Results for 2009 race series
Race 1: Thompson St - 6km
Twenty three starters took the field for our first race of the year and it was good to see the field evenly balanced between men and women. A number of our new members raced for the first time and it has been so long for some of the others that it might as well have been their first race. Thompson St is a hard route but we saw some good running with Cris Penn winning from Kath Madden and Lisa Nowland while in the Men's Dave Vlotman took the win from Kelvyn Steggles and Daniel Simon. The handicap points were taking by a great run from Dorothea Collins ahead of Kath Penn and Carolyn Luxford.
Race 2: Cremorne/Spit Junction 10km
A good field took off in race two with the women outnumbering the men for the first time in some time. With that came strong runs with Cris taking the win and Kath Madden and Lisa Nowland in second and third replicating their places from race 1. Dave Vlotman took a convincing win in the men's event from Richard Butler and Dave Eaton. The Handicap was taken by Lisa with Richard Butler and Kath Penn taking the placings.
Race 3: Chinamans Beach 10.5km
Great turn out for race three with 25 starters - usually race 1 is our biggest field for the year. Good weather also with the ominous looking clouds staying away and not dropping what was bound to be some very cold rain. Dave Vlotman took this race by the scruff of the neck, taking about half a minute off his race record to beat in Paul Baker in his return from injury and Richard Butler. In the womens group its like deja vu all over again with Cris winning from Kath Madden and Lisa Nowland for the third time in as many races. In the handicap Dorothea took the 10 points for the second time to lead the handicap, second went to Toshi and Kelvyn took third place.
Race 4: Beauty Pt 12.4km
Injury, illness, travel and twins combined to keep the field for race 4 down to 17 hardy runners. Perhaps our hardest race of the year, Beauty Pt combines distance with three leg straining hills (Holt St, Bay Rd and Parriwi Rd) yet there were some notable performances including our handicap winners Sharon Chiong (who took almost a minute off her 2008 time), Laurie Coleman (who took 2 minutes off his 2008 time) and Kath Penn (who took 5 minutes off her 2007 time). Cris Penn and Dave Vlotman continued their unbeaten performances for 2009 with Richard Butler and Dave Eaton taking the placings for the men and Sharon Chiong and Shelly Kirkwood taking the placings in the women's race. Congratulations everyone on your performances.
Race 5: Milsons Pt 15km
As ever our Milson's Pt field was the smallest of the year but that didn't stop a field of 17 runners putting in strong runs around this challenging course. This is now the fourth consecutive race where women runners outnumbered the men - this used to be a rarity. Merran's guest appearance at this race was impressive with her finishing second and running a PB for the course to lead the women home. Great runs saw Lisa and Shelley taking second and third places. Dave Vlotman took his fifth win for the year from Richard and Laurie. As is the usual case, the handicap points are now under wraps until presentation night but by my calculations every runner taking the field last week is (mathematically) still in the hunt - so run hard Bears!
Race 6: Cremorne out-and-back 10.7km
Race 6 saw a strong field of 21 runners take on the undulating 10.7kms of the Cremorne out-and-back course. I won't comment on the now not-at-all newsworthy fact that the women outnumbered the men. Cris Penn (Russian Champion) brought home the women's field ahead of Lindsay Carpenter and Kath Madden. In the men's group, the dynamic duo were at it again with Dave Vlotman winning from Paul Baker with Richard Butler trailing in in third. Congratulations to both Cris and Dave as their wins have given them their 2009 titles regardless of the race 7 results. In the men, Richard and Laurie will be fighting for the minor placings in race 7 while five women are still mathematical possibilities depending on who shows up for race 7 (and how they run).
Race 7: Short Chinamans 9km
Lovely day for a run but with some of the usual faces not present the field was wide open. For the men Paul Baker led the field home followed by a revitalised Dave Eaton and Richard Butler. Cris Penn took first in the women's run with Kelly Baker and Shelley Kirkwood racing into the minor placings. With strong runs from many runners the under-wraps handicap is sure to have had a close finish. Congratulations to Cris Penn and David Vlotman for their championship wins for 2009.
Detailed results
Click here to download an excel file containing all of the results and run times for 2009 races.
Progressive pointscore
