Rod Viney

Recent weeks have seen the Club plagued by bad weather. By contrast, at Sunday’s race at Railton a beautiful clear day greeted competitors as they arrived in Pioneer Park so that a good-sized field assembled for the start.

The course takes runners on back streets and through a bush track before heading up the tough Newbed Road hill and continuing to complete a circuit.

This was the final race before the big one next week – the Wynyard to Burnie Feature race – and was penalty free until after that event. Consequently, it was expected to be a very close contest and it was outside the winner.

Young Turners Beach runner, Sabrina Shields, showed the more seasoned competitors a clean pair of heels and recorded a comfortable victory by forty seconds.

This is Shields’ first serious season with the Club following on from a handful of races last year and the increased competition has certainly paid off. She is having a big year, as she also plays football with the Ulverstone women’s team which recently won the north-west premiership.

The consistent Josh Febey ran into second place and with it favouritism for next week’s event although he did not have much to spare over the next runners to finish, Ben Brockman, Kathy Franks and Gerard Lowry.

Others to stand out included Mark Saint John, Rhian Miles and the backmarker, Club champion, Tom Murton.

Murton was fastest man (31:49) with Daile Bennett-Moyle (43:31) fastest woman.

The nominated time winners were Lucy van Rooyen, Libby Crispin and Malcolm Nutting.

Congratulations to the 50 members who ran today in the House of Anvers 10km handicap at Railton.

Special congratulations to Sabrina Shields who won from Josh Febey and Ben Brockman.

Fastest times were Tom Murton (31:49) and Daile Bennett-Moyle (43;31).
Nominated time winners were Lucy van Rooyen, Libby Crispin and Malcolm Nutting.

The third last race of the season used a scenic out-and-back course at Turners Beach. Mostly flat, the seven-kilometres were relished by the runners and some good times were recorded. Unfortunately, although not windy, it was run with intermittent showers and this kept numbers low.

The weather was not a deterrent, however, for determined Ulverstone runner, Nigel Baptist, who took the victory after being close in recent weeks.

Baptist, who also enjoys mountain-biking, looked likely to win a race early in the year but a biking accident left him with a cracked sternum and unable to run for a couple of months. Since getting back on track he has regained fitness and continued where he left off prior to the accident.

This was his first win in three seasons with the Club and he is now setting his sights on competing with a team, including his wife, in the Bruny Island Ultra-marathon (64km) in December.

In second place, just five seconds adrift, was Steven Tammens recording his best result to date with Aaron Robertson and Josh Febey next to finish.

Mark Saint-John and Gerard Lowry also ran great races while frontmarker, Michael Taylor, surprised with a good return to form.

Lyn Saint-John was the first female to finish and also had fastest time for the women recording 29:12. Fastest man was Tom Murton in 23:41

Earlier, nominated time winners were Montana Robertson, Brian Paine, Lachie Riley and Libby Crispin.

Next week sees the last race to be run before the Feature Race. The winner of that race will not be rehandicapped until after the Feature Race.

The McLean, McKenzie and Topfer Big Six six kilometre handicap at Burnie was run in fine conditions and a good field gathered to run the tough circuit course.

Veteran Ray Spinks was first away and still had a good lead up the the short but steep climb of Brickport Road.

However, from this point on a succession of runners made their presence felt with several looking winning hopes at different stages.

Eventually, Devonport athlete, Shaun Batten, overtook pre-race favourite, Nigel Baptist, and Gerard Lowry on the downhill run to the finish and broke the tape for a well-deserved win.

Batten had been threatening to get a victory from the start of the season but has usually found one or two others better on the day. However, this time he would not be denied and broke through for his first win. To add to his success, he also ran the fastest time of 23:09.

In his third season with the Club, Batten took up running to keep fit when he finished playing football and basketball but also values the social and family aspects of the PCCCT.

Kathy Franks continued her great form to finish fifth while Jason Scott, Josh Febey and Rhian Miles all ran great races to place in “the ten”.

Lyn Saint-John fastest female (25:11).

The nominated time winners were William Robertson, Libby Crispin and Brian Paine.

Entries are now being taken for the 2021 Wynyard to Burnie Feature Race. All information is on the website: www.pccct.org.

The AJL Yamaha and Lifestyle half-marathon and the Salty and Stevo teams’ half-marathon were run in horrendous weather on Sunday morning,

With powerful head-on winds driving freezing rain, the first half of the course from Turners Beach to West Ulverstone was covered in the worst conditions in recent memory.

However, the return trip meant a strong tail wind and this was greatly appreciated. The course is very flat so at least there were no hills to add to the difficulty of the event.

Despite the weather, both events had good fields and were very competitive.

The individual half-marathon was won by the pre-post favourite, Ulverstone athlete John Saltmarsh. Starting on one of the middle marks, Saltmarsh again showed his love for longer events and after taking the lead at the 17km mark raced away for a comfortable win.

Saltmarsh commenced with the Club in 2010 and this was his third win. His last coming in 2014. He is very fit as he is training with the Melbourne marathon in mind.

Strong runs from backmarkers Ben Brockman and Shaun Batten saw them fill the placings while recent winner, Kathy Franks, continued her great form finishing fourth just in front of Daniel Yaxley.

Hayden Bishop was fastest man (1:20:48) with Susan Moodie fastest woman (1:45:56).

In the teams’ event, Plus 1 (Benny Parsons and Sebrina Shields) took the victory from Having Fun (Tony Yaxley and Rhian Miles) with Lardner/Hendriks (Mathew Lardner and Ros Hendriks) in third.

The nominated time winners were Maya Bramich, Libby and Freya Crispin and Brian Paine.

A new course was used for race twenty-one of the PCCCT season and a good number of members attended. Starting at the Dial Regional Sports Complex at Penguin, the race had a variety of underfoot conditions – paths, sealed roads, grass, gravel and bush tracks.

The bush track part was about one and a half kilometres of the Dial Range mountain-bike park and this section, though challenging and mainly uphill, was enjoyed by the competitors.

Being a shorter race, the field was compacted and so at various stages several runners appeared to be the likely winner and a close finish resulted.

Ultimately, it was Ulverstone athlete, Alex Reimer, who came out on top.

This was Reimer’s second win with the Club, having commenced in 2017. After a good season last year, he had most of the summer off running and then recently injured his foot while gardening so was pleased to get back to the full fitness which enabled him to take the victory. His love of trail running also assisted.

Close behind in second was Greg Malley who has already won two races this season but continues to improve, while fifteen-year-old Dominic Troughton ran strongly for third.

Josh Febey continued his great form to be just behind the placegetters while Nigel Baptist, Dallas van Rooyen and Aaron Robertson all used their trail running experience to place in “the ten”.

The fastest times were recorded by Tom Murton (18:57) and Lyn Saint-John (23:53) for the men and women respectively.

Nominated time winners were Libby Crispin, Lucy van Rooyen and Freya Crispin.