OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2003      Number 64

Souths' runners have been showing other Canberra clubs a clean set of heels, 'winged heels' that is, in recent races. Our junior runners continually placed and quite often won many of the winter season cross country races. The other clubs have been left bewildered and stunned by our junior domination, but alas, the other clubs are more than holding their own in the senior ranks.

Good 'senior' places for Souths in cross country races have been rare in recent years, except for the ever-consistent Stuart Doyle, Fiona Jorgensen (when she was a member) and old stayers like yours truly. Just when our senior men were holding their hands up in despair in the nick of time along comes a rising star from the Runners Shop stable. That runner is Nick Walshe who with his fleet feet has become SCT's new senior distance king and man of the moment. Just witness his many great cross country and half marathon performances such as a 75:07 Canberra Half and 74:21 Gold Coast.

Nick's ability and enthusiasm has enhanced our club's reputation in the seniors and encouraged new members to join and share in this success. Runners such as Nick Mesher, Kerrie Bremner, Heath Pearce, Michelle Greenwood and Laurie Irvine have signed up with the 'winged heel' club and even old goat herders like Gordon Nightingale have rejoined. We also have many junior stars moving into or approaching 'senior' status such as Noni Clarke, Mark Shepherd, Jessamy Hosking, Chris Williams, Kelly Roberts and Michael Hosking. Crusty 'B-graders' like Brian Wenn and Ted Harrison can rest easy knowing they will never again be called up at the last minute to run 'A-grade'! With our registrar Nick Walshe leading the charge of the 'winged heel' brigade, our reputation as a powerhouse club in the distance running seniors will be back where it belongs - on top!

Who has the inspiration? Who has the zeal? Who pursues his ideals and dreams until they become a reality? Who is confident in the ultimate success? Answer: The Enthusiastic Person!

Enthusiasm is the vitalising spark! A young 16-year-old waaay back in 1973 stands and looks around Lang Park Oval then proceeds to run 10000m on the grass in 31 minutes! From this moment he follows his dreams, becomes an Olympian, competes at many State and National Championships, wins the Canberra Marathon and becomes an SCT legend. This inspirational enthusiast is none other than our own Gerard Barrett.
The year is 1983 and a young Canberra Runner takes a young lady out and happens to mention that he 'runs a bit' and is in a run the next day. The 'run' is the Canberra Marathon, the man Colin Neave and the lady Fiona Jorgensen who was obviously hooked after his marathon win in 2:16:58. What a way to sweep a lady off her feet, or as it happened, onto them because each step of each foot propelled both of them into many State, National and International races! Two other enthusiastic SCT Legends! Without enthusiasm you're merely an automaton but with it work becomes a pleasure and your whole world brighter and better!

Although an enthusiast is liable at times to make mistakes (the person who does things necessarily makes more mistakes than the person who never attempts anything), you will accomplish more for yourself and the world in general than the impassive person who won't move until pushed. The few mistakes you make are soon swallowed up by numerous successes. The person who succeeds in both work and play does so largely because of his store of enthusiasm! It is by the stimulus of enthusiasm that you will be lead along paths which others "fear to tread". If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing well! Get interested in your 'thing', put your whole self into it and draw everyone else along with you. In short, be an enthusiast!

As usual a number of SCT athletes have been selected in the ACT team to contest the National All-Schools T&F Championships in Brisbane this weekend. The team of 41 is being managed by Kirra Rankin and Matt Beckenham. Following are the SCT athletes (many of whom are hot medal chances) that have been selected to represent the ACT: Angie Blackburn, Ashley Colquhoun, Emily Glover, Michael Hosking, Megan Kehoe, Emily Brichacek, Jessie Pritchard, Mark Shepherd and Jade Sutcliffe. Full SCT results will be available on the website and in the next Tuggie Athlete!

There were some brilliant results recorded by SCT athletes at the recent ACTSSSA All-Schools T&F Championships. Space restrictions mean that only the first 3 place-getters are recorded below but congratulations to all athletes!

100m... Boys 13yrs: 3rd Rainer Mertens 13.13. Boys 15yrs: 3rd Anthony Sexton 11.83. Girls 12yrs: 1st Kiara Bomben 13.64. 2nd Terri Sutcliffe 14.52. Girls 14yrs: 1st Angie Blackburn 12.96. Girls 16yrs: 1st Jessie Pritchard 13.09. 3rd Cassie Schilg 13.42. Girls 18-19yrs: 1st Jade Sutcliffe 12.80. 3rd Eowyn Osborne 15.21. 200m... Boys 15yrs: 3rd Anthony Sexton 23.33. Girls 12yrs: 1st Kiara Bomben 27.55. 2nd Terri Sutcliffe 29.79. Girls 14yrs: 1st Angie Blackburn 26.04. Girls 16yrs: 1st Jessie Pritchard 26.32. 2nd Emily Glover 26.47. Girls 17yrs: 3rd Amy Merchant 27.62. Girls 18-19yrs: 1st Jade Sutcliffe 26.41. 400m... Boys 16yrs: 3rd Ben Dawson 58.23. Girls 13yrs: 1st Emily Brichacek 59.87. Girls 14yrs: 1st Angie Blackburn 58.27. 2nd Anastasia Havlat 64.24. Girls 16yrs: 1st Emily Glover 59.18.

800m... Boys 12yrs: 1st Peter Hosking 2:35.32. Boys 15yrs: 1st James Southgate 2:07.37. 2nd Phillip Turini 2:09.41. Boys 16yrs: 3rd Ben Dawson 2:05.07. Boys 18-19yrs: 1st Michael Hosking 2:02.06. 3rd Mark Shepherd 2:03.75. Girls 13yrs: 1st Emily Brichacek 2:20.78. Girls 16yrs: 2nd Emily Glover 2:20.53. 3rd Sophie Vardos 2:30.12. Girls 18-19yrs: 1st Megan Kehoe 2:21.91. 1500m... Boys 12yrs: 1st Peter Hosking 5:29.79. Boys 15yrs: 1st James Southgate 4:36.29. 2nd Phillip Turini 4:45.01. Boys 16yrs: 2nd Ben Dawson 4:25.41. 3rd Robert Torley 4:28.92. Boys 17yrs: 1st Chris Williams 4:21.22. Boys 18-19yrs: 1st Michael Hosking 4:14.67. 2nd Mark Shepherd 4:24.28. Girls 13yrs: 1st Emily Brichacek 5:10.30. Girls 16yrs: 2nd Sophie Vardos 5:15.63. Girls 16yrs 1500m Walk: 1st Jillian Hosking 6:45.33. Girls 17yrs 100m Hurdles: 1st Amy Merchant 18.39. 3000m... Girls 12yrs: 1st Sonja Taylor 13:20.80. Girls 13yrs: 3rd Kayler Torley 12:05.40. Girls 16yrs: 2nd Jillian Hosking 10:46.42. 3rd Justine Shepherd 12:23.94. Girls 17yrs: 2nd Christina Ivansson 13:48.35. Girls 18-19yrs: 1st Megan Kehoe 11:06.96. Boys 16yrs: 1st Robert Torley 10:03.10. Boys 18-19yrs: 1st Michael Hosking 9:13.25. 2nd Mark Shepherd 9:32.30. Long Jump... Girls 12yrs: 1st Kiara Bomben 4.30m. 2nd Terri Sutcliffe 4.11m. Girls 16yrs: 1st Jessie Pritchard 5.17m Triple Jump... Girls 15yrs: 3rd Ashleigh Meyn 9.82m. Girls 14yrs: 2nd Angie Blackburn 10.30m. Girls 12yrs: 1st Kiara Bomben 9.56m. High Jump... Girls 15yrs 3rd Ashleigh Meyn 1.40m. Javelin... Girls 12yrs 1st Sonja Taylor 22.29m. Boys 14yrs: 3rd Hayden Fenyvesi 34.39m. Discus... Girls 12yrs: 1st Maree Fleming 25.88m.

The 29 November Interclub meet saw more amazing performances recorded by SCT athletes as they prepare for All-Schools Nationals in Brisbane. In the women's 1500m Emily Brichacek made another quantum leap forward when she smashed the ACT U14 record held by Anna Neumaier. Emily unleashed a withering kick over the last 200m to clock 4:39.59 running down the former record holder 16-year-old Anna in the last 50 metres. Angie Blackburn ran another PB in the U16 400m shaving a few tenths off her own club record. Angie ran 56.28 using an experimental race plan which didn't quite pay off in terms of the ultimate fast time.
Jillian Hosking surprised with a huge 7 second PB (6:23.45) in the U18 1500m walk to break her own state record. Anthony Sexton broke his own club record in the U16 60m with a time of 7.35 seconds. In the U20 men's 1500m Michael Hosking ran 4:04.87 which was yet another PB. Mark Shepherd continued his return to form a few seconds behind Michael in 4:07.31. Jenny Brichacek broke her club 1500m record by a couple of seconds (4:43.31) and is closing in on Elaine Cooper's state W35 record of 4:33. Also in the 1500 metres, sister and brother Kayler and Robert Torley both ran PB's of 5:07.26 and 4:18.91!
Robert McLean off very light preparation missed breaking Chris Williams' club U14 400m record by one second with a surprise 60.34. Jade Sutcliffe significantly ran the fastest 100m time of the day of 12.42 seconds, 0.06 ahead of Angie Blackburn with Jessie Pritchard running 12.71 in fourth place. In the field Wee-Sian Woon broke the club U16 high jump record with a leap of 1.50m and Sonja Taylor broke her own U14 Javelin record with a throw of 21.64 metres.

Once again SCT were the bridesmaids in the Parliament House Relays held on Tuesday 9 December. We had a race-long battle with Woden Harriers and finished just over a minute behind. All our runners performed well from Noni Clarke leading off to John Winsbury anchoring the team. We missed a couple of key A-graders who were in Brisbane for the All-Schools Championships. At the last minute Heath Pearce stepped into A-grade and performed fantastically with a PB of 6:29 for the 1.77km. Our fastest female runner was Noni Clarke (5:59) and fastest male Nick Walshe (5:15) just 2 seconds ahead of John Winsbury. Our B-grade team also performed well placing 3rd of 17 teams! In spite of the course being slightly slower due to landscaping works near the High Court our 'A' team was 1 second faster than last year. Nick Walshe ran the second fastest male time on the day and Noni Clarke the second fastest female time just 5 seconds behind Woden's Sarah Salmon. Timekeeping duties were efficiently handled by Jane McGlew and Barbara Curran.

Ian Colquhoun is always on the lookout for new officials to help with the safe and efficient running of Interclub. SCT recently signed up ex-athlete Chris Newton as an official which is a welcome trend for our club. Ian would also like to thank all the regular SCT officials including newcomers such as Conrad Shepherd and 'old hands' like Ian Galbraith and Alan Bishop.

Just three people were honoured with awards at the recent Athletics Australia AGM. Brian Rowe announced that SCT's Greg Gilbert along with Victorian Geoff Martin were recipients of the 'Athletics Australia Merit Award'. Jill Huxley from Victoria was awarded the sport's highest honour - Life Membership of Athletics Australia. SCT appreciates the tireless work that Greg has put into athletics over many years - a commitment that now gives him little time for running. Many new members may not know that in the 'old days' Greg was a more than useful steeplechaser and club athlete and ran a 38:50 10km PB in the Canberra Times Fun Run.

The drought-breaking rains which had been drenching Canberra for 24 hours resulted in a rare late cancellation of Interclub on Saturday 22 November. Dangerous conditions in the field was the reason but a number of SCT athletes and coaches turned up anyway and decided to run an impromptu race/training session on the all-weather track.

First up an 'all-in' 800m 'fun run' starting on the curved line was organised for 20 or so starters. It may have been the cool conditions or the relaxed nature of the 'race' that resulted in a number of unofficial PB's being recorded. Mark Shepherd ran his best time of the season with a 2 minutes flat. Philip Turini ran a PB of 2:08 while distance runner Noni Clarke ran a season's best of 2:16. Garry Maher did some 'pace-making' duties for the mid-field running 1:06 for the first lap. Emily Brichacek ran a sensational PB of 2:14, a time which was equalled by Jenny Brichacek. Angie Blackburn in her first distance race (of many?) ran a fantastic 2:16! Emily Glover ran 2:19 but had been feeling unwell in recent days. Anna Brichacek recorded a great 2:33 and Peter Hosking equalled his season's best of 2:37. Many runners stayed around and completed various 'testing' training sessions after the feature event.

Spectators at ACT Interclub on 15 November saw SCT's Angie Blackburn running great times in the women's sprint events. In the 60m Angie recorded a time of 8.08 which erased Cassie Schilg's U16 club record. In the 100m Angie ran 12.51, the 4th fastest time on the day behind Melissa Cavanagh and SCT's Jessie Pritchard and Jade Sutcliffe. Angie's best came in the 400m with a fantastic 56.85 to defeat U18 athlete and ACT U16 record holder Zoe Buckman. Kate Wholohan was the 3rd open runner in the 60m with a PB of 8.32. Robert McLean also ran a PB in the same event of 8.31 which broke his own U14 club record.
The 1500m races also saw some fast running from SCT athletes despite less than ideal hot and windy conditions. Emily Brichacek's 4:49.35 was less than 2 seconds outside Tracey Donohue's ancient 1993 club record. Michael Hosking ran a PB of 4:07.27 in finishing 6th behind open runners in the men's 1500m.
Over in the field were more great results... Anastasia Havlat cleared 1.60m in the high jump, Sonja Taylor threw 20.96m in the javelin to break Justine Shepherd's club record, Nikolaj Radulovic jumped 6.02m - the second best distance on the day in the long jump, Philip Phung won the U16 long jump with 5.19m.

Interclub 8 November was again a memorable one for SCT athletes. Angie Blackburn won the 'A' women's 200m easily in 25.34 (wind 0.0), eclipsing Jessie Pritchard's club record and only one second away from Anne Minns' 15-year-old ACT record! The mother and daughter 'team' of Jenny and Emily Brichacek broke their respective SCT age-group records in the 800 metres. Jenny's 2:14.24 was also an ACT Veteran's W35 record breaking the legendary Elaine Cooper's 1995 mark by almost a second. Emily's 2:15.66 obliterated Miliadelle Murray's U14 SCT record from 1987 by 5 seconds. Emily is now within striking distance of Claire Fraser's 2:13.37 ACT record.

The 800's also saw Kelly Roberts make a return to competition with an easy 2:24 just ahead of the improving Sophie Vardos. In the men's 800 Chris Williams was our best with a 2:04.52 followed by Craig Core 'doing some speedwork' in 2:04.91. Robert Torley's 2:06.21 was also a strong run. Anthony Sexton was agonisingly close to his own U16 club 200m record running the 5th fastest 200m time of the day (23.33). In the 3000m Michael Hosking continued his good form placing 3rd in 9:11 while club president Geoff Monro finished back in the pack after a morning at the gym. Jillian Hosking qualified for All-Schools in the 3km walk clocking 15:00.34. Over in the field Sonja Taylor, Anita McGlew and Paul Martens were doing well in the discus while Wee-Sian Woon was 2nd in the U16 triple jump with 10.21 metres.

Was held on Sunday November 16 on the usual one-lap 6.5km course around Lake Tuggeranong. The run was primarily organised by the Kambah Lions Club and the MS Society with some course marking and official assistance from SCT. It was a little disappointing that SCT could only provide 3 officials on the day - Geoff Monro, Jane McGlew and myself. The committee will review our ability to help at this event which was sadly lacking in 2003.
The run was won by Shaun Creighton (21:44) and Fiona Jorgensen (26:41). Ben Dawson won the junior male 12-18 category in 23:16. Nicola Torley won the junior female under-12 category in 48:09. There were other excellent runs on the day from SCT athletes... Colin Bridge placed 2nd in the male over-50 category. Jim White wasn't far behind Colin. Robert Torley was up with the leaders early in the race. Kayler Torley also ran well but not quite keeping up with her father Paul. Sonja Taylor and Anita McGlew both made it around the lake on a day more suitable for swimming.

I was there on the opening day of track & field at the 9th Australian Masters Games. The 800 metres is my second favourite track event (as a spectator) after the steeplechase. I'd missed watching the 100's due to running the Veteran's Handicap earlier in the morning. The W35 800m was under starter's orders and most spectators 'in the know' had Jenny Brichacek at unbackable odds to win gold. It was how she won that was stunning! Jim Tucker described JP's first 200m split of 31 seconds as 'suicidal' even if it gave her a 20 metre lead. The first lap went by in 65 plus and we all waited for lactic acid build-up to soon apply the brakes. It didn't happen. Well, it didn't look like it happened. Jenny continued to run on with great form winning by six seconds in a new club record of 2:16.16!
The M55 800m saw another amazing performance from 'sprinter' and pentathlete Garry Maher. Another 'quickish' start was no problem and Garry looked amazingly good, almost like an 800m runner! The last 20 metres were dramatic and gutsy but Garry still ran 2:23.40 to win the silver medal. My marathon training partner Garry Hosking was also in action in the M50 800m and ran a solid race in mid-field with a 2:31 finish. This was a great effort considering his interrupted preparation and satisfyingly many metres ahead of steeplechaser and motorcycle racer Jim White.

SCT has successfully bid for and won two community cash grants in the last month. Thanks to the efforts of your Treasurer Mike Sexton SCT is better off to the tune of over $1,500! The first grant of approximately $900 is a 'Telstra Club Parents Grant'. This money will be used to fund a development program of regular training sessions in the valley for SCT's Oz Squad members. The second grant is a FACS (Family and Community Services) Volunteer Grant of approximately $685. This money will be used to purchase a 'fast-set-up' 4-man tent to be used at cross country events for storage of bags and officials in the likelihood of inclement weather.

The ACT Cross Country Club's popular Spring Series of 5km races commenced on Tuesday 4 November. The race at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands saw the gold and black of SCT dominate proceedings... Nick Walshe won the race easily from Stuart Doyle with Hugh Jorgensen placing seventh. For the women, Kelly Roberts finished an excellent 2nd behind Woden's Sarah Fien and ahead of Fiona Jorgensen. Back in the pack Brian Wenn redeemed himself for 'doing a Shark' (choking) at the 18th hole the previous Sunday by beating Jim White and cracking the 21-minute barrier. SCT Results:
WOMEN: 2nd Kelly Roberts 19:37, 8th Michelle Lomas-Travers 22:30, 20th Karen Daniels 25:11. MEN: 1st Nick Walshe 16:21, 2nd Stu Doyle 17:06, 7th Hugh Jorgensen 19:02, 19th Brian Wenn 20:58, 20th Jim White 21:02, 22nd David Holmes 21:39, 28th Charlie Modrak 22:34, 45th Ted Harrison 30:04!

Noni Clarke made a rare cross country appearance during her preparation for the track season at the Dunrossil Drive 5km Spring Series race on 11 November. Noni won easily in 18:45 which was the 7th fastest time overall. Kelly Roberts had another solid run in third place. Amongst the men Chris Williams placed second in 17:31 and Hugh Jorgensen was a good 7th in 19:11. SCT Results:
WOMEN: 1st Noni Clarke 18:45, 3rd Kelly Roberts 19:46, 12th Kerrie Bremner 23:19. MEN: 2nd Chris Williams 17:31, 7th Hugh Jorgensen 19:11, 17th Heath Pearce 20:53, 21st Jim White 21:26, 22nd Charlie Modrak 21:32, 25th Brian Wenn 21:41.

The Spring Series 5km at Reconciliation Place on November 18 produced some great runs from SCT athletes. 800m runner's Kelly Roberts and Chris Williams improved again on their efforts the previous week. Kelly placed 3rd in a fantastic 19:00 and just 5 seconds behind winner Sarah Fien. Chris' 17:13 saw him much closer to winner Dave Osmond. Other good results amongst the women came from Kerrie Bremner and Michelle Greenwood. Colin Bridge ran a good 19:39 for 15th place with Jim White scoring yet another 'win' over Charlie Modrak and Brian Wenn. SCT Results:
WOMEN: 3rd Kelly Roberts 19:00, 12th Kerrie Bremner 22:08, 14th Michelle Greenwood 22:11, 21st Michelle Lomas-Travers 22:59, 28th Karen Daniels 25:05. MEN: 2nd Chris Williams 17:13, 11th Hugh Jorgensen 18:56, 15th Colin Bridge 19:39, 21st Jim White 20:40, 24th Charlie Modrak 20:48, 26th Brian Wenn 20:53.

Chris Williams recorded his first win of the Spring Series running 17:27 at the Boathouse 5km. Backing up Chris in sixth place was Allan McGlew while Hugh Jorgensen was also up there in 14th place. Kelly Roberts was again very good using 'slow start' tactics to place second behind Sarah Fien. Jessamy Hosking ran a very good race in sixth with Michelle Greenwood having another excellent run in 12th. SCT Results:
WOMEN: 2nd Kelly Roberts 19:27, 6th Jillian Hosking 21:13, 12th Michelle Greenwood 22:53, 16th Kerrie Bremner 23:35. MEN: 1st Chris Williams 17:27, 6th Allan McGlew 18:06, 14th Hugh Jorgensen 19:54, 23rd Colin Bridge 20:39, 25th Heath Pearce 21:05, 28th Charlie Modrak 21:29, 34th Jim White 21:48, 38th Brian Wenn 22:10, 51st Greg Hosking 24:23.

The ACT cross country club's popular Spring Series for 2003 wound up with the Stage 88 'Women and Girls' 5km course race at Stage 88. Kelly Roberts made another breakthrough with 'sub-19' clocking to place 3rd. Kelly ran 18:51 behind the Woden pair of Sarah Fien (18:27) and Leanne Laajoki (18:31). Jessamy Hosking ran an excellent 20:53 in 7th place. Chris Williams continued his consistently good performances to finish 3rd (17:27) with Hugh Jorgensen having his best run of the series in 11th place. SCT Results:
WOMEN: 3rd Kelly Roberts 18:51, 7th Jessamy Hosking 20:53, 18th Michelle Greenwood 22:57. MEN: 3rd Chris Williams 17:27, 11th Hugh Jorgensen 18:48, 21st Colin Bridge 20:14, 28th Charlie Modrak 21:16, 33rd Jim White 21:23, 34th Brian Wenn 21:28, 49th Greg Hosking 23:34.

You would have to be living in an igloo (or a wombat hole) to not know about the Healthpact 9th Australian Masters Games that were held in Canberra recently. There was a brilliant feature article in the Canberra Sunday Times on October 26 telling the stories of some local athletes and their inspirational coach Ted McLean.
Reading the thoughts of these 'masters' and their coach reinforced what a great sport we have with athletics. The 'brutal' Gary Maher who came to sprinting from veteran's rugby and has a "goal of competing - I've nominated for 10 events and think I can win the pentathlon and medal in the 200 and 400".
The 'train in all weathers' Jenny Brichacek who started to get serious about athletics when her kids became interested in running. "I really enjoy it. It's a type of relaxation in a way, because it's something that I really enjoy doing. I'd like to medal in my events and go under 60 seconds for the 400, 2:20 for the 800 and 4:50 for the 1500".
There was the calm but instinctively competitive Jennifer Krevatin who is "just doing it to keep fit and for the fun of running". Jennifer is running in the 100, 200 and 400 metres. In Wednesday's Canberra Times there was a story about another of Ted's athletes, Mick McRae. Mick started running again 18 months ago after a 25 year break. A former high school middle distance runner, Mick has been training seriously for the last four or five months and according to Ted "has an ideal physiology for middle distance running". We'll all be following the fortunes of these marvellous masters and others from SCT like Garry Hosking, Jim White, Dale Moore, Kathy Southgate, Heath Pearce and Bryce Anderson.

ACT Athletics organised a 'Come and Try It' day on Sunday 26 October. The whole day went off really well starting with warm-ups and group coaching. A large crowd of enthusiastic 'triers' were split into groups which rotated through six stations demonstrating different track and field disciplines. There were many coaches and athletes from the AIS and ACTAS on hand to help with advice, inspiration or just sign the free T-shirts which were given to all participants. Patrick Johnson was busy working with the sprinters, Hamish MacDonald helped the throwers while Said Aouita, Suzy Walsham and Melissa Rollinson took care of the middle distance runners.
The SCT 'stand' was also popular. Mike Sexton made up a fantastic banner at short notice to replace the club one which had mysteriously disappeared over winter. Mike also had a board displaying the Interclub program and calendar. He was kept busy registering a number of new and renewing members and sold quite a few of our club singlets and crop-tops. After the obligatory Canberra 'rain delay' (while a delicious ham and salad lunch was served) there was a short program of competition with many SCT athletes in action.

The first Interclub for the season was held on Saturday 18 October. There were many excellent performances from SCT athletes in events ranging from the 200m to the 10,000m. Jade Sutcliffe just pipped Jessie Pritchard in the women's 200m. Rainer Mertens had the fastest U14 male time for the 200m of 28.05. Michael Hosking ran a 3 second PB in the 800m with 2:00.75 and was 2nd in the 3000m in 9:05.7. Noni Clarke and Emily Glover had a great race in the 'B' 800m with Noni winning by less than a second in 2:17.82. Philip Turini also ran a PB for the 800m of 2:10.92.

Nick Mesher ran a 3-minute PB for 10k in his first 10000m track race at ACT Interclub on Saturday 18 October. Nick ran 38:55.21 placing 4th in the race. He was accompanied for most of the journey by the experienced Geoff Monro who set the pace which was conservative at the start. The pair passed 4km in 16:01 and then proceeded to pick up the tempo with Nick putting in a strong kick over the last 400m. Geoff ran 39:22 and looked a little tired as he'd already competed in the 3000m earlier in the night. Nick's run showed he has recovered well from the Sydney Marathon in which he ran 3:26:55 for 186th place. Nick's son Alex ran in the Harbour Bridge 10k recording 56:02 for the distance.

Was held on Sunday 12 October using a 5km 'bike path' course starting on the grass in front of the National Library. The run was quite a successful one for SCT runners with Michael Hosking winning from Nick Walshe and Jillian Hosking being the second female finisher behind Fiona Jorgensen. SCT Results (only the first 100 finishers were recorded):1st Michael Hosking 15.28, 2nd Nick Walshe 15.45, 6th Philip Curran 16.34, 7th Mark Shepherd 16.44, 10th Geoff Munro 17.27, 11th Philip Turini 17.29, 16th Robert Torley 18.17, 20th Colin Bridge 18.38, 21st (F2) Jillian Hosking 18.47, 22nd Heath Pearce 19.02, 31st Peter Hosking 19.48, 32nd Jim White 19.53, 38th (F4) Kayler Torley 20.14, 40th David Holmes 20.28, 42nd (F5) Jessamy Hosking 20.33, 49th (F10) Justine Shepherd 20.57, 50th Ewen Thompson 21.00, 75th Karen Daniels 23.50, 93rd Greg Hosking 24.49.

SCT Veteran Dale Moore won the Irish Club Weston Creek Fun Run held on Sunday 19 October. Dale held the lead from the start running 21:36 for the 6km course to win by 45 seconds from triathlete Ben Wisbey. Brother and sister act Robert and Kayler Torley were the first U20 runners to finish. Robert placed 8th outright in 23:35 and Kayler was the 6th female to finish. There were 150 runners taking part in the run which took place on bike and foot paths through Weston Creek.
SCT Results: 1st Dale Moore 21:36, 8th Robert Torley 23:35, 9th Colin Bridge 23:50, 20th Heath Pearce 25:50, 23rd Jim White 26:14, 26th Paul Torley 26:38, 30th Kayler Torley 26:48, 100th Maria White 35:43.

Were held on Monday 6 October over the usual 4k and 10k courses from Acton Ferry Terminal. In the short race Philip Curran placed 2nd outright and 1st male 13-16 in 14:01. Robert Torley finished 4th and 3rd in the open male category in 15:19. Robert's sister Kayler placed 2nd female 13-16 in 18:08. Nicola Torley was the 2nd under-13 female in 21:35 and Michael Torley 7th under-13 male. Race winners were Geoff Hawke 13:58 and Fiona Jorgensen 15:57. Club President Geoff Monro placed 6th outright and 5th open male with a time of 39:10 for the 10km race. Heath Pearce finished 22nd in 43:43 and Hugh Jorgensen 25th in 44:47. Ewen Thompson was waaaay back stopping the sundial in 49:09 for 40th place.

Was also held on Monday 6 October using a revised course because of the fire damage in the Brindy's. The 26km Bulls Head Challenge used the tough '2-peaks' course running over Mt. Majura and Mt. Ainslie. The 'Brindabella Classic' was 2-laps or four peaks in 52 kilometres. There were only 14 finishers in the 'Classic' which was won for the umpteenth time by Weston Creek veteran Trevor Jacobs in 4:19:02. SCT's only runner on the day was Jim White who finished his third 'Bulls Head' in 14th place and a time of 2:32:35. Jim was also 3rd Over-50 male to finish in the field of 30 runners. The race was won by the Creek's Vince Craig in 1:48:19 and Woden's Keri Vaughan in 2:19:39. There were just 11 teams in the 52km relay race which was won by 'The Travelling Whingeberrys'.

I was looking at the 'CoolRunning' website recently and noticed a familiar name in the results section for the Fishers Ghost 10km Fun Run. Yes, it was my old training partner David Gates who placed 36th in the field of 400 in a time of 39:40. The event was won by Matt Kerr (31:33) and Sarah Mycroft (38:48). Utopian Ulludulla is obviously agreeing with David and family as he is now running times minutes quicker than your poor old editor can achieve.

20 July - The Sunday morning scheduling saw just ten SCT runners in competition. Stu Doyle had an easy win in the 5km while Heath Pearce placed fourth in a good 20:21. Kayler Torley was the 2nd female to finish while Karen Daniels had one of her better runs of the winter in third place. Again Geoff Monro was our best in the 10 miler while just behind Colin Bridge got the better of Hugh Jorgensen. SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 5k - 2nd Kayler Torley 22:28, 3rd Karen Daniels 25:35. MALE 5k - 1st Stuart Doyle 17:29, 4th Heath Pearce 20:21. MALE 10 miles - 11th Geoff Monro 1:02:18, 15th Colin Bridge 1:04:55, 16th Hugh Jorgensen 1:05:03, 19th Nick Mesher 1:06:41, 26th Robert Torley 1:10:42, 30th Jim White 1:11:43.

26 July - It was a perfect winter's day for this classic event despite heaps of overnight snow on the Brindabellas. Greg Hosking won the U14 1km race in 4:11 while Elizabeth Hosking was the first female. Noni Clarke had an all the way win in the female race. Kathy Southgage finished stronger than fast-starting daughter Anne. Sophie Vardos was an excellent 12th. Craig Core placed 8th in the male race just ahead of Chris Williams and Michael Hosking. SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 4.2k - 2nd Noni Clarke 15:00, 5th Kathy Southgate 15:42, 6th Anne Southgate 15:57, 7th Jillian Hosking 16:01, 12th Sophie Vardos 16:51. MALE 4.2k - 8th Craig Core 13:06, 9th Chris Williams 13:08, 11th Michael Hosking 13:09, 18th Nick Walshe 13:55, 19th Allan McGlew 14:01.

2 August - Fast and flat bike-path runs on another great winter's day. The best race of the day was the "duel on the sand" in the 5km event between Jillian Hosking and Anna Neumaier. Jillian took the sprint finish while Nick Mesher viewed proceedings in his 'warm-up' for the 10k. Michael Hosking and Chris Williams also had a good race in the 5k with Allan McGlew running a great PB. In the 10k races Noni Clarke easily won the women's race in a 'soft' PB from Glenda Regan. Michelle Greenwood also ran a PB in 14th place. Nick Walshe broke the 34-minute barrier for the first time while Col Bridge was just shy of the 40-minute barrier. SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 5k - 1st Jillian Hosking 18:36, 5th Jessamy Hosking 21:07, 7th Justine Shepherd 21:44.
MALE 5k - 2nd Michael Hosking 16:02, 3rd Chris Williams 16:06, 6th Allan McGlew 16:45, 7th Philip Curran 17:00, 8th Stuart Doyle 17:03.
FEMALE 10k - 1st Noni Clarke 37:27, 11th Kerrie Bremner 43:48, 12th Susannah Mennen 44:31, 14th Michelle Greenwood 45:38, 23rd Karen Daniels 53:19.
MALE 10k - 7th Nick Walshe 33:55, 19th Laurie Irvine 36:53, 22nd Geoff Monro 37:23, 28th Nick Mesher 39:28, 32nd Colin Bridge 40:05.

9 August - Perhaps the last time on this classic course which has been run for over 15 years. Jessamy Hosking placed 3rd in the short race leading home an SCT foursome of Emily Glover, Dominique Wilson, Susannah Mennen and Kayler Torley. Sonja Taylor placed 9th and Karen Daniels 11th. David Wilson placed fourth in the men's short race just ahead of Robert Torley. In the long race Kerrie Bremner placed third and Chris Williams fourth for the men ahead of and excellent run from veteran Laurie Irvine. SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 3.4k - 3rd Jessamy Hosking 14:23, 4th Emily Glover 14:38, 5th Dominique Wilson 14:53, 6th Sussanah Mennen 15:06, 7th Kayler Torley 15:46. MALE 3.4k - 4th David Wilson 12:59, 5th Robert Torley 13:04, 8th Heath Pearce 14:07, 12th Jim White 15:12. FEMALE 6.8k - 3rd Kerrie Bremner 31:47. MALE 6.8k - 4th Chris Williams 23:57, 5th Laurie Irvine 26:28, 23rd Heath Pearce 31:02, 24th Ewen Thompson 31:18, 26th Jim White 31:33.

16 August - Emily Glover became the ACT Cross Country Club's Novice Champion for 2003 when she placed 3rd in the 4km race. Jessamy Hosking was fourth, Sonja Taylor fifth and Karen Daniels eighth. Kerrie Bremner won her first ACTCCC race in the 2-lap 8km event. Geoff Monro finished a solid 2nd in the 4km race for men. SCT Publicity Officer Stu Doyle ran fourth in the 8km race less than 2 minutes ahead of the rapidly improving Laurie Irvine. Nicola Torley won the Under-14 1km race in 4:58.
SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 4k - 3rd Emily Glover 16:17, 4th Jessamy Hosking 16:49, 5th Sonja Taylor 19:41, 8th Karen Daniels 22:25. MALE 4k - 2nd Geoff Monro 15:20, 5th Nick Mesher 15:48, 6th Robert Torley 15:51, 10th Heath Pearce 16:34, 18th Alex Mesher 19:52.
FEMALE 8k - 1st Kerrie Bremner 37:20. MALE 8k - 4th Stu Doyle 29:49, 5th Laurie Irvine 31:29, 14th Nick Mesher 34:35, 17th Colin Bridge 35:54, 19th Andrew Gardner 36:25.

23 August - Just 59 runners contested the five races held on modified courses due to the January bushfires. Jessamy Hosking placed 2nd in the 5km event to veteran legend Fiona Jorgensen. Kerrie Bremner was 3rd in the 8km race and Stuart Doyle second male in the 5k. Philip Turini was not far behind Stu in 5th place. SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 5k - 2nd Jessamy Hosking 23:39. MALE 5k - 2nd Stu Doyle 19:17, 5th Philip Turini 21:49, 9th Charlie Modrak 23:50, 11th Jim White 27:09, 12th Alex Mesher 28:43.
FEMALE 8k - 3rd Kerrie Bremner 38:05, 8th Karen Daniels 46:47. MALE 8k, 9th Hugh Jorgensen 33:59, 16th Jim White 39:27.

30 August - The penultimate race of the cross country season was a junior and senior pointscore event on the hilly North Lyneham course. In the 3.1km race Michael Hosking had an impressive win over Allan McGlew. Jillian Hosking was a close 3rd in the female race just ahead of Emily Glover and Anne Southgate. Noni Clarke and Kathy Southgate both had fine runs to place 2nd and 3rd in the 6.2km race behind Woden's Sarah Salmon. Craig Core placed sixth in a quality field that ran the men's 6.2km race. Conrad Shepherd made a rare appearance in the country placing 12th in the 3.1km just behind Heath Pearce. SCT Top Five:
FEMALE 3.1k - 3rd Jillian Hosking 12:16, 4th Emily Glover 12:38, 5th Anne Southgate 12:47, 6th Jessamy Hosking 12:53, 7th Sophie Vardos 13:09. MALE 3.1k - 1st Michael Hosking 10:24, 2nd Allan McGlew 10:50, 5th Robert Torley 12:02, 6th Nick Mesher 12:10, 8th Philip Turini 12:34. FEMALE 6.2k - 2nd Noni Clarke 23:21, 3rd Kathy Southgate 24:50, 6th Kerrie Bremner 28:38, 8th Sussanah Mennen 28:57, 9th Michelle Greenwood 29:37. MALE 6.2k - 6th Craig Core 20:54, 13th Stu Doyle 22:20, 21st Geoff Monro 24:20, 31st Laurie Irvine 25:39, 34th Nick Mesher 26:02.

Half way through the 2003/04 track season I'm excited! Witnessing the many brilliant middle distance performances by SCT runners at Interclub has given me a new lease on life and running. Those track stars know who they are and I won't embarrass them by mentioning their names in this column. They range from the record breaking 'young guns' through to 'second career' seniors, super vets and even 'green' youngsters setting PB after PB. I've been inspired by their results to have a serious go at 800 and 1500m running.

This season I'm not taking my usual course which has been to run Spring and Summer Series cross country and the odd 3000m track race and fun run. I've been racing 800's and 1500's at Interclub and enjoying the experience. I've been also doing regular speed work and taking advice from an experienced ex-runner and writer who has been there before. Back when the World Masters Games were in Melbourne he managed to improve his 1500m by 30 seconds to a 4:59 and was regularly running sub 2:20's at Vets Track. By the way, his name is not Carson! It is this 'new eye' which has helped me find a fresh way to approach and 'see' my training and racing.

When you're young (or just starting out) and improving it's exciting to be running PB's. Yes, I can remember what it was like! It was only a dozen years back! I loved the 800 then because you were running 'fast' and in close company with other runners. Tactics were involved and decisions had to be made instantly. Back in the early 90's, 'fast' for me was anything under 2:20 or 4:45. My PB's were 2:15 and 4:39 so how is it possible to be excited about running so much slower in 2003? My 'new eye' has helped me to 'see the light'.

Enjoy the race for the race itself. It will still feel the same as back in the 'old days' even if you are running in the 5th heat and 20 or 30 seconds slower. You'll still get the 'burning throat' and lactic arms that let you know you've had a good run. Set some realistic goals of improvement to train for during the season. Train with a purpose that takes your intended race and goal into account. With the help of my new eye for an old guy I'm now running for an SB, (a Season's Best). I'm also enjoying my racing and can't wait for the next Interclub to come around!

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