at SCT's annual general meeting in April. As this happens long after cross country has finished the committee decided this year to introduce some novelty awards. This would be combined with a race 'celebration' and BBQ after the completion of the 98 Brindabella Classic (see Geoff Monro's report in the next issue of TA). By some freak of nature all recipients of awards were present at the BBQ (except for Ted Harrison who was still out in the forest somewhere back of Pierces Creek - "we're not waiting for that old fossil to arrive", someone was heard to say). Club President Gordon Nightingale made the presentations to the grateful runners. They all received very cool looking silver coloured 1 litre Mercedes water bottles.
Kim Sainsbury received an award for being the most improved female. Michelle Ward-Pearson received an award for her gutsy running in the Carillon Relays. Stuart Doyle was recognised for being 'potentially an A-grade runner'. Codger (Michael Ward-Pearson) was the most improved senior male athlete. Amanda Ozolins was recognised for her 'Canberra Times Group' co-ordination role. Gordon Nightingale received his 'Mercedes' for being the best performed 'international' SCT athlete in 1998. Mike Sainsbury was the 'coach who told the best jokes of the year'. Geoff Monro received an award for 'best and most prolific contributions to Tuggie Athlete' (my favourite). Nick Walshe was honoured for 'comeback of the year'. No surprises for who was honoured as 'fun runner of the year'... yes, Jim White. Ewen Thompson picked up one because Gordon felt sorry for him. And, eventually a very tired but happy Ted Harrison collected the last Mercedes for 'assistant Canberra Times training group coach of the year'.

White Walks Wonders in PB Demolition
Richard White walked to a huge PB of 7:20 for the 1500 metres at Interclub on 21 November. In doing so he qualified for All Schools Track and Field (sub 7:30) and his first spot in an ACT Athletics Team. Richard's previous best had been 7:35 which he had reduced from 8-plus minutes last season. He was also responsible for the 'pacemaking failure of the year' when an unnamed athlete was enlisted to help get Richard on pace for the first 500 metres. Richard's fast start left the pacemaker 20 metres behind after 100 metres and almost a minute behind at the finish.

SCT's Team for All Schools Track and Field
A record number of 31 SCT athletes have been selected in the ACT team to contest the All Schools Track and Field Championships. This number is nearly half of the whole team. By the time you read this it will be all over. Congratulations to our many medal winners. Full results will be published in the February 99 Tuggie Athlete. Here are the athletes: Joseph Behm, Craig Core, Dene Davis, Shenevelle Dickson, Trent Dixon, Scott Dziubinski, Aidan Dziubinski, Wendy Fisher, Michael Freeman, Bianca Freeman, Andrew Gilbert, Chris Gill, Phoebe Holland, Michael Hosking, Rebecca Hosking, Tricia Johnson, Terry Lock, Vanessa Long, Owen Longstaff, Terry Martin, James McNamara, Suzanne Morris, Katrina Onus, Shane Onus, Kelly Roberts, Mark Shepherd, Erin Sutcliffe, Joseph Turner, Richard White and Chris Williams.

1998 Qantas Street Mile
There was $3,000 prizemoney on offer for the Professionals in the one-lap dash around Jim White's Anzac Parade course. John Tuckey and Rosemary Longstaff were in the field but received no favours from the handicapper. John was in the money which paid down to 10th place until the last 400 metres. The winner was Paul Imhoff in 4.00.3 (80 metre handicap) who is coached by Garry Hosking. In the 'amateur' open mile SCT's Glen McCarthy had a win in 5.00.9.

Active Australia Games Success for McGlynn
Keen triathlete Brian McGlynn won his first race and received headline treatment by the local press: "...with local Brian McGlynn taking out the duathlon at Commonwealth Park on Tuesday. McGlynn crossed the line sixth in Saturday's triathlon but broke the tape in Tuesday's duathlon to take gold overall and in the men's 35-39 year-old division. McGlynn was second following the first 3km run, but was almost two minutes quicker than his nearest rival in the 20km bike leg. McGlynn's endurance held out from that point, pulling away in the final 5km run leg to win in a time of 1hr 07.37minutes."

Interclub Season Bits and Pieces
A fairly quite start to the 98/99 season out at Bruce. It's been good to see some new faces in the gold and black of SCT. Denise has been busy processing registrations and the club is performing well in some age-groups. We're leading both the under-16 and under-18 male and female premierships and running a close second in both under-14 premierships. Our victorious 97/98 season Open Males have gone into semi-retirement, but who cares when we have new stars such as Stuart Doyle and Conrad Shepherd. On an individual level there have been many good performances with athletes tuning up for the All Schools. For example: Chris Williams - 4.43, Trent Dixon - 51.49jav, Joe Turner - 11.47, James McNamara - 1.80hj, Michelle Ward-Pearson - 5.04, Chris Gill - 12.97, Craig Core - 2.00.3, Erin Lenon - 2.16.4, Mark Shepherd - 2.06.1, David Austin - 23.2, Stuart Doyle - 16:52 and Erin Sutcliffe 4.48.

Belconnen Fun Run
Some notable results were achieved by SCT runners at the annual 7km run around Lake Ginninderra on October 25. Craig Core won the male 15-17 category in 24:35 and was 7th overall. Rosemary Longstaff won the 40-49 category and was 5th female. Erin Sutcliffe placed 2nd female overall and won the 15-17 category in a time of 27:51. One of the club's signings from the Canberra Times training group, Stuart Doyle showed huge potential with his 11th place in 25:12. Phil Symonds in a rare appearance on the roads must have been inspired by the following headline in the morning's Canberra Times: "Symonds in lusty warm up for one-day debut." He had a dice with Ian Daley and at least Phil wasn't literally on the road like son Jonathan who unfortunately was tripped over at the start. In the family team category Darryl, Matthew and Murray Hill collected the trophies. The biggest cheer from the crowd was reserved for the winning female team - SCT's 'Flagrant Five' of Teresa Symonds, Danica Daley, Kim Sainsbury, Amanda Ozolins and Erin Sutcliffe.

Nicole Daley and Darryl Hill represent the ACT
The National Primary School's track and field championships were held recently in Adelaide and two SCT athletes were selected in the team to represent the ACT - Nicole Daley and Darryl Hill. Both were competing in the 800 and 1500 metre events. They performed extremely well running close to their PB's but were up against tough opposition in the form of older, bigger competitors plus hot and windy conditions. Well done Darryl and Nicole.

Cooma Carnival is on Again!
One of the best meets in country NSW is on again. The Cooma Athletics Carnival is being held from 9am on 14 February 1999 at Snowy Oval. Contact Norma Deitrich on 026 452 3468 for more information and entry forms.

One of SCT's promising young distance runners talks to Tuggie Athlete
photos

•  How did you first become involved in athletics?
I became involved with athletics through my primary school at Monogorilby. Because it was a small school every one had to do sport. My first competition was the 800m when I was only 7 years old.

•  What do you like about the sport?
I like how you are friends with your competition before and after competing, and when we are competing it doesn't matter if you're friends or not. Also everyone is really nice.

•  You've made some big improvements since coming to Canberra. What do you put this down to? I put this down to committing myself more to the sport and having two great coaches and a supportive training group.

•  What are the best and worst things about training with your coach Mike Sainsbury?
The best thing about training with Mike is that he knows what he is talking about and understands what we need to do to improve just that little bit more. There is really nothing bad about training with Mike.

•  You come from a swimming background. Can you tell us how training for swimming compares with training for running?
Swimming training is just as hard as athletic training. Running training is more interesting than swimming because you can talk while you run but you can't when you swim.

•  What are your other sporting pursuits and how have you been going?
I have been playing volleyball when I was having a break from running. I represented the A.C.T. in volleyball and went to Port Macquarie to play against other states.

•  What subjects do you like at school and what are your working career ambitions?
I like nearly every subject at school though my favourite class would have to be my P.E. class. I am aiming to become a physiotherapist as my career.

•  What are your long-term running goals?
My long term running goals consists of going to the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and from there who knows what will happen.

•  What do you see as your weaknesses and strengths in running?
My weakness in running is my injuries that I get from it. My strength is training with Mike and the rest of the group and being able to motivate myself when I need to.

•  You have some natural talent for running. Where do you see the sport of athletics taking you five and ten years from now?
I see myself still competing competitively. Hopefully running for Australia in World Juniors later in my running career.

•  What would a typical week's winter training be like? (What do you do each day)?
I go for several long runs and do drills and stretching every night. On the weeks-ends I have one competition day and a training day. One of the training afternoons may consist of some track training as well as a long run.

•  You have used clever tactics to good advantage in some of your track races. What is your favourite way to beat the opposition?
My favourite way is using a surge coming off a corner into a straight and demoralising them.

•  What tactics do you like to use in cross country races?
I like to attack when running up a hill because this is one of my strong areas of running.

•  Do you have any local rivals who you like (or would like) to beat in races?
I like competing against Marnie Ponton because when Marnie and me race sometimes it is very close. Another person that I would like to beat would be Erin Sutcliffe.

•  Why do you think it is that many talented young runners retire from the sport in their late teens and what can athletics administrators do to address this problem?
I think teens leave the sport when they get older is because they think that not many other people of their age is still competing and they want to spend more time with friends. Administrators need to make running more fun and less competitive.

Michelle is 15 in January and represented the ACT in the All-Schools Cross Country Championships in 1998. She has PB's of 65 seconds for 400m, 2:24 for 800m and 4:55 for 1500m.

 

Select for Large Image

Michelle on TA cover
Michelle Ward-Pearson on the December 1998 Tuggie Athlete cover [52k]

 

michelle ward-pearson and amy martin
Michelle taking over from Amy Martin in the All-Schools Cross Country Relay [47k]

 

Michelle and Gordon
Michelle accepting the ACT Cross Country Club trophy from SCT president Gordon Nightingale. It was awarded to SCT's junior women for being the 1998 Junior Women's Club of the Year [31k]

 

brian livingston
Combined Universities' Brian Livingston is the ACT 10,000m Champion for the 1998/99 season [32k]

 

women's steeplechase
First lap in the National All-Schools Women's 2000m Steeplechase - Canberra, December '98 [40k]

 

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The President's
Message

December 1998

Probably the most significant event since the last Tuggie Athlete has been the Brindabella Classic. South Canberra had two teams entered and a number of other members either took part in other teams of as individuals. The race started in foggy wet conditions and finished in bright sunshine.

Our men's team of a new member, Stuart Doyle, Geoff Monro, Gordon Nightingale and Nick Walshe regained the trophy after a hard-fought tussle with Adelaide Harriers. Our mixed team of Amanda Ozolins, Ewen Thompson, Jim White and Kim Sainsbury were successful in lowering the FMMF record by about ten minutes. That well known masochist and club secretary, Ted Harrison, went the whole 54km on his own and all he got was a dried up, overcooked sausage for his efforts.

We all enjoyed the club BBQ afterwards excepting Ted, who arrived late. We had a novelty Winter Awards presentation which , we admit, was slightly rigged to suit the members who bothered to turn up. The rest of you missed a splendid social event but no matter, you will get another chance in the not to distant future. The prestigious Cross Country Club of the Year trophy for Junior Women's Team was presented to their representative Michelle Ward-Pearson.

The other events of significance were the ACT 10,000m Championships in which the club was represented by Ewen Thompson, Michael Ward-Pearson, and yours truly. I came 5th, Ewen came 6th and Michael had an unfortunate DNF. Incidentally, a huge field of seven contested the event.

The MS000 Fun Run/Walk 'n' Roll was held on Sunday and I'd like to thank all who gave up their time to assist. It could have been described as either a well-planned disaster or a chaotic success. Setting up was delayed by the absence of tables but the nearby concrete and brick walls were utilised instead. The flood of late entries quickly swamped the Lions Club people's ability to cope so that our course marshals had to be thrown in to assist. We managed to set the course on time, sufficient marshals onto the course a few minutes ahead of the runners, and it all seemed to go well. Annette Ellis fired the gun and Lofty Matthews narrated the whole thing and we got the course cleared and the presentations done just before the rain started.

Well, that's about it for 1998. Greetings of the season to all members and best wishes for achieving your athletic goals in 1999.

Gordon Nightingale



ACT 10,000m Championships
A select and some might say elite field of seven athletes lined up for 25 laps around the AIS warm-up track on Wednesday evening November 4. Co-defending champion Jim White was missing from the line-up with his priorities set on the Weston Creek Fun Run and Brindabella Classic that weekend. Gordon Nightingale was looking serious although still feeling the effects of a solid 18k training run the previous day. At the gun, our club president didn't hold back and duelled with Perry Blackmore (who eventually placed 2nd in 35.59) for the first 2k. John Neil (WH) gradually ate into Gordon's 100m lead and joined him after half way. Gordon dropped off with about 9 laps to go and the final straw was being passed by Joy Terry. He then seemed content to sit behind her (does anyone know why?). Meanwhile further back in the field Michael Ward-Pearson and the Editor were sharing turns in a battle against the clock. Codger managed a PB through the 5k mark of 21:50 but had to pull out due to a cramping calf muscle. The Editor struggled to the finish as everyone else was completing their warm-down. By the way, the winner was Combined Uni's Brian Livingston in a PB of 33:01.

Erin Lenon wins Goulburn Fun Run!
Why run a boring 1500m at Interclub when you can pick up a cool $150 for winning the Goulburn Post Rocky Hill Fun Run? When Erin lined up next to fun run rival Jim White she was heard to say "where's Craig? It's pay-day!" Meanwhile Craig was thinking about a possible 1500m PB and important tune-up race for the All Schools. Thirty-nine minutes later Erin had the dough in her hot little hands - enough to pay for petrol, a meal at the Central Cafe and a new look (called Hi, Biscus!) Erin, please forgive me for these 'in jokes'... I promised not to put any in the newsletter but couldn't help myself - Shelley told my to do it! Jim White credits Erin's early pace for his win in the Veterans 40-49 category in 37:27 for the 9.2k course. The race winner was Brad Storier in 31:26... there's always next year Craig.

TVRUASC Sporting Scholarships
These are worth up to $1000 and available to members of affiliated clubs who are going into year 11 and 12 or any year of Tertiary education. They are highly sort after and only 10 are available to the many applicants of the 52 clubs. SCT's committee has nominated five athletes for consideration for a scholarship - Shaun McCabe, Kelly Roberts, Craig Core, Erin Sutcliffe and Amanda Ozolins. All are very deserving and great representatives and ambassadors for South Canberra Tuggeranong Athletic Club. It is up to the selection committee of the TVRUASC to decide the winners but we wish all of our nominated athletes good luck. If any younger members may be thinking of applying for a scholarship in future years - try and be active and seen as a member of SCT.

Narrow Miss in ACT Club Championships
The inaugural 'Club Championships/Relay Day' was held on November 7 at the AIS warm-up track. The final result shows Combined Uni's winning on 222 points, SCT second on 193 points and Woden Harriers third on 43 points. This day was also a selection trial for the National Clubs Championships to be held in Melbourne on 21 March 1999. According to the Clubs on Track newsletter Member Associations and Athletics New Zealand will be asked to nominate to AA the clubs which will represent their State/Territory. I guess this means CU will be flying down to Melbourne... perhaps with a little organisation it will be SCT in 2000!

Free Publicity for Runners Shop
Is Brian this desperate for publicity? I open up Tuesday October 13's Canberra Times and on page five is a huge photo of Brian 'does he have to do it with a smile' Wenn vacuuming the floor in preparation for a rush of customers. Closer inspection reveals an emergency glass vehicle in the background and the headline 'Phillip shop target of ram-raiders'. Also a photo description 'Managing director Bruce Wenn, of The Runners Shop in Phillip, cleans up after ram-raiders struck twice at the weekend.' The latest rumour is that Brian is looking for a junior shop assistant with sleeping bag who is willing to work strange hours. Brian, surely your years as President of SCT were less stressful?

Sainsbury in the Press
The Canberra Times has been devoting quite a bit of ink to Kim Sainsbury who made a comeback to running this year after a five year lay-off. Under the careful guidance of someone who shall remain nameless, Kim has improved in leaps and bounds. She has recorded the fastest time at the Women's and Girls' Jogalong for the past two months. Her PB is now 25:42 for the tough 6km course. Canberra Times interclub reports also feature Kim's name: "Roberts (Kelly), the national under-18 champion, beat Amanda Ozolins and Kim Sainsbury in the 1500m at the first round of the inter-club athletics premiership at the AIS yesterday."

 




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