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Tuggie Athlete - it's paper!
SEPTEMBER 2005      Number 70   
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The World Mountain Running Championships
Mt.Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand.
by Emma Murray
The women's race was two laps of a 4.3km circuit that went from sea level to the summit of Mt Victoria in the centre of Wellington. This involved 310m of elevation gain for each lap. For the first lap there was an extra 400m run on the flat before starting the steep uphill. The course climbs quickly up between local houses and into the pine forest. It then follows formed tracks and grass verges on Mt Victoria. Each lap contains one major climb to the summit then down a bit, followed by a minor climb before descending back to the waterfront.

Well, I have to say I learnt a lot about running and racing this weekend. I learnt a lot about my own present capabilities and what it's like to compete against a world-class field of determined, tough, and extremely accomplished women.

I was really really nervous going into this race. I knew it would be intense and very different to any race I had done before, involving close tussles with others, which was not really what I have had to deal with much in other races thus far so I was totally inexperienced and didn't know what to expect.

Another thing was that the women's race was not on until 3pm, it was after the men's race and obviously the main event, the grand finale. I hate running in the afternoons, I much prefer to get it over with in the morning when I am fresh. So I spent all morning mulling over the race. I watched the junior women and the men's race trying to gain an understanding of what my race would be like.

Jackie [Fairweather] had given us a pep talk the night before and I really grasped onto her words as I was looking to anything to help me out on this one and Jackie is probably the best person ever to give advice for an intense race such as this. She said the most important thing is to do the best you can. Which is so simple but when you are out there and in pain, there is sometimes the temptation to just let the others beat you. But all through the race, even after what seemed like millions of girls were passing me I still wanted to keep going "the best I could", even if I came last. There was no way I was going to give up, unless my legs dropped off of course.

So, finally, after one million years I was at the start line, with Jackie, Vivian [Pott] and Marnie [Ponton]. We were in lane 12, and guess who was in lane 11 - New Zealand! Melissa Moon was wearing her trademark blue eyeliner and looking particularly intimidating, but I was wearing red toe nail polish so that is surely faster, and Viv had silver nail polish. I am not sure what beauty products Jackie and Marnie had used to boost their performance but it must have worked as they did awesome. We were a strong Aussie team, we had nothing to fear from those blonde all-blacks. I loved standing there together wearing our pastel green Aussie uniforms. My heart filled with warmth and hope for us all. John Harding got us together for a photo. We ere his mountain running chicks, I hope we did him proud. If it wasn't for John, none of us would be there.

So after what seemed like another one-million years the start gun fired and e all sprinted frantically along the Wellington harbour waterfront for maybe bout 400m before turning right, straight up a street going up Mt Victoria. I tried to stay in touch with Melissa and the other leading women, but this hill, which at my usual pace wouldn't usually be a problem, turned my legs to jelly. I have never ever had this experience before. I kept going, as I knew it soon flattened out for a bit and I could recover. But instead, upon reaching the top of the rise, my jelly legs were almost unusable and the slight downhill was suddenly a very dangerous prospect and I wobbled all over the place trying not to stumble off the path, and off the edge and down the slope.

I managed to continue on, but the next uphill section I slowly lumbered up, managing to get in everyone's way as they tried to pass me. Vivian, Jackie and Marnie all overtook me, looking very strong and fast, I watched them disappear into the distance along with one-million other women who were passing me. So at this stage my aim became just to get to the top and let my legs recover on the downhill.

After some more climbing and struggling I got to the trig station at the top and picked my way down the slightly treacherous rocky bit, which the day before, when inspecting the course, I had flown over with no problems at all. My legs recovered well after this and I ran rapidly and happily back down to the harbour, passing a few girls who must have blown up even worse than me. But at least they got further than the first 2km before it happened, unlike me.

My legs felt pretty good when I started the climb for a second time and I got into my usual pace and rhythm and managed to overtake a few more girls before reaching the trig again. This felt good. I was going my own pace but also trying the hardest I could and going a pace that I would at least be proud of when I finished.

I could hear the commentators as I came down off the trig and heard that Kate McIllroy was in the lead and starting the final decent. Lucky her! I still had to go halfway down and back up to the top again before I reached the point where she was now. But I didn't care. I was still going to push myself, despite not quite doing as well as I had hoped so far. So down I went again, back into the Lord of the Rings forest passing a few more girls who were taking the downhills more carefully, and back up again, and who should I spy but Marnie! How did I manage to catch up to her, she had blown me away ages ago. Patiently, I got closer and closer as we ran up the last grassy uphill and overtook her just before starting the final downhill. I shot down to the bottom having an absolute ball of a time, almost taking a poor girl out when taking a corner too close to her.

I crossed the finish line, happy in the knowledge that I had given it my all. Marnie finished soon after me and we laughed and smiled, happy to be finished. A guy from the local paper interviewed us. I hope he managed to get something useful out of our jubilant, excited banter. He asked if we liked Wellington and I said if it wasn't for the wind I'd live there! Plus the coffee is excellent. I can't remember what else we told him.

I had a quick chat to Marion from Austria who I had met in France and had come second in the long distance mountain running champs. She had found it similarly tough and we both said we were looking forward to racing over a more respectable distance at the long distance champs in Colorado next year.

So there you go. Before doing that again, I think next time I'll do more hill reps to get my legs used to the pace these girls were flying uphill. Plus I probably should have rested more in the week before the race.


The Australian Cross Country Championships - Adelaide 2005 by Stuart Doyle

BACKGROUND:
For those not familiar with the Aust XC champs, it's an annual event that brings together the cream of distance running once a year to battle for not only the individual titles but also the team titles and chance for the better runners to get selected to represent Australia at World Cross Champs (one of the premier events in world distance running). For an old hack like me, it's just a privilege to be able to compete at such an event along side such great athletes and although technically anyone can enter, most of the field is made up of those who've qualified in state teams or are of a similar standard. This year I managed to squeeze into the team (as a reserve) and so it was only my second ever run at nationals, the last being Brisbane in 1999 (in my first year of running).

Ever since my first National XC I have wanted to run at another, as the atmosphere is like no other race I've done. Also, Adelaide is sort of a second 'spiritual' home for me as I spent quite a bit of time there in my wild travelling days back in the mid-late 80's, so when I saw the champs were in Adelaide this year it was double incentive to try and get there. After a disastrous start this year, with injuries and sickness, my luck changed in June and so my form of late had been getting really good and I had my best race for over a year at the ACT champs, which meant I squeezed into the ACT side as a reserve. I was so excited and booked my flight straight away!

A week out from the race I ran a warm-up race and felt really strong, so was feeling really positive in the days leading up to the champs, which I find is always a really important thing in racing well. By Friday I was getting pretty nervous as I checked the start list, hoping that there were going to be a few other hacks in the line-up for me to run with and not come last, but to my horror there were only 50 starters on the list and all looked pretty good. I suddenly had that feeling you get when you're in a queue for a really huge rollercoaster, knowing you're shit-scared but knowing it'll be a great ride! Oh well, I bought my ticket, too late to chicken out now!

I guess being in a positive frame of mind about your current form is a real blessing, because once I got in Adelaide my nerves disappeared and I was just looking forward to the race. I had a great night's sleep and felt fine on race morning. With the race starting at 2:45 we had some time to kill, so Adam Leane (who I was sharing a hotel room with) and I went for a stroll on Saturday morning, watched lots of TV and had a very relaxing morning. At 1pm we decided to walk down to the course, about 2km away. I was fine and nerves under control, UNTIL, until we got to the edge of the green belt (that surrounds the city) and came across the vista over the Victoria Park Racecourse, where the champs were on. I looked across and there was a grandstand full of people, thousands of people everywhere (99% being athletes, their families, coaches, officials etc.) and the adrenaline inducing sound of the race announcer on the PA system. Suddenly I had the biggest gut-wrenching butterflies. Now I suddenly remembered what national cross is like. Six years can dull the memory! Oh well at least there was no problem psyching myself up to race hard!

Pre-race was just a blur of getting numbers, warming up (which was the only non-nervous period) checking in at the athletes tent, running backwards and forwards from the grandstand getting various things I'd forgotten (like my race number first, and then my racing flats!). IN hindsight I must have been pretty nervous, but all that running too and fro from the grandstand to the athlete's tent really gave me a good warm-up! Not that 'warming' up was that hard, as it was a relatively blistering day of 23 degrees, not great straight out of a Canberra winter and I was worried about what effect the heat might have in the race, but not as worried as poor Mick Hurlihy, who's an Irish guy who's just moved out here recently to work at the AIS and was one of the ACT team members. I just told him to wet his hair straight before the race and he'd be right. I didn't quite believe this advice myself, but thought it would reassure him anyway! :-) We watched the open women's race finish, Sarah Salmon had a great race to hold on to 4th spot after leading earlier on, with Kathy Southgate and Andrea Ilakovic also running well. This was a nice distraction for a moment, but then the race caller called us up for the open men's, I even have butterflies now just writing about the moment. It was at that point I'd remembered that I didn't have my racing flats on, doh! Quick sprint to grandstand and back and I was at the starting enclosure.

THE COURSE:
The course was 4 laps of 3km, with half of it exposed to the wind and sun on the racecourse and half winding through cool hilly woodland. The first 500m was down the main straight with the stiff wind at our back, but then you did a 180 turn right back up into the wind for another 500m before turning gently away and into the woodland for 1.5km of windy small hills before re-emerging onto the race course to finish each lap. The surface was generally very good, with two VERY NASTY exceptions. On each lap, there were two pebble beds to cross, each one being the width of a road, and full of very deep loose pebbles. There was also small section of firm tan bark, but this was nothing compared to the pebble beds of death!

THE RACE:
I hardly needed any run-throughs after the grandstand relays, but did some anyway to get into racing mode.
Then on to the start line, I felt like a lamb to slaughter. In national cross, they line you up along the start line in your state teams, there for all to see. The caller announces all the athletes, their achievements, such as national titles, etc. Needless to say when they announced me it was simply "Stuart Doyle, ACT". I felt so exposed on that start line, like one of those dreams where you're on your way to school and suddenly you realise you don't have any clothes on (or is it just me who has dreams like that?). There were 14 'internationals' on the start line, some of the best runners in the country, and, oh yes, me. The ACT team consisted Martin Dent (first Australian in City to Surf 2 weeks earlier and race favourite in our minds), Scott McTaggart (current Aust Mnt Running Champion), Mark Shepherd, Michael Hurlihy, Michael Hosking, Adam Leane and myself as EM's.

My race plan seemed simple, run as hard as possible and try not to come last. I did have one other plan, it was a pretty windy day and very warm. Normally these conditions would see me go out conservatively to conserve energy, but because of the course layout and the wind direction I was going to have to use a different tactic. I was going to have to go out hard, and hang on to the back of the pack for the slog back up into the wind in the first km. To be caught on my own into the wind would far outweigh any negative effect of running too hard in the first 500m (to hang on to back of pack).

Finally the moment came. It's funny, the build-up takes a lifetime, as does the race seem to, but as in life, the moment between the two vastly different stable states is an instant. The pace was fast, as you'd expect. I immediately put plan A into action and held on to the back of the pack (which I'd easily managed to gravitate to instantly!). We flew down the main straight with the wind behind us and I'd say we were doing about 3:10 kilometre pace at this point. I almost fell off the back but managed to hang on until the bottom of the course for the turn into the wind. The only thing keeping me running at this pace was the fear of being dropped and having to run into the wind on my own. As soon as we turned, the pace suddenly dropped a bit and it was easier to hang on, it was great being at the back of nearly 50 runners. At the 1k mark we started turning out of the wind and I looked next to me to see Adam Leane, shit, you know it's a fast start when you're running at the back of the field with Adam Leane!

Leaney soon moved up ahead and I was left at the back with a SA team runner, this didn't surprise me as I'd expected I'd be battling with a South Australian for last place and thought the rest of the race would probably be the two of us slugging it out for last place. Into the woodland for the first time and through the hills and bends I was running strongly. The SA guy and I had a good battle for the first lap and then we hit the pebble pit for the first time. SHIT! It was like being in some crazy game show or something as it was impossible to keep your momentum and my legs felt weak by the end of the pit but to my surprise and relief, I seemed to drop the SA guy through the second pebble pit.

Got to the end of lap 1 and despite the insane (for me anyway) start, I felt strong and had now dropped one SA dude and was closing in on a Queenslander in front of me. 10:11 for the first 3k, I made a quick mental note that this pace was insane but not to panic as I was feeling ok. Going down the main straight into lap 2 I could see a small 3 man pack up ahead and decided to try and run them down by the turn to get a free ride once we hit the headwind. Gerard Ryan was spectating at this point on the course and was shouting encouragement madly, which was a huge lift for my spirits as otherwise it felt very lonely out there. The plan worked a charm and I caught the pack just in time to sit behind them into the wind the whole way back up the straight. Once we hit the woodland, to my surprise I found I had the strength to pull away once again and dropped the whole pack of 3. Things were going well and I was also settling into a nice rhythm, apart from the rude interruptions to this rhythm at the pebble pits. It was just after the second pebble crossing on lap 2 that I pulled past Michael Hosking, who was slowing rapidly. I later found out he'd come down with the flu during the week and this obviously ruined him on the day and he ended up pulling out of the race at some point on the verge of collapse. (but he's ok).

At the end of lap 2 I found I'd once again got away from my competitors and had now dropped two Sth Australians, a Queenslander the Tassie and a Victorian (and unfortunately Michael of course). Going into lap 3, it was the same scenario again, another 2 runners about 60m up ahead with Gerard madly yelling for me to chase them down. I made it again just in time to grab a ride back up the main straight, this was working a charm! Again, once we hit the woodland I surged and pulled away. It was about this time that I got some confidence as I started to realise I was moving through the pack, which certainly wasn't in my race plan! I also realised I was really in the race and wasn't just trying to not come last, it felt really good and lifted my spirits a lot. Through the woodland it was nice to get a break from the heat. Luckily on each lap there was an aid station so you could throw water over your head not too far before you headed into the shady section, so it would keep you cool for at least half of every lap. The pebble pits seemed to have grown in length somehow by lap 3. It was scary because my pace dropped right off and I lost my rhythm but I just kept thinking that the others are going through it as well, so don't panic.

End of lap 3 now and things were going very well. Only one lap to go and although I was starting to hurt, I still felt strong enough to know I could keep my pace through the last lap. Again, as every lap before, I had 2 runners up ahead to chase down the straight but this time I caught one before the turn, and the other was still 40m ahead, damn! I put a big surge in into the wind to drop the Vic so he couldn't sit behind me and this worked. Then I pushed hard to catch the South Australian up in front. I was on the border line of totally over-cooking it and going lactic, but I knew I had to catch him so I could rest in behind for some of the windy section, otherwise I wouldn't be fresh enough to get past him once we got out of the wind. It took me half the straight to catch him and then I had a nice rest for a few hundred meters behind him. As we got to 2km to go and entering the woodland for the last time, I heard over the PA than Marty had just won the championship. Wooohoooooo! This was a huge adrenaline hit, I let out a "YES!" and surged away from the SA guy. I was now in the last 1.5k and really pushing it to the limit. Even though it was my 4th time through this section, I forgot the layout and thought I was about 500m further to the finish line than I actually was, so had started my final km surge half a km early. This helped me catch and pass my first New Zealander, this was a huge thrill! Then I saw a guy up ahead that at first look looked like Leaney, but turned out to be a Victorian (Benjamin Toomey). He was slowing and I was catching up fast. I got to the pebble pits for the last time, ah how I would miss them! I had tried just about every method of running through them and had decided that being the last lap, absolutely fanging it so as to take as few steps as possible would be a good enough method! This worked pretty well except my leg almost buckled under me by the last couple of strides but I'd made it!

Only the final straight to go and although the Vic was too far in front to catch, I put in a final sprint as one of my pre-race hopes (apart from not finishing last) was to run the national cross 12k faster than I'd run the ACT champs 12k and sneak under 42 minutes. As I got near, very near the finish line I saw the clock ticking 41:58, 41:59, 42:00, damn, I knew I was going to just miss out on that, but given the difficulty of the course and conditions It was pretty much irrelevant in the end.

THE WASH UP:
It was such a fantastic feeling to finish and I was on a huge high, only matched I think by how I felt after national cross in Brisbane back in 1999. Although this time I knew I'd run the race of my life and was ecstatic to have finished 35th in such a field and over the moon about Marty winning. The other great thing was that the exception of Michael (who had the flu) everyone in the team raced well and were really happy with their efforts. Everyone milled about for ages afterwards swapping tales etc. the usual post race (endorphin assisted) euphoria set in. Although my time was 2 seconds slower than ACT champs, on close inspection of times by everyone who did both races it looks like the Adelaide course was about 30 seconds (at least) slower than Canberra, so I'm convinced this is the best race I've ever run.

A little while after the finish bad cramps set in (I always get these after racing really hard) and I crawled back to our hotel. On the way back I stumbled upon the little laneway that I used to live on back in 1987, I stood there (probably looking a sight in sweaty running gear looking half dead) for a good while reminiscing about old times before dragging myself back to the hotel and standing in the pool with Leaney soaking our legs...that was a great idea and meant we were ok to do a great long run the next morning around the city, Torrens River and Adelaide Oval! I then caught up with some old and dear friends that night, it was a hoot! Sunday spent down at the beach at Glenelg, Leaney and Mick (Hurlihy) had some good stories of their own from the trip (you'll have to ask them). On the plane on the way home, Mick pointed out the race course below as we flew over the city. He said that we all would have looked like ants running around to people flying over on Saturday. It gave me this thought:

The most important thing is not where you are, it's when you're there and what you do that really matter.

Stu.


My Australian Cross Country Championships
by Kathy Southgate
Stu Doyle asked Kathy to write a report for the ACTrun list and here it is...

I was happy with my run. I went out a bit harder than usual and had just enough left in the tank to finish. I was totally stuffed at the end. I remember being very wobbly in the legs and finding the first bit of shade I came to. I plopped myself down in it and someone came over and gave me a cup of water. I don't actually remember much about the finish. I think I was on auto pilot at that point. I remember Kelly, Andrea, Ruth and I were together for the first lap. It was great being together like that - somehow it feels easier with your team-mates there. And they are such a lovely supportive group. I saw Sarah out with the lead group - good I thought. Right where she belongs!

The second lap I was trying to reel in some South Australian lady. I kept gaining on her but then she would respond by surging again. She clearly did not want to be passed by me! I enjoyed the olive groves but oh those pebble pits were horrible! I still have various niggles lingering around which I believe are a direct result of running so awkwardly through those pits. Who ever dreamt up such horrors? On the last lap Gerard Ryan started shouting "run flat Kathy" and that helped a lot. The more I tried to push off in those things the deeper I sank into it.

The last lap was hard and I knew I was starting to suffer the pace and the heat. I was just trying to hang onto to the pace as best I could. I didn't lose any ground or any places but I don't think I gained much on the rest of the field either. I had expected the last lap to be tough, especially in the heat. Not much we can do about that coming from the ACT. Only a week and a bit earlier I had been training in a blizzard.

It's amazing how the body manages to hang on to a certain pace and everything seems okay, but you know that you are on the edge. But then when I stop, the fatigue really hits hard and it requires a full effort just to stay upright!

I remember looking around for Ruth and Kelly and being a bit worried because I couldn't find them. I soon learned that they had developed problems and didn't finish. As soon as I was able to move I went over to the medical tent and found Ruth and Kelly there. I was just happy to know that everyone was okay. So many things can go wrong in a race even with perfect planning. One year I had made it all the way to Adelaide for Aust CC in great form, woke up really crook and couldn't even make it to the starting line. As John Lennon said - life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.

After we were sure that Kelly and Ruth were ok I went out and watched some of the men's race while I got some sugar and water back into my system (PowerAde). I was impressed with your run Stuart. I thought you ran very well and you would be happy with that. Marty's run was awesome. I thought our men's team was something to be really proud of.

I think in the women's race the wind was not so much a problem as in the men's race but the heat on that last lap for us was overwhelming. I was glad to see they put out a water station for the men - wish we had one. I could certainly have used a drink on the last lap. I was surprised that it was 9:30 Saturday evening before I could have produced a drug test (not that I would have been a likely candidate for that but I felt sorry for anyone who was), even though I drank and drank and drank.

After that I did the same as you - hobbled slowly back to the motel (only about 5 minutes away) and stood in waist deep cold water in the pool for a while. Then back to the room for a Ginger Beer I had been saving for after the race and to put me feet up and eat something. I had two large blood blisters (one on each foot) and walking was a bit painful. Somehow I managed to walk into town with the secondary schools team that evening though, catch the tram in to Glenelg and sit on the beach and eat. It was lovely being in Adelaide. It was so nice to have a warm sunny weekend. The kids were great therapy for a tired aching body too. It's impossible to think too much about your own aches and pains with all that laughter and energy around you.

It was great being a part of the team, that's the best bit of cross country. Warming up as a team, being there for each other in the call room and the lead-up during that time when everyone is so nervous. It's great to have a team to share that with. It makes it so much easier having each other for support. And I must say that Sarah, Ruth, Kelly and Andrea make a great team to be a part of. Thank you.

I thought the champs were very well organised by the South Australians. The venue next year is Hobart... so everyone keep up the good work.


From the Top
Can SCT stay on top?

At the top of Heartbreak Hill in the City to Surf you feel great - you're on top of the world! That's where new SCT member Emma Murray is after a stunning, brilliant performance at the World Long Course Mountain Running Championships winning by 18 minutes!

SCT has a long history of doing very well in mountain running. We have won the Brindabella Classic team event seven times (MMMM) and still hold the record for fastest team ten years later. We've had many state, national and world representatives including John Winsbury, Fiona Jorgensen, Amanda Carey, Stuart Doyle, Gordon Nightingale and myself. SCT has a long history of many fantastic results in the Canberra Marathon - we have two 3-time winners in Colin Neave and SCT legend Gerard Barrett.

In the late 80s, early 90s we won the open ladies ACT cross country championships 6 times. There are many other achievements which were displayed at the Golden Mile/50th Anniversary celebration held in early October. This year we've won 3 major club relays and with our current crop of junior and senior athletes it looks as if our time at the top will last for some years to come.

This is my prediction, but who can tell when predicting sporting events as the North Queensland Cowboys beat Parra 29-nil!! I don't think I can ever wear my Parramatta top again! As our club continues to do well in winter and summer competition, let's continue to support each other and enjoy the ride but always be on the lookout for a cowboy in a ten-gallon hat!

Geoff Monro
President - October 2005




The Australian Cross Country Championships:

The most prestigious national event of the winter season was held on 27 August in Adelaide. The course was reasonably flat and used the horse race track with a loop onto a shaded hillside. A couple of 'gravel traps' were included on each lap to test runners' traction control systems. The weather was warm. Stuart Doyle and Kathy Southgate have written reports on the race which will be published in the next Tuggie Athlete. Here are the results for SCT runners:
Women's 8k Open - 21 Kathy Southgate 32:04 (1st Susan Michelsson 28:27). Men's 12k Open - 21 Mark Shepherd 39:47, 35 Stuart Doyle 42:04 (1st Martin Dent 36:50). Women's 6k U20 - 21 Sophie Vardos 25:17 (1st Madeline Heiner 21:47). Men's 8k U20 - 26 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 28:49, 54 Robert Torley 31:05 (1st Toby Rayner 25:06). Girl's 4k 16/17 - 35 Anne Southgate 16:27, 52 Hannah Flannery 16:57 (1st Lara Tamsett 14:35). Girl's 4k 14/15 - 15 Rebecca Henderson 15:37 (1st Emily Brichacek 13:39). Girl's 3k 13yrs - 28 Siobhan Andrews 11:42 (1st Jessica Gilfillan 10:36). Boy's 18/19 - 17 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 28:49, 35 Robert Torley 31:05 (1st Toby Rayner 25:06). Girls 3k 11yrs - 29 Catriona Windsor 13:33 (1st Jenny Blundell 10:44). Boy's 3k 11yrs - 27 Angus Gould 11:53 (1st Patrick Tiernan 10:25).

New SCT Tracksuits available!

We now have a good supply of a freshly designed club tracksuit. They are available from Mike Sexton who will be at Interclub track & field competition from 4pm on Saturday afternoons. The price is $100 for the full tracksuit or $60 for the top and $40 for the pants.

Emma wins ACT Sportstar award for July:

Emma Murray has been named the ACTSPORT female Sportstar for the month for July. This was in recognition of her breakthrough win in the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship held in France on 24 July. The awards are a twelve-month program running from November to October and recognising the achievements of athletes, coaches, officials and administrators. They are recognised as the most prestigious sporting awards in the ACT region. Winners of the Awards include some of the biggest names in Australian sport, like inaugural winner Robert de Castella. Other winners include George Smith, Lauren Jackson, Michael Klim, Patrick Johnson and Petria Thomas.
There was a story and photograph in The Canberra Times in which Emma "attributed her strong performance to hard training in the rugged bushland in and around Canberra, which she described as the 'running capital of Australia'. She said being able to cover a marathon distance over climbs as steep as Black Mountain had prepared her for an eventual switch to conventional marathon running. 'I do have an interest in marathon running but I'd have to change my training and do more speed work. I could definitely finish the distance, it's just the speed that would be an issue. I wouldn't be as fast as someone who trains for a marathon, and similarly they'd find it tough in the mountains.' Incredibly, the first 21km of the course on rough dirt paths through the Pyrenees involved a 2000 metre climb."

Interclub has commenced!

The first Interclub meeting was held at the AIS track on Saturday 22 October. Summer Handbooks will soon be available but competition prior to Christmas is on Saturdays from 4pm to 6.30pm. SCT's summer pointscore competition is based on points scored at Interclub.
Highlights on the first day included Mark Shepherd's decisive win in the 1500 metres and Isabella Havlat winning the inaugural 1500 metre steeplechase event.

The Sri Chinmoy Fun Runs:

There is a full report on the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team website. A good number of SCT runners took part and here are their results:
4k run - U13 Boys, 1 Michael Torley 19:53, 2 Joshua Torley 23:29. Male 17 and over, 1 Robert Torley 14:24, 3 Geoff Monro 14:42. U13 Girls, 1 Catriona Windsor 17:09, 2 Nicola Torley 18:39, 3 Dimity Herstik 19:03. U17 Girls, 1 Kayler Torley 18:11.
10k run - Male under 50, 36 Ewen Thompson 52:51. Male 50-59, 4 Charlie Modrak 43:50, 5 Jim White 45:50. Female 50-59, 3 Maria White 68:57.

Runners rave about the SCT Golden Mile!

A small but enthusiastic crowd of runners enjoyed perfect spring weather for the first SCT Golden Street Mile on Saturday 1 October. A surprise entrant was Jackie Fairweather backing up just a week after running for Australia in the World Mountain Running Trophy. Jackie won outright the third 'Golden Mile' of the day, the open and veteran's event and recorded the fastest women's time of 5:11.
The first 'Golden Mile' was for Under-10 runners and was won by Toby Graham and Nicola Torley. The Under-18 race was taken out by Ben Dawson in 4:50 after a sprint finish with Rob Torley. The fastest female in this race was Catriona Windsor who ran 6:11. Charlie Modrak was the fastest 50+ runner while a South Canberra member from the 1960's, Colin Robbie ran an excellent 7:45.
The last event of the day was the Handicap Golden Mile. Mike Torley was the surprise Men's Champion just ahead of the fast finishing Dimity Herstik (Women's Champion) and Jackie Fairweather. Dot Mills who has been a member of SCT for 40 years, presented category winners with their sashes in the excellent venue of the Sea Scout Hall.
SCT would like to thank all volunteers who helped on the day, especially Mike Sexton and family. Full results and photos from the event are available on the web! The Golden Mile was run to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SCT. It was financed from a 'Canberra Community Grant' of $1,284 obtained by club treasurer Mike Sexton.

Hannah home in the SCT Winter Points Competition:

Hannah Flannery has won the SCT winter pointscore competition for 2005! Hannah has come from behind to beat Keith Cassilles-Southgate and Jessamy Hosking. Mark Shepherd placed 4th. All athletes are coached by Garry Hosking. The leading veterans were Geoff Monro and Kathy Southgate. Ted Harrison finished further back than usual perhaps due to a lack of racing. Kerrie Wright after leading for half the season was caught by the juniors when she suffered a 'unique' stress fracture of the foot just prior to the Gold Coast Half Marathon.

The 21st World Mountain Running Trophy:

This was held on Sunday 25 September in Wellington, New Zealand. SCT's Emma Murray was a member of the Australian team and she placed 34th in 47:04 for the 9.1km course. Other members of the Australian team were Vivian Pott (11th in 44:20), Jackie Fairweather (12th in 44:34) and Marnie Ponton (35th in 47:14). The winner was Kate McIlroy from New Zealand in 39:40 and there were 62 finishers.
The men's 13.5km race was won yet again by New Zealand's Jonathan Wyatt in 53:23, over 2 minutes ahead of Italy's Gabriele Abate. There were 105 finishers in the race and the Australians were Scott McTaggart (28th 59:12), Stephen Brown (40th 60:11), Barry Keem (45th 60:26), David Osmond (75th 63:35) and Kevin Laws (88th 66:21).

Applications for financial assistance:

If you ran at the Australian Cross Country Championships, please remember that one of the requirements is that you lodge your application within 2 months of the event. Another requirement is that you help SCT in various ways such as volunteering to help at the Golden Mile!

SCT runners win the MS Fun Run!

The 14th annual Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Fun Run/Walk was held on Sunday 11th September 2005 in cool but dry conditions, with a gusting wind and a cool 10 degrees. The run is one lap of Lake Tuggeranong starting on the road and moving onto the bike path after 1km. There were 380 entrants in the event which was well up on last year and $23,000 was raised for the ACT MS Society.
Ben Dawson was the first male runner to finish in 22:27 while Noni Clarke was the first female in 23:50 for the 6.5km course. The first finisher was wheelchair competitior Allan Coultas. Gordon Nightingale helped mark the course. Here are the results for SCT runners who placed in the top-20:
Males: 2 Benjamin Dawson (M12-18) 22.27, 5 Greg Dutton-Register 23.21, 8 Robert Torley (M12-18) 24.04, 20 Heath Pearce 26.25.
Females: 1 Noni Clarke 23.50, 5 Kayler Torley (W12-18) 28.55, 8 Nicola Torley (W U12) 29.33, 12 Michelle Elmitt 31.04, 14 Dimity Herstik (W U12) 31.18, 20 Ady Elmitt (W12-18) 32.19.

Thrilling last gasp win at the Yarralumla Relays!

The Weston Creek supporters already had the champagne flowing to celebrate what looked like an easy win in the Yarralumla Relays after Trevor Jacobs set off on the final leg with almost a minute in hand. SCT's last runner, Mark Shepherd, couldn't even see Trevor in the distance on the first of two 1.5k laps.
SCT spectators sensed that Mark was eating into Trevor's lead and Michael Hosking ran over to encourage Mark to 'go for the gold'. The gap was still close to 200 metres with a kilometre to go but it was shrinking quickly. The excitement level was close to that of the Auckland Commonwealth Games when Andrew Lloyd came from the New Zealand clouds to win the gold medal in the 5000 metres.
The circuitous Yarralumla course gave a perfect view of the action and both Creek and SCT fans could sense the result would come down to a sprint finish. Mark still had 20 metres to make up as Trevor turned into the 100m downhill finishing straight. Trevor has an awesome downhill reputation and gave it everything. Mark used his 800m speed to good effect and gradually closed the gap. At the line it was Mark by a couple of seconds in the most thrilling cross country relay event I've ever seen! A brilliant win for the SCT 'A' team of Michael Hosking, Ben Dawson, Rob Torley and Mark Shepherd!
In other results our female 'A' team had a walk in the park to win easily from Weston Creek and our junior male 'A' team were equally convincing winners. Here are the full SCT results:

Senior Men 'A'    Senior Men 'C'
Name Time Elapsed Name Time Elapsed
Michael Hosking10:0310:03Chris Newton11:5711:57
Ben Dawson10:1920:22Brian Wenn12:4724:44
Rob Torley10:3330:55Conrad Shepherd13:0637:50
Mark Shepherd9:24 40:19 Charlie Modrak12:56 50:46
Junior Men 'A' Senior Women 'B'
Name Time Elapsed Name Time Elapsed
Philip Turini10:4810:48Jessamy Hosking12:2712:27
Peter Hosking11:5322:41Kayler Torley12:5625:23
Greg Hosking12:3135:12Elizabeth Hosking14:5140:14
Allan McGlew10:37 45:49 Nicola Torley13:35 53:49
Senior Men 'B' Senior Mixed 'A'
Name Time Elapsed Name Time Elapsed
Geoff Monro11:2311:23Michael Torley15:4915:49
Paul Torley11:4723:10Catriona Windsor13:1929:08
Hugh Jorgensen12:1535:25Dianne Shepherd17:3646:42
Nick Mesher12:04 47:29 Jim White13:34 60:16
Senior Women 'A'  
Name Time Elapsed
Anne Southgate12:2012:20
Kathy Southgate11:5724:17
Hannah Flannery12:3736:54
Sophie Vardos12:07 49:01


Jillian's Australian Walking Championship:

Jillian Hosking has taken out the Under-20 10k title at the Telstra Australian Road Walking & IGA Junior Road Walking Championships. The championships were held on 28 August at Santos Stadium, Mile End, South Australia. Jillian walked 54:05 to win by 2 seconds in a sprint finish from NSW's Chloe Jones. Well done Jillian!

Mesher's Hot Adelaide Marathon:

Nick Mesher had another crack at a sub-3 hour marathon in Adelaide on Sunday 28 August. Unfortunately the warm conditions and a promising first 21k was followed by a big positive split resulting in a final time of 3:18:43. Nick's next attempt at the magic sub-3 will be in the 2006 Canberra Marathon.

Murray wins Mt Wilson to Bilpin in record time!

After returning from France, Emma was a surprise entry in the 35km Mount Wilson to Bilpin Bush Run. There are a few photographs on the race on the official website including this one. Emma broke the female course record and finished fourth overall in 2:30:12. This was in spite of having to stop and ask following runners which was the correct course after markings went missing. Here is her story about the run...

The Bilpin Bush Run is most pleasant. Putting aside the public displays of Vaseline application at the starting line, the whole route is quite scenic. The first half of the route is undulating and goes through some nice rainforest. I often bushwalk along these firetrails on my way to the many canyons that flow into the Wollangambee.
You then get onto some undulating single-track which is quite bushy and rough in places, then you get back onto firetrail and a tour of the backstreets of the hamlet of Mt Irvine - just bush blocks, you can't see the actual houses though... Soon you reach aid station 3 which is the halfway point I think, and you ask for sports drink and they don't have any so you do a smash and grab of some water and a fistful of jelly beans but most of the jelly beans fall through your fingers and you end up only running away with two and then after popping one in your mouth you try to put the second one in your mouth but miss your mouth and drop it. What a failed campaign that was! I will have to do better at the next water drop.
After this you run on some more bush footpaths and then reach some tarred road and the hamlet proper and they stop hanging pink tape everywhere so you wander around aimlessly wondering if you somehow took a wrong turn, then meet up with another runner and you both wander around aimlessly wondering if you have taken a wrong turn. Then some more runners catch up and you realise you are on the right track and are on your way again.
Soon you reach aid station 4 and tell them someone has stolen all their pink tape on that last stretch of road (maybe the guy coming first?) after that I dig my fist deep into the jelly bean pile and take off with most of their supply. However, I only manage to stuff a couple in my mouth during the rest of the run but they make my hand all nice and multicoloured when I finally release them at the finish line and offer them to Dan who is waiting for me... anyway after aid station 4 you soon start the massive decent into Bowens creek - about 7-8km of down. After reaching Bowens creek there is another 7-8km of up, but its not too steep - much easier than the big hills in the 6 foot and there are lovely views.
Then you get to the main road where there is only a few km to go. Here you sprint past a couple more male competitors and leave them in your dust and finish. What a lovely run... and so well organised too. The Bilpin bushfire brigade do a great job, there were almost as many firies as runners! Plus the firies make the best steak sandwiches in the world...
SCT runners at the Sydney City to Surf:

The popularity of the City to Surf is truly amazing. This year there were 50,271 official finishers of the 14k fun run including eight from South Canberra Tuggeranong. Our fastest runners were Nick Walshe and Hannah Flannery. The race was won by Tanzania's Patrick Nyangelo and Aussie Olympian Kerryn McCann. Here are the results... 1 Patrick Nyangelo 41:12, 2 Dickson Marwa 41:15, 3 Martin Dent 41:19, 4 Stephen Moneghetti 41:34, 36 Kerryn McCann 46:27, 49 Nick Walshe 47:28, 80 Lisa-Jane Weightman 48:40, 88 Lauren Shelley 49:02, 206 Nick Mesher 51:59, 211 Geoff Monro 52:04, 798 Greg Dutton-Regester 57:47, 1233 Hannah Flannery 59:57, 1744 Jim White 62:13, 1841 Keith Mayhew 62:35, 2023 Hugh Jorgensen 63:16, 2391 Gordon Nightingale 64:21, 3210 Ewen Thompson 66:35, 4900 Don Roach 70:22.

Emma Murray is a World Champion!

Emma has won the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships held at Cauterets in France on July 24. Here is the race report from Danny Hughes, President of the World Mountain Running Association...

Emma Murray - World Champion (photo from the IAAF website)"The second edition of the WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship was held on Sunday (24th July) from the Pyrenees (France) mountain town of Cauterets, in conjunction with the Marathon du Vignemale. More than 600 runners set out on the 50 km course, facing a climb of over 2000 meters in fine weather. 12 countries were present.
Helmut SCHIESSL (GER) immediately took the lead and was never passed. At one stage, he was four minutes ahead, but at the finish Toni VENCELJ (SLO) was only 37 seconds behind after four hours of running. SHIESSL, the European mountain running championship silver medalist, recorded a winning time of 3 hours 59 minutes and 47 seconds.
Whilst SHIESSL started favourite in the men's race, the women race over the same distance was more unpredictable. French record holder for the marathon, Chantal DALLENBACH, lined up with four times world mountain running champion, Isabelle GUILLOT (FRA). Both were surprised by the only Australian entry, Emma MURRAY (unknown in Europe), who established an early lead which extended throughout the race. Despite a tumble on the upper part of the course, Emma finished in a fine time of 4 hours 37 minutes 42 seconds.
Marion KAPUSCINSKI (AUT) started slowly but caught Isabelle GUILLOT at the highest part of the course and came home in second place in 4.55.52. Guillot was third in 5.08.41 and Dallenbach retired. The French spectators were delighted that they placed a person on the podium to join the 5 other medal winning nations."
Equipment for Throwers:

A 'Sports and Recreation' grant of $900 will be used to purchase throwing equipment for the club. Mike Sexton said a range of equipment will be purchased and made available to coaches of SCT athletes. Contact Mike if you have any requests for specific equipment.

Promotional Items to mark our 50th Anniversary:

The club has decided to purchase a range of promotional products to mark our 50th year as an athletics club. Mike Sexton has arranged quotes for pens, coffee mugs, lanyards and enviro-bags. These will be in the gold/black colours of SCT and be printed with our club logo and the words '50th anniversary'. They will be made available to members and supporters at close to cost price. They will help promote the existence of SCT... sign the cheque with your SCT pen and then carry your groceries to the car in your SCT enviro-bags! The pens will sell for approximately $2.50, the lanyards for $3, the mugs for $7 and the enviro-bags for $2.

SCT Officials selected for the Commonwealth Games:

Greg Gilbert has been appointed Equipment Manager and Ian Colquhoun has been selected as a Track Umpire/Lap Scorer for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. Congratulations to both members!

We were good at the ACT Cross Country Championships!

The premier event [#16] of the winter season was held on 23 July. There were many excellent individual results and PBs recorded while our senior men's team of Mark Shepherd, Michael Hosking, Nick Walshe and Stuart Doyle took out the team silver medal behind Weston Creek. Here are the full SCT results:

2km U12 Female - 1 Nicola Torley 8:43, 4 Elizabeth Hosking 9:21, 9 Caitlin Hosking 10:29. 2km U12 Male - 7 Michael Torley 9:32.
3km U14 Female - 4 Sarah Dobbie 12:06. 3km U14 Male - 6 Greg Hosking 11:42.
4km U16 Female - 9 Kayler Torley 17:37. 4km U16 Male - 5 Peter Hosking 16:03.
4km U18 Female - 1 Anne Southgate 16:18, 3 Hannah Flannery 16:29.
6km U18 Male - 3 Allan McGlew 21:44.
6km U20 Female - 1 Jillian Hosking 24:19.
8km U20 Male - 2 Ben Dawson 27:18, 4 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 28:51, 6 Robert Torley 31:46.
8km Open Female - 4 Kathy Southgate 31:18, 8 Kelly Roberts 32:44, 10 Jessamy Hosking 33:12, 19 Kerrie Bremner 36:40, 27 Karen Daniels 44:13.
12km Open Male - 4 Mark Shepherd 39:17, 7 Michael Hosking 39:56, 9 Nick Walshe 41:27, 11 Stuart Doyle 42:02, 14 Gareth Candy 43:48, 20 Nick Mesher 44:54, 21 Geoff Monro 45:05, 24 Greg Dutton-Regester 45:36, 36 Colin Bridge 49:31, 37 David Wilson 50:07, 40 Brian Wenn! 51:02, 44 Hugh Jorgensen 51:26, 47 Heath Pearce 51:59, 51 Jim White 53:57, 52 Charlie Modrak 54:14.

Nicola is the Novice Champion!

Nicola Torley at the age of 8 has taken won ACT Cross Country Club's Novice Championship Trophy. To be eligible as a 'novice runner' you must not have represented the ACT and it's interesting to note that Nicola beat Karen Daniels who is still a 'novice runner' at a slightly older age in spite of having run for many years. Jim Tucker is another excellent athlete who was never quite able to win a Novice Championship when he was running for SCT. The championship was held in conjuction with the North Lyneham 3.1k race.

The Canberra Times Fun Run:

The 30th Family Fun Run and Walk was held on Sunday 18 September. Michael Hosking and Hannah Flannery won first prizes in the 15-19 age-group category. Jim White, Maria White and Charlie Modrak were among a select group of runners presented with engraved glass trophies recognising 'most number' of fun runs completed. Jim has run 28 fun runs, Maria 24 (the most by a female) and Charlie 29. Stuart Doyle is getting better with age running 33:40, a 37 second PB! The winners of the run were Anthony Haber in a breakthrough PB of 29:41 and Jackie Fairweather in 33:37. Here are the SCT results for the 10k:

9 Mark Shepherd 31:49, 15 Michael Hosking 33:04, 16 Nick Walshe 33:07, 19 Stuart Doyle 33:40, 34 Greg Dutton-Regester 35:47, 37 Philip Turini 36:20, 49 Noni Clarke 36:54 (4th female), 53 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 37:19, 105 Colin Neave 39:36, 106 Hugh Jorgensen 39:36, 111 Kelly Roberts 39:50, 113 Colin Bridge 39:52, 124 Phillip Curran 40:24, 145 Brian Wenn 41:11, 147 Robert Torley 41:21, 154 Hannah Flannery 41:27, 155 Heath Pearce 41:27, 159 Gordon Nightingale 41:40, 166 Charlie Modrak 41:50, 181 Jim White 42:14, 233 Dave McInnes 43:30, 237 Peter Hosking 43:35, 241 Jillian Hosking 43:40, 253 Greg Hosking 43:55, 257 Ewen Thompson 44:03, 282 Garry Hosking 44:40, 311 Jessamy Hosking 45:05, 442 Don Roach 47:20, 447 Rosemary Longstaff 47:28, 611 Karen Daniels 49:58, 706 Marlene Reid 51:40, 762 Christina Ivansson 52:48, 837 Susannah Churchill, 1092 Conrad Shepherd 58:42, 1094 Dianne Shepherd 58:42, 1190 Maria White 61:04, 1274 Tiina Wilson 62:48, 1451 Wee-Sian Woon 69:00.

The SCT BBQ at the Cross Country Championships:

Was a great success! We raised a modest amount of money which will be used to help fund athlete travel. The promotion the club received at the event was exceptional. The BBQ marquee and SCT banner were in prime postitions and we received much verbal advertising from race manager Joy Terry. The club would like to thank the workers on the day - especially Mike Sexton who provided most of the equipment including the BBQ and marquee.

Murray masterful on Mount Majura:

On a cool and windy Saturday afternoon 28 May SCT's Emma Murray dominated the ACT Mountain Running Championships on Mount Majura. Emma won the 9km race easily from '04 Australian 3000m steeplechase champion Marnie Ponton. The race involved two laps climbing and descending Mount Majura with a total vertical climb of 620 metres. Other SCT runners also performed well with John Winsbury placing third in the men's 13.3km race, Allan McGlew third in the Under-20 junior men's race and Jim White 8th in the M50 8.8km race. Results:
Women's 9km - 1 Emma Murray (SCT) 47:28, 2 Marnie Ponton (WH) 52:03, 3 Kellie Brownley (BTF) 61:29.
Men's 13.3km - 1 Stephen Brown (KJ) 62:32, 2 Kevin Laws (BTF) 64:37, 3 John Winsbury (SCT) 65:04, 19 Ewen Thompson (SCT) 96:42.
Junior Men's 9km - 1 Scott Tomlinson (WH) 43:45, 2 Brys Glasson (WH) 47:03, 3 Alan McGlew (SCT) 47:20. Men's 50/55 8.8km - 1 Trevor Jacobs (WC) 45:36, 2 Ian Wright 53:51, 3 Anthony Olliffe 54:16, 8 Jim White (SCT) 67:48.

Greg wins at the Gold Coast:

Greg Dutton-Regester scored a surprise victory in the M40-44 age-group at the Gold Coast Half Marathon on 3 July. Greg's 78:26 was a 2 minute PB and placed him 51st outright in the field of 2,318 runners. Kerrie Wright who has been hampered recently by injury placed 2nd in the W45-49 category in 95:15. Colin Bridge placed third in the M60-64 category running an excellent 88:32. Chris Williams ran a PB of 77:38 placing 5th in the M18-20 category and 45th overall.
Other SCT half marathoners were Kerrie Bremner with 1:39:07 (20th in age) and Ewen Thompson 1:41:57 (66th in age). Maria White (Jim's better half) ran 2:01:31 but broke the 2-hour barrier with a chip time of 1:59:39! The winners of the half marathon were Tanzanian City to Surf champion Patrick Nyangelo in 63:32 and Japan's Yuko Sato in 72:46. There were no SCT runners in the marathon which was won by Tanzania's Dickson Marwa (2:16:11) and ACTRun's Jackie Fairweather who just missed a Commonwealth Games qualifying time with 2:34:42.

SCT runners all over the Terry Fox Fun Runs:

Our runners featured strongly in the annual Terry Fox Fun Runs conducted on a cool, rainy Sunday morning 19 June. The runs raise a significant amount of money for the ACT Cancer Council and are organised by the Canadian High Commission with assistance from the ACT Cross Country Club. Nick Walshe won the male 10km run after a race-long duel with Gareth Candy. Mark Shepherd was victorious in the male 5km run with Michael Hosking placing third. Kathy Southgate was the first female in the 5km run. Elizabeth Hosking placed 4th in the female 5k, Kerrie Wright 5th in the female 10k and Greg Dutton-Regester 9th in the male 10k. Dianne Shepherd ran a PB in the female 5k race. The 'non-SCT' winner on the day was Jackie Fairweather who, in a hit-out run prior to the Gold Coast Marathon won the female 10k in 35:16. In keeping with the 'fun run' nature of the event only the first 25 placings are recorded. SCT Results:
Female 5km: 1 Kathy Southgate 18:47, 4 Elizabeth Hosking 22:40. Male 5km: 1 Mark Shepherd 15:32, 3 Michael Hosking 15:56, 11 Heath Pearce 20:15, 12 Greg Hosking 20:26. Female 10km: 5 Kerrie Wright 41:23, 14 Kerrie Bremner 45:00. Male 10km: 1 Nick Walshe 33:49, 2 Gareth Candy 34:08, 9 Greg Dutton-Regester 36:31.

Hot competition at the Australian Mountain Running Championships:

The 2005 Australian Championships were held on Mount Majura over a course which has been variously described as 'tough', 'fearsome', 'incredible' and 'undulating'. SCT runners performed magnificiently. Emma Murray was feeling unwell but still placed fourth in the open women's 9km event running 50:05. Emma's course record of 47:28 remained intact with race winner Vivian Pott running 48:14. Pott was a supremely talented junior who won national under 20 titles in 1500m, 3000m, cross country and triathlon in 1993. She represented Australia at World Junior Cross Country and World Universities Cross Country Championships.
Jessamy Hosking placed 8th in the open women's 9km. John Winsbury placed 9th in the open men's 13.3km race in 64:58. John was hoping to run about 5 minutes faster but was hampered by a nagging hip injury which has disrupted his training in recent weeks. Stu Doyle put in a gutsy effort to place 18th off a very limited preparation. Allan McGlew was 6th in the junior 9km race (4th Under-18). Allan had a sore lower back which troubled him on the steep downhill sections of the course.
Results:
Open men's 13.3km: 1 S McTaggart (ACT) 57.00, 2 D Osmond (ACT) 60.40, 3 G Hughes (NZ) 61.01, 9 J Winsbury (ACT) 64:58, 18 S Doyle (ACT) 70:34.
Open women's 9km: 1 V Pott (QLD) 48.14, 2 H Allston (TAS) 49.22, 3 K Rankin (ACT) 49.33, 4 E Murray (ACT) 50.05, 8 J Hosking (ACT) 55.42.
Junior men's 9 km: 1 B Guest (NSW) 42.27, 2 S Tomlinson (ACT) 42.55, 3 A Rutter (NSW) 46.12, 4 M Chapman (ACT) 47.17, 5 B Glasson (ACT) 48.09, 6 A McGlew (ACT) 48.23.
The ACT won team gold medals in the open men's and open women's races.

SCT athletes awarded Laurel Wreath numbers:

ACT Athletics has chosen 25 athletes to receive the prestigious 'Laurel Wreath' registration numbers for the 2005/06 season. The numbers recognise the high level of performance achieved by the various athletes. Recipients include Athens Olympic Games runners Patrick Johnson and Sisay Bezabeh. Four SCT athletes have been chosen to wear the numbers in the 2005/06 season:
Frederic Periac (10), Gregory Hibberd (17), Angeline Blackburn (18) and Jillian Hosking (25). There is a photo of Angeline with her number at the bottom of Page 2 of SCT News.

Winter Series #8 Frith Road:

May 28. An undulating dirt road course behind the CSIRO Top 4 SCT Results: Female 3.1k - 1 Jessamy Hosking 12:59, 6 Karen Daniels 16:50, 8 Dianne Shepherd 23:02. Male 3.1k - 3 Nick Mesher 12:55, 7 Jim White 15:14, 20 Conrad Shepherd 23:03.
Female 5.1k - 1 Fiona Jorgensen 22:03, 3 Hannah Flannery 23:19, 4 Kerrie Wright 23:28. Male 5.1k - 3 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 19:49, 4 Philip Turini 19:59, 13 Nick Mesher 21:45, 27 Charlie Modrak 24:14.

Winter Series #9 Deek's Forest Park:

June 4. Using parts of the ancient Forest Drive course at Stromlo. Top 5 SCT Results: Female 3.5k - 1 Kelly Roberts 12:48, 3 Meredith Castle 14:43, 7 Dianne Shepherd 21:58. Male 3.5k - 4 Nick Mesher 13:16, 5 Peter Hosking 13:19, 7 Greg Hosking 14:40, 10 Jim White 15:07, 12 Charlie Modrak 15:17.
Female 6k - 4 Kathy Southgate 23:46, 8 Fiona Jorgensen 24:43, 9 Jessamy Hosking 24:45, 10 Hannah Flannery 25:41, 11 Kerrie Wright 25:45. Male 6k - 3 Mark Shepherd 19:00, 4 Michael Hosking 19:25, 15 Allan McGlew 21:38, 16 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 21:50, 20 Geoff Monro 22:30.

Winter Series #10 Weston Park:

June 11. Junior and senior pointscore cross country events at Weston Park. Including the 'Longstaff' and 'Pennington' trophy races. Ex-SCT runner Rosemary Longstaff made a rare appearance placing 12th in the 8km women's event which was named in her honour. It rained! Top 4 SCT Results:
Female 4k - 1 Sophie Vardos 16:02, 3 Anne Southgate 17:00, 4 Hannah Flannery 17:11, 9 Elizabeth Hosking 20:02. Male 4k - 3 Philip Turini 14:22, 4 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 14:40, 7 Peter Hosking 15:48, 10 Jim White 18:25.
Female 8k - 3 Noni Clarke 32:56, 4 Kathy Southgate 33:20, 6 Jessamy Hosking 34:52, 7 Kerrie Wright 36:03. Male 8k - 1 Robert Torley 31:52, 4 Conrad Shepherd 39:07.
Male 12k - 1 Mark Shepherd 40:42, 2 Michael Hosking 42:08, 3 Colin Bridge 51:50.
Male 16k - 13 Geoff Monro 65:29, 19 Greg Dutton-Regester 68:31, 22 Nick Mesher 69:37, 29 Colin Bridge 71:03.

Winter Series #11 Majura Pines:

June 18. Quite a low turn-out for a fun new course at Majura Pines. Top 4 SCT Results: Female 3.2k - Zero SCT starters - you missed your chance to be famous! Male 3.2k - 2 Nick Mesher 12:35, 4 Charlie Modrak 13:47, 6 Jim White 14:39.
Female 6.2k - 3 Fiona Jorgensen 25:21. Male 6.2k - 1 David Wilson 23:25, 4 Nick Mesher 24:17, 10 Charlie Modrak 27:20, 11 Jim White 27:33.

Winter Series #12 - The Runners Shop Fun Runs:

Were held on 25 June on flatish out-and-back bike path courses near East Basin. The winners of the Runners Shop SCT Perpetual Trophy were Mark Shepherd and Kathy Southgate. It was presented after the race by TV personality Brian Wenn. Top 4 SCT Results:
Female 5k - 3 Sophie Vardos 19:08, 4 Jillian Hosking 19:15, 5 Anne Southgate 19:28, 7 Fiona Jorgensen 19:54. Male 5k - 3 Ben Dawson 16:34, 4 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 16:52, 5 Robert Torley 17:25, 6 Allan McGlew 17:30.
Female 10k - 3 Kathy Southgate 38:55, 5 Kerrie Wright 42:26, 14 Kerrie Bremner 48:10. Male 10k - 3 Mark Shepherd 31:34, 8 Nick Walshe 34:26, 12 Chris Williams 35:58, 17 Nick Mesher 37:19.

Winter Series #13 - Cooleman Ridge:

On July 2 over undulating out-and-back dirt road courses. In the 5km races the first five places (female) and first four (male) were all SCT runners! Top 4 SCT Results:
Female 5k - 1 Noni Clarke 19:41, 2 Kelly Roberts 19:41, 3 Kathy Southgate 20:37, 4 Hannah Flannery 20:49. Male 5k - 1 Allan McGlew 18:14, 2 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 18:34, 3 Philip Turini 19:13, 4 Nick Mesher 19:54.
Female 8k - 1 Fiona Jorgensen 34:29. Male 8k - 1 Nick Walshe 28:39, 2 Stuart Doyle 29:51, 6 David Wilson 32:13, 7 Geoff Monro 32:28.

Photographs from the SCT Album:

I've been scanning some photographs from the album presented to SCT in 1986 by CGS and CCEGGS. It was presented in appreciation for SCT's work at Lotus Bay over many years organising the cross country for ACT schools. The photos will be used for 'photo of the week' leading up to our 50th birthday party.

The Telstra Australian Masters Athletics Championships:

Were held over Easter from 25 to 28 March at the Queensland Athletic Centre in Brisbane. SCT athletes performed exceptionally well as shown by the following results:
W35 800m, 1st Jenny Brichacek 2:17.18. W35 1500m, 1st Jenny Brichacek 4:48.27. W35 400m, 2nd Jenny Brichacek 60.51. M45 100m, 2nd Leo Kennedy 12.23. M45 200m, 2nd Leo Kennedy 24.63. M55 800m, 5th Garry Maher 2:32.55. M55 400m Heat, Garry Maher 62.39.

The Telstra A-championships:

The Australian T&F Championships were held at Sydney Olympic Park from 4 to 6 March 2005. Here are the results for SCT athletes:
W800m Ht 1 - 6 Kelly Roberts 2:11.51. Javelin Throw Ambulant - 1 Wade McMahon 40.84m. Discus Throw Wheelchair - 3 Greg Hibberd 26.05m, 7 Frederic Periac 26.30m. Shot Put Wheelchair - 2 Greg Hibberd 9.65m, 5 Frederic Periac 9.25m. 100m Ambulant - 7 Eowyn Osborne 15.01m. 200m Ambulant - 6 Eowyn Osborne 31.86m. Long Jump Ambulant - 3 Eowyn Osborne 3.80m.

Telstra A-series Results:

Adelaide 19 February: 10,000m walk - 9 Ashley Colquhoun 46:54.91. Canberra 5/6 February: 100m Ht 3 - 7 Jade Sutcliffe 12.38. 100m AMB - 5 Eowyn Osborne 15.44. 400m - 7 Angeline Blackburn 57.42. 100m AMB - 6 Wade McMahon 13.49. Mixed Shot Put - 2 Greg Hibberd 9.48m, 3 Frederic Periac 8.17m. 10000m Road Walk - 2 Jillian Hosking 51:06, 1 Ashley Colquhoun 48:03.

Life Members of SCT Athletics Club:

The following people have been awarded life membership of the club: Dorothy Mills, Ian Galbraith, Malcolm Davies, Greg Gilbert, Ewen Thompson, Michael Morris, Alan Bishop and Ted Harrison (2003). Gerard Barrett (2004).

Our ACT Athletics Association Representatives:

For 2005/06, the following SCT members are working for ACT Athletics: Mick Morris (Finance Director), Hugh Jorgensen (Honorary Solicitor), Ian Colquhoun (Officials), Greg Gilbert (Technical), Kathy Southgate (Athletes and Selection), Brian Wenn (Winter Selection).


Just Read It.  (The editor's diary)

Setting goals is not easy!

At the beginning of my running diary for 2005 I wrote down some goals I hoped to achieve this year. Looking back, I didn't really give this much thought. I just picked out some numbers that looked good. These numbers included running 1500m in 5:08, 3000m in 10:58 and 5000m in 19:08.

As 2005 draws to a close it's obvious I'm nowhere near running these times. In bid to be a touch more scientific I've gone back through my diaries and found the best times I've run in the 45-49 age-group. I've listed these in a table in the right column of this page. I've decided I should try and better these times before aiming at anything near the stratospheric ones I picked out of thin air. The M45 PB I feel most confident of bettering is my 11:57 for 3000 metres.

I think I've been guilty of delusory optimism when it comes to my ability in the year 2005. I see women my age running sub-11 for 3000 metres and say to myself "I should be able to do that" ignoring the fact that the last time I ran that fast was ten years ago.

I've also been ignoring a body that seems unable to do the training it did to run a 3000 metres in 10:58. I can't sandwich a Wednesday long run with two solid interval sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. I've tried 'just speedwork, rest days and 10k runs' training but that doesn't work for me. I'm a person who runs poorly off low weekly mileage.

I can vividly remember a period of low-mileage training at the end of 1993 when I was training with Dave Gates. Our speedwork was fairly intense such as 8x200m in 32.5 and 6x400m in 78 seconds. I ran a tired 1500 metres at Interclub in 4:55.7. Three weeks later I was scratching my head when I could only run 10:52.8 for 3000 metres. At the beginning of 1993 I'd run 10:40 at the 3k split of a 17:59.8 5000 metres. The difference was I'd been training 100 kilometres per week at the beginning of 1993 and 65 per week at the end.

I realise I need speedwork to run well on the track. I also need more weekly kilometres than the 59 per week I've run over the last six months. The next thing I need to do is to work out a plan. Perhaps I should consult a coach!

Ewen W Thompson ... October 2005

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