Recent races

Puffing Billy Great Train Race 4th May 2008
After a late night out I woke up early, ready to be picked up by Karen and driven to Camberwell station. I was surprised to see Jeff and Nikki, my other teammates in Karen's car when she picked me up. When we arrived at the station, who did we spot but Ali and her hubby Trevor. Ali, Karen and I always do the big races together and Karen and I didn't even know Ali was running! It's the first time Ali and Trevor have done a race together. The train ride to Belgrave was very long and we were all busting by the time we got to Belgrave. Luckily, the others knew the toilets on the Puffing Billy station would be less crowded and we hardly had to queue at all. We then walked up the hill and put our bags in the truck. I didn't even get a chance to warm up because we went straight to the start line. I was fortunate to get a relatively good starting position.

The first couple of hundred of metres were hard, because lots of idiots can't self seed. It didn't take too long to get out into a clear spot.

My splits for the race were:
4.27
4.23
4.35
4.16
4.10
5.09
6.01 (waiting for the train at the crossing)
4.23
4.32
4.38
4.26
4.10
3.55

I thought the hills would be far harder than they were. I held back, waiting for some big steep hills. The hills weren't at all steep, just long. I powered up them and passed plenty of people. Early on I spotted a girl who I know is under 18 and extremely good at running. I passed her on the hill up to Menzies Creek. I had to stop at the Menzies Creek crossing for a minute or two which was extremely annoying. It also allowed my nemesis to catch up. She overtook me on an extreme downhill and was in front of me by about 50-100m. However, on the last uphill I overtook her again. I the last few kilometres I was very confused as I could hear a train and I thought we were trying to race the train to the crossing. I was extremely surprised to realise that we were on the last downhill to the finish. Where were those hills? I managed to stay in front of my nemesis and finish in a time of 59:10 which I am happy with for a first try. I had easily beaten the ladies train but not the mens train.

I grabbed a bottle of Powerade and found my bag easily. I was unsure of what to do next but I ended up just standing around chatting to Lincoln. By the time the presentation started I had found my team and Ali and Trevor. I half listened to the presentations (with a faint hope of success in the U18 category). After the presentation we headed to the buses and waited 45 minutes on the bus to leave the lake area. I was worried because Dad was waiting at Belgrave and I hate for him to wait so long. I finally got to Belgrave and found Dad and said goodbye to the others.

Yesterday morning I received a text from Karen saying I had won the U18 section!!!!! I was very excited, as this was probably my last fun run as a junior. I jumped on the internet and confirmed the result. I must have missed them announcing my name at the presentation as I heard the name of the U18 male winner being called. I also came 21st out of 850 females which is pretty cool!

I will definitely do this race again next year, I had a great time.


Jells Park relays 19th April 2008
Round one of the AV Season is finally here.
I got chosen to run first in the Division 3 team. It's a 3km course, with the open course being 2 x 3km.
I got there really early, as Alison drove me. Only Moose and Bill were there when I arrived. Slowly everyone else started filtering in. I went for a warm up jog around the whole course with Petrina and Sharon. My legs were soooooooooo sore after house athletics the day before (I'm sure it was the 400m) and I thought my hamstrings would snap. I thought we were almost finished our warm up lap just after 2kms, but then I realised the course goes up the hill and back down!

By the time we'd finished our warm up it was nearly time to start. I found my place on the Div 3 line. I tried to start conservatively but I found myself in front of Ann who had a 10m head start and is far faster than me. I wasn't ahead of her for too long though. I completed the first lap in 12.38. I thought I'd get a major positive split on the second lap but I was comfortable so I just kept powering on (despite the extremely sore hamstrings). I expected to absolutely die on the hill at the end of the 2nd lap but I was ok. I powered down the hill to the finish and spotted Lavinia. I ended up finishing in a time of 25.42, a new 6km PB. I couldn't believe I got a PB because my legs were dead and because it was a hilly course.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to friends, cheering on teammates and just watching all the different runners. Of course, the appearance by Craig Mottram was a highlight. A very fun day, I'm so glad the winter season is on!