Sat 20 Aug, Coliban relays

11km today, 65km for the week

What a day, the weather was nice to us, probably 15-16 degress, a bit of sun, little to no wind and thankfully the reported rain stayed away. All Western A athletes (15, 3 teams) arrived nice and early and we had no problems prior to the race. AV supply buses to get athletes to their legs, which we use, and this went off without any problems. This year we had 3 teams, for the first time ever more women athletes than men, 1 men (Div 5) & 2 women (both Div 3).

The race started with Div 2 leaving first at 1.00pm (Div 1 & 2 run 2 furtherlegs) and 10 min later Div 1 took off. 1:15pm was the start time for the women, which seen the first leg runners taking off for a 6.3km testing leg with some hills up and down. The remaining men's division took off 10 minutes after the ladies. Our first runner (Dave) was aware of his competition (Mentone) but reckons they (both Div 5 & 7) took off like mad men with 1.5k to go and he couldn't stay with them, at the change over we were in 2nd place in Div 5, about 30 sec behind. The second leg is a 5k leg with an extremely hard last 1.2km of up a very steep hill and then down a very steep descent on gravel (very testing), during this leg South Bendigo made a big move and passed both us & Mentone and were never sighted again, by either team. More stories to follow about this leg, the 2nd girls team had an interesting experience.

The 3rd leg I didn't get to see as I was at the 3/4 changeover doing a few k's to start my w/up. At this change over I got to see the S.Bendigo team who were moving very fast and were competing with the Div 3 teams (I think they were the 5th-6th men's team overall at this stage), next were Mentone they were about 50 seconds ahead of us and their runner was looking good. At this stage our number 1 women's team was still ahead of the Div 5 team by 80-90 seconds, with both of our fastest runners completing the 4th leg it meant a tight finish was probable between myself and our fastest junior runner on the 5k leg. Adam (ads) did make up ground on Narelle and I started about 15 sec behind Bec for the final 5k, I worked fairly hard for the first 2k up the hills to try and make up my ground here as I knew that Bec (competing in Nat X-C next week) would get stronger on the flat. Just after the crest of the hill I past Bec and gave her some encouragement, but I wasn't sure if this was the last time I would see her as I may have gone too fast too early. Strangely Bec & I had been stirring each other for the past few days leading up to the day re who was faster, so it was good for a bit of fun.

With 2k to go I was thinking it would be fitting to finish off together but I thought I could see a yellow singlet ahead (Mentone) so I tried to continue on, just in case. Lots of Club supporters were giving myself & Bec a lot of encouragement and I was also receiving some advice by the women's teams 'to slow down' :), I was on the aths track for the final 300m, whilst nearing the 200m mark I heard the announcer mention that the winning Div 3 team was just hitting the track and I knew I was now about 100m ahead & I could just cruise in for my finish; 19:55 for the 4.9km, not that good, but a PB of many minutes compared to 2 years ago.

The Club had a good day (not great), a win in Women's Div 3, fourth also in wmn Div 3 and the men finished 3rd in Div 5. As with every year there is always a story to come from the day, and this year the Div 3 wmn No. 2 team had an exciting time. Our 2nd runner followed a Sth Melb runner off the course and ended up running an extra 4km and for a sprinter is a long way and I think she ended up running the furtherest that she has in her life, but like true champions the girls continued and finished with a smile, but just a little further back than they thought they would (time wise).

A big night in Bendigo was had, lots of good food & wine, and lots of dancing and then of course the sun came up and we had a couple of hours sleep and then breaky and a trip back to the west.

:-)