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Rod Viney

Race 2 – Cooee

Liane small

Burnie runner, Liane Hanson was thrilled to cross the line first on Saturday for her maiden win with the Professional Cross Country Club of Tasmania.

The Dowling McCarthy Tyres 5 kilometre handicap took place on an out-and-back course at Cooee.

Quickly taking the lead from go-marker, John Lucas, Hanson, who started off the second front mark, was never in danger. She has greatly improved her fitness this year through heavy training over the summer. She acknowledged her husband, Shane, for inspiring her to enter and successfully complete some challenging events in recent months.

Hanson has no great plans for the remainder of the year but just wished to continue to enjoy her running with the club, although it will now be off a more challenging mark.

Second was Kelly Baxter with Dallas Van Rooyen a promising third. Other good performances were returned by race favourite Greg Smith, who finished fourth, and Ann Horton while Ricky Brown showed a win is not far off.

Young runner Edward Murchie was just outside the top ten in a promising effort.

Fastest male and female were Ewen Troughton and Judy Ray.

Earlier the nominated time winners were Isabelle Murchie, Thomas Ward, Mackenzie Troughton and Dominic Troughton.

Race 2 2017 Placings – Cooee 5km

Race 2 2017 Fastest to Slowest – Cooee 5km

By Rod Viney, ago

Race 2 preview

This week’s race, the Dowling and McCarthy Tyres 5 kilometre handicap at Cooee will take place on Saturday because of Run Devonport on Sunday.

Starting at the Cooee Hall, the course is out and back with a short sharp climb to the turn.

Last week’s race showed up those who have worked hard over summer and this week’s winner should come from among those.

Two who fit this category and who could well fight out the finish are the evergreen Greg Smith and Brad Taylor. Smith finished strongly into fourth last week, while Taylor was close to winning for most of 2016 and was a fast–finishing fifth in race one this year.

Seventeen year old Andrew Bates will be keen to get a win before the football season starts. He has shown good improvement from last year.

Others with good prospects include Thomas Wilson, Bryan Tuit and Ann Horton. Horton was the first woman to finish last week and looked strong.

The race will begin at 10:00 with entries closing at 9:30.

Nominated time events, will be held at 9:05.

By Rod Viney, ago

Race 1 Burnie SportsPower 5km handicap at Wivenhoe

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The PCCCT season got underway on Sunday with the Burnie SportsPower 5 kilometre handicap at Wivenhoe. It was raining as runners gathered to hear instructions but it cleared away to create great running conditions by the time the starter’s gun fired.

A good field of 92 set off on a course that involved a large lap through Wivenhoe streets before an out-and-back section to Fernglade Road.

Angela Wilson and Roselyn Hendriks soon took over from go-marker John Lucas but it was apparent that several very fit middle and back markers had the race between them.

Racing towards the finish, Aaron Roberston moved to the lead and held it to record his third win with the club.

Robertson’s last win was July last year but heavy training over summer to enable him to compete as part of a team in the recent Gone Nuts 101 saw his fitness greatly improve and enable another win despite the rehandicap. In fact it was Robertson’s fastest 5km time for 10 years.

Hayden Bishop and Keegan Powell were second and third while fastest male and female were Bryan Tuit and Judy Ray.

Earlier the nominated time winners were Will van Rooyen, Conor Purton an Catherine Greenhill.

Next week’s race at Cooee will be on Saturday due to Run Devonport being on Sunday.

Race 1 2017 Placings – Wivenhoe 5km

Race 1 2017 Fastest to Slowest – Wivenhoe 5km

By Rod Viney, ago

Race 1 – The SportsPower 5km Handicap – Wivenhoe

The 2017 season of the Professional Cross Country Club of Tasmania gets underway this Sunday with the Burnie SportsPower 5km handicap commencing at Wivenhoe Showgrounds. The course takes competitors to Fernglade Reserve and return.

Each new season is eagerly anticipated by members and this one will be no different. It is always interesting to see who has been training hard over summer and who has naturally improved. These factors make it hard to predict those likely to be break the tape.

Husband and wife team, Brett and Debbie Riley, have both been putting in many kilometres as well as competing in other events and either could take out the main prize.

This race tends to favour front and middle markers so others in strong contention include Louise Morse and Lorraine Shepheard among the women while Richard Lawson and Chris Purton are men with strong chances.

The race will begin at 10:00 with entries closing at 9:30. As registrations for the new season will need to be done also before this time, runners are urged to arrive early.

New members will be very welcome. The minimum age to run in the handicapped races is fifteen, but as in past years, nominated time events, which are open to all ages, will also be held. Those intending to compete in theses need to register by 9:05.

By Rod Viney, ago

Marathon Training Schedule

To help you prepare for the club marathon on April 30, you might like to follow this guide.

This is an “intermediate” one. It should be fine for all regular runners (not beginners) so will be okay for club members. The better runners might like to do a more advanced schedule.

This schedule has the long run on Sundays, so if you are doing the club races (and we hope that you are) you will need to do your long run on another day – Saturday perhaps..

trainingguide-marathon-intermediate12 week

By Rod Viney, ago

Consistency Award and Championships 2016

Here are the placings in the Jack Propsting Consistency Award and the Club Championships.

The Consistency Award is calculated by using a points system based on finishing positions in races and the Championships on fastest times. See page 28 of the Handbook for full details.
Consistency

1st Mark Saint-John 147 points
2nd Thomas Murton 135 points
3rd Equal Judy Ray and Russell Horton 134 points

Male Championship

1st Thomas Murton 105 points
2nd Bryan Tuit 68 points
3rd Ben Hoare 51 points

Female Championship

Rebecca O’Grady 88 points
2nd Sally Haines 85 points
3rd Judy Ray 82 points

By Rod Viney, ago

Matthew breaks through at Burnie

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Devonport runner, Matthew Greenhill, has broken through for a win in the Sea Lyons Swim School 6 kilometre handicap at West Beach on Sunday. Starting one of the favourites after many good performances during the latter half of the year, Greenhill savoured his second victory with the Club, his first being a 5 kilometre event at Ulverstone in 2012.

Greenhill was a former top local tennis player until a back injury prevented him from continuing. He now stays fit training with the Meercroft Park group as well as participating in other physical activities, such as ocean swimming, with his family.

Greenhill overtook gallant front marker, Louise Morse, with just 100 metres to run who just hang on to beat Richard Lawson who showed some late season form to finish third.

Other top performances were recorded by Lorraine Shepheard and Rebecca O’Garey. O’Garey finished fourth and was fastest female (24:23).

Fastest male was Thomas Wilson who charged home recording a slick 21:04.

Raymond Spinks on Sunday achieved a unique milestone. He has run 270 successive races (10 years) without missing a race. At 75 years of age, Ray has run a total of 1030 races and should add considerably to this total before he hangs up the running shoes.

Nominated time winners were Jemima McLaren, Chloe Bates, Amber Taylor and Piper Taylor.

Race 27 2016 Actual

Race 27 2016 Fastest to Slowest

By Rod Viney, ago

Trail Run Series

The PCCCT Trail Series final race was completed back at Penguin on a revised course of less bush and more gravel which was more accommodating of runners after a long season.  The series attracted  several new runners to the club.  While the competition was fierce many ran to enjoy the change of scenery and to challenge themselves.  The mud pools snatched a few loose fitting shoes, full speed wasn’t always possible and watching your feet led some to take the wrong turns.  At times sure footing wasn’t guaranteed and unfortunately a few runners tumbled. An amusing sidelight was Michael Bates and Dallas van Rooyen’s cool-down,  featuring a fall into a muddy pool, a push and  emerging plastered in mud.

Two of the courses were tough with severe short hills, mud and rough surfaces.  The other courses followed will defined gravel tracks with some short “watch-your-feet” sections.

Competition for fastest female was closely fought with the top three runners separated by 4 points (Rebecca O’Garey first).  In the U23 section Kate Hawley and Maddie Baxter were separated by 3 points, while Keegan Powell was a clear first in the U23 Males.  Keegan has shown much improvement over the season and found the trails to his liking – he finished a respectable third overall in the Open Male section.

The series winner was Mark Saint John who was overall fastest.  Mark also set up three of the courses and the extra warm-up didn’t hinder him as he ran strongly on the tricky surfaces.

The overall consistency leader was Russell Horton.  He was closely challenged by Tim Dowling who broke through with his maiden win in the fourth race of the series  to capture a bundle of points.

Pts after race 4 (100 for first, 99 for second etc):

Fastest Male: Mark Saint-John 383, Greg Smith 377, Keegan Powell 350

Fastest Female: Rebecca O’Garey 397, Judy Ray 395, Michelle D’Monte 393

Fastest MU23: Keegan Powell 391, Andrew Aichberger 290, Thomas Wilson 199.

Fastest FU23: Kate Hawley 300, Maddi Baxter 297, Mollie Powell 100

Consistency (pts same as club consistency): Male – Russell Horton 29, Tim Dowling 26, Mark St John 24; Female – Kate Hawley 24, Judy Ray 22, Rebecca O’Garey 19.

By Rod Viney, ago

Sea Lyons Swim School 6km at West Beach

The final race of the season is this Sunday, the Sea Lyons Swim School 6km handicap. The course is out-and-back from West Beach. The flat course will see some fast times, particularly as runners who have not been successful in 2016 will realise this is the last chance for a win this year.

Following his excellent second last week, Ricky Brown should start favourite. Brown has been in excellent form and was one of the strong fancies for the Feature race until he injured himself in training the week prior.

A steadily improving Chris Purton will be another strong chance. He surprised with an excellent run last week.

Club president, Barry Ling, holds the record for the most runs with the club (1100+) but it is a long time since his last win. Recent efforts, though, indicate that he might take this one out and would be a very popular winner.

Bec O’Garey, who is often the fastest female, is another who will be looking to finish the season on a high.

The club will provide a barbecue following the event, for members and their families.

By Rod Viney, ago