Monday, April 5, 2010

Xcountry today

Today was the 8km xcountry races, they were held in a park just down the road from the Athletics stadium, it was 4 laps of a 2km circuit, it was a little muddy in parts and a few early runners had falls.

First up was the women, with all 4 ACT runners medalling, Katie & Sue Archer taking Gold & Kathy Sims & Janine taking silver, next up was 55 and older men, Paul Archer & Tony Booth carrying the ACT colours, Tony had a good run for bronze medal. In the last race, we had the youngies (54 and under), Bruce virtually led from start to finish to get the Gold in the M45, he has had a great champs with 3 Gold & a silver.

I was very happy with my run, because I am suppose to be in training for a marathon in 4 weeks, I did a 8km warm run before the xcountry (I gave myself a 40 min rest first), I finished in 36.43, My 2km splits were 9.08, 9.21, 9.12 & 8.59, I had run the first 2 laps with 2 WA guys, but I was able to shake them off in the 2nd half.
After the presentations just to keep my training going I did my warm down by running back to my hotel (7.5kms) in the city, a good 24kms for the day.

I am off to meet my WA relos tonite, catching up with my Aunty Roma (mums sister) Uncle Glen, cousin Andy & his wife sue & maybe some of the nephews, will give you details later.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sunday Results

Sunday had some great results for ACT, it started with Sue Archer winning gold in the 5k, Kathy Sims running an ACT record with 21.12 breaking Anne Young's W55 record which has stood for over 15 years. I did 20.22 in the M50 5ks, I was fairly happy with my run, I was on 4min k pace earlier on but couldn't maintain it, Rob Ey will now be getting his bottle of wine.
Katie had another great run in winning W40 5k title with a 19.49, Janine Kingston had another solid run in 2nd place in W45 with a 20.58, Bruce had a very good tactical win in 16.16 over the Tassie guy who had beaten him in the 1500. In the mens M60 200, John Lamb overtook his brother in the straight and held on for a good win, Geoff Sims finished a gallant 4th in a time that would have medalled in younger events, Ken White has run out of his skin in this comp, he ran on strongly for 3rd in the M55 200 as well, maybe there is love in the air.



























A great day for Katie, Success continues

Sorry about the lateness of this post, after a nice dinner on Friday with Katie, Ken, Janine & Bruce, Katie produced the race of her life yesterday finishing 2nd in the 1500, after going out strong at the start and settling 3rd, the winner Suzie Coles from Tassie had the race won after 200, after running 2.10 in the 800 you knew she had this race but there were placings up for grabs. Katie with 500 to go moved to 2nd and had in the space of 150 metres had put 20 metre gap on 3rd & 4th with a lap to go, she was running strong, she held her nerve and ran a great 2nd in a PB of 5.13, congratulations for a great run. Other results from yesterday Sue Archer 2nd 1500M, Paul Archer 2nd 2km Steeplechase, Gwen Gleeson 1st 200M, Sue Bourke a great run for 2nd in 200M running into the great Marie Kay, I know Margaret Taylor Gold in 80M hurdles, medaled in High Jump & 200 m but not sure the colour. In the 1500 I ran a solid 5.35, I was fairly consistent in my laps, there is light at the end of the tunnel.










Friday, April 2, 2010

Good Friday - first day of comp

I had the usual restless night of sleep, woke up around 3ish and then every hour, the 3 hour time difference doesn't help, I starting watching a bit of TV from 5.45 I was very wide awake. Breakfast wasn't on until 7am, but the hotel gave me some food to eat now and take with me, which was great. I got the 7.30am shuttle bus from the Kings hotel which is the main hotel that people are staying at, got to the track at 8am, the women's 10km had started at 7.30am so they were well into there race.

Sue Archer from ACT had a great run in winning the W60 in 43.23 and Janine Kingston looked fantastic in 2nd place in W45 in 44.33 a very impressive run from here, must be the Ken influence (just kidding). Then Sues husband Paul did a 42.56 in the M60 and could only get 4th, a very tough field. Finally to my race, I did 42.36, I am not sure what my splits were, but I slowed down in the middle and I was starting to think 44mins, but I got stronger in the the last 3-4kms and was rapped in finishing under 43mins, prior to me finishing Bruce Graham was passing me at regular intervals and lapped the whole field and blitzed them in a very very good time of 33.13, Bruce is like a good Red wine he is getting better with age, when he hits the 50 age group he will be challenging the best in the world, he should look at Finland in 2012.

Also running today was sprints, Corey Collins picked up medals in the 60 & 100 (also 800), Sue Bourke was impressive in getting silver in the W50 60m to the great Marie Kay who set a World record today in the W50 Long jump. In the 800 metres we picked up a number of medals, Gold W80 Gwen Gleeson, Silver W70 Corey Collins, W55 Kathy Sims, Tony Booth M70, M60 John Lamb, M55 Ken White (Ken had a great run in 2.18.5, he moved to 2nd with 150-200 to go and really ran on strongly, very impressive) Bronze - M60 Geoff Sims (both Geoff & John had great runs in the M60, both were near the lead the whole run but the winner held them both off well).
Katie did really well in the W40 800, considering she flew into Perth today from Canberra, came straight to the track from the airport (thanks to Ken for picking her up), she ran 2.36 only 2 secs outside her PB and with the 1500 and 5km coming up, her best is still to come.

Overall it was a very good running day for the ACT, always punching above there weight, tomorrow I have the 1500 metres, I have added a few pics from the medal presentations, Ken was getting carried away with the moment.








Thursday, April 1, 2010

Arrive in Perth for AMA Nationals

I flew out of Canberra this morning at 9am for Sydney, I want to thanks Ari my house mate that gave me a lift to the Airport, I had a 90 min wait in Sydney and then a 5 hour flight to Perth,
I am in Perth for the Australian Masters Athletics national championships, it is the official Masters Athletics competition, not the mickey mouse ones that appear around the country.

I was flying Virgin Blue so I brought food with me., from the Perth airport I caught the local bus into the city, I then checked in my Motel - Mantra on Murray, it is right in the middle of the city right by the Murray St Mall, breakfast is included, but some mornings I will have to hold myself back and not fill up because I have to run sometimes mid mornings, tomorrow I have the 10km at 10am, so I will be careful what I have, I want to make it around the track 25 times. I went down to Woolworths and stocked up on some goodies, we all have our vices, mine is food, I will never be a stick, I can't help myself.