9 September 2009

In a tautological way the completion of the Half Marathon in the Athletics Victoria XCR ’09 season almost marks the completion of the season. With just one round to go the MUAC teams are in strong positions as the season draws to a close and the final positions on the premiership ladders are determined and, more importantly, who is relegated and who is promoted between the divisions of racing is decided.

 

The Advanced Freight Burnley Half Marathon is a traditional favourite amongst Victorian runners, it is a relatively flat and fast course and, coming as it does some just five weeks out from the Melbourne Marathon, it provides a valuable chance for those in training for that most testing of races to blow out some cobwebs and really get a sense of how their preparation is progressing. MUAC has a record of solid participation and performance in teh Burnley Half, this year was no exception.

In the Men’s race MUAC fielded four complete teams in Divisions one, three, five (the ‘Wombats’) and seven as well as a 40-49 years master’s team.

 
The Division One team of Andrew Selby-Smith, David Paroissien, Frank Ciancio, Hamish Beaumont and David Ulbrick ran into fourth position. A placing that all but confirms that the team will stay graded in Division one for season 2010. Further down the gradings the Division three and five teams also put in solid performances to all but guarantee their spots in their relative positions for season 2010. However, the standout men’s team of the day was the ‘Old Men’ in the heavily contested 40-49 years age bracket. Comprising the now legendary Andrew “Moorey” Moore, Tony “Coach” Brain and Tim “TT” Thomas, the ‘Old Men’ put in a solid performance to place fifth out of fifteen teams.

 
The standout performance for the day, however, was in the women’s race. Elaine Chan, ran the final kilometres of the race with a fractured foot and into the final spot in the fifth placed Division one team. Speaking a few days after the race Chan said that she was aware of the growing pain in her foot but confused it with the general pain that one experiences in long distance running and pushed through the barrier to finish the race. It was a typically gutsy performance from Chan who was diagnosed with a fractured foot on the following the race and is now diligently pursuing her recovery.

 
Elsewhere in the women’s team there were strong performances from Sarah Emons and Kate Scarlett in the Division one team as well as pentathlete Charlotte Curnow. Although, Curnow’s finish was overshadowed by rookie distance runner Shalinda Kekvawala who engaged in MUAC’s patented ‘sit and kick’ finishing technique to come from behind Curnow and sprint to the line to claim finishing glory.