The Victorian Race Walking Club

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 2009

70 walkers came along for the final round of our winter season and enjoyed a sunny Melbourne spring day. The aim of the day – beat your season PB by the most to win. With prizes on offer in each division, the races were keenly contested and a total of 17 walkers equalled or bettered their season PB in their chosen distance. That is pretty impressive. The open divisions saw Andrew Jamieson, Anika Peachey, Lindsay Harrison, Gordon Onley, Joshua Kaiser and Mark Donahoo producing the best walks relative to their Season Bests.

10km  Open                   Actual Time    Season PB    Difference
1.  Pam Tindal               55:01          53:20        +1:41
2.  Liz Feldman              65:16          61:31        +3:45

1.  Andrew Jamieson          48:45          49:19        -0:34
2.  Aaron McDonough          55:02          54:27        +0:35
3.  Anand Thillaisundaram    62:22          60:44        +1:38
4.  Robert Gardiner          63:46          60:55        +2:51
5.  Russ Dickenson           61:37          56:55        +4:42
    Ross Reid                DNF

5km  Open                    Actual Time    Season PB    Difference
1.  Anika Peachey            36:27          37:28        -1:01
2.  Gayle McIntyre           27:42          28:05        -0:23
3.  Heather Carr             27:20          27:03        +0:17
4.  Margaret Beaumont        38:58          38:01        +0:57
5.  Gwen Steed               31:32          30:33        +0:59
6.  Donna Elms               32:16          30:54        +1:22
7.  Georgia Gatens           36:37          35:05        +1:32
8.  Natalie Laurie           34:11          27:57        +6:14
9.  Jan Morrey               33:54          N/A
10. Pam Mews                 50:26          N/A
    Kelly Davidson           DNF

1.  Lindsay Harrison         36:38          39:50        -3:12
2.  Gordon Onley             37:09          39:30        -2:21
3.  Joshua Kaiser            31:25          33:02        -1:37
4.  Mark Donahoo             25:21          25:21         0:00
5.  Ralph Bennett            27:00          26:31        +0:29
6.  James Seid-Christmass    26:43          26:13        +0:30
7.  Geoff Barrow             31:48          31:05        +0:43
8.  Barrie Wicks             36:07          35:01        +1:06
9.  John Morrison            36:35          N/A
    Ian Beaumont             DQ

In the U15 race, we saw a great 3-way contest between Jmara Hockley Samon (14:56), Amelia Finnegan (15:19) and Amy Burren (15:25) with the lead swapping around before Jmara finally took control and powered home. Overall, the girls showed the way with Jess Callaway, Amy, Bianca Attard and Jmara all doing season bests. Connor McShanag was the best of the boys and capped off what has been for him a great season.

3 km Under 15                Actual Time    Season PB    Difference
1.  Jessica Callaway         17:06          18:18        -1:12
2.  Amy Burren               15:25          15:53        -0:28
3.  Bianca Attard            15:58          16:25        -0:27
4.  Jmara Hockley-Samon      14:56          15:15        -0:19
5.  Lauren Stadus            16:36          16:31        +0:05
6.  Nicole Hallett           17:34          17:21        +0:13
7.  Amelia Finnegan          15:19          14:47        +0:32
8.  Ashley Albert            16:35          15:34        +1:01
9.  Annemaree Gerlich        20:46          17:58        +2:48

1.  Connor McShanag          16:04          15:56        +0:08
2.  Jared Walker             15:41          15:31        +0:10
3.  Aaron Tam                17:14          17:03        +0:11
4.  Matthew Felton           15:32          14:35        +0:57
5.  Aaron Gardner            17:13          15:29        +1:44
6.  Reese Walmsley           19:19          N/A
7.  Michael O'Mahony         17:38          N/A

Our youngest walkers were also in good form with  SBs by Stacey McLaren, Beth Barbour, Keely Henderson, Emily Hamilton, Sam Candotti and James Burren. We also welcomed two first time walkers at the club – Hayden Walmsley and Kathleen O'Mahony.

2km  Under 12                Actual Time    Season PB    Difference
1.  Stacey McLaren           12:26          12:35        -0:09
2.  Beth Barbour             11:44          11:51        -0:07
3.  Keely Henderson          12:36          12:38        -0:02
4.  Emily Hamilton           11:23          11:23         0:00
5.  Sarah Burren             10:26          10:06        +0:20
6.  Charlee Harrison         13:39          13:19        +0:20
7.  Megan Walker             11:15          10:51        +0:24
8.  Carly Bertrand           12:06          11:30        +0:36
9.  Larissa Cullen           12:46          12:07        +0:39
10. Tessa McCann             12:53          11:57        +0:56
11. Emily Swan               13:34          12:23        +1:11

1.  Paul Tremigliozzi        13:11          12:49        +0:22
2.  Kyle Swan                11:06          10:41        +0:25
    Billy Allamby            DQ

1km  Under 9                 Actual Time    Season PB    Difference
1.  Georgia, Bertrand        05:26          05:29        -0:03
2.  Georgia, Lee             05:40          05:33        +0:07
3.  Tara, Xuereb             06:28          06:14        +0:14
4.  Chelsea Owen-Smith       06:34          06:15        +0:19
5.  Jessica Lillie           06:14          05:53        +0:21
6.  Brianna Lillie           06:58          06:18        +0:40
7.  Kathleen O'Mahony        07:56          N/A

1.  James Burren             05:51          05:58        -0:07
2.  Sam Candotti             06:09          06:13        -0:04
3.  Noah Candotti            09:46          08:48        +0:58
4.  Hayden Walmsley          08:45          N/A

Judges:    Peter Vysma, Gordon Loughnan, Brenda Felton, Lloyd Nicholls, Michael Bodey, Fran Attard
Officials: Ron Miller, Harry Summers, Tim Erickson, Paul Kozaris, Ian Laurie, Alan Lucas, Don McLaren, Matt Owen
Canteen:   Barb Gardiner, Joyce Summers, Kate Suich

AUSTRALIAN ROADWALKING CHAMPIONSHIPS, PARAMATTA PARK, SYDNEY, SUNDAY 30 AUGUST 2009

I reproduce here the first 3 places from each event and the results for the VRWC competitors. Congratulations to the following individual VRWC medallists (wow, two medals to Rachel Tallent!). All have had great seasons and are to be congratulated on their fine leadership within the club

Men Under 20 10k Race Walk      3    Rhydian Cowley        45:23
Women Under 20 10k Race Walk    3    Rachel Tallent        51:18
Girls Under 14 3k Race Walk     1    Stephanie George      14:58
                                2    Sarah Burren          15:07
Boys Under 14 3k Race Walk      2    Billy Allamby         15:02
Girls Under 16 5k Race Walk     1    Amy Burren            25:01
                                2    Jmara Hockley Samon   25:22
Girls Under 18 5k Race Walk     1    Rachel Tallent        25:21

Congratulations also to the 3 VRWC teams who scored gold or silver in the associated Teams events

Girls Under 16 5k Race Walk     1    Amy Burren, Jmara Hockley Samon, Amelia Finnegan
Girls Under 14 3k Race Walk     1    Stephanie George, Sarah Burren, Lauren Stadus   
Boys Under 14 3k Race Walk      2    Billy Allamby, Harry Coleman, Cody McNicol-Davidson

Event 1 & 2: Men Open & Masters 20k Race Walk - 7:30am                   
1.  Bown, Darren            35    SARWC    1:27:16
2.  Rayson, Ian             21    REGAL    1:31:45
3.  Rew, Quentin            25    NZ       1:33:22

Event 3: Men Under 20 10k Race Walk - 7:30am               
1.  Bird-Smith, Dane        17    QLDRWC   0:44:07
2.  Fitzsimons, Sean        17    WARWC    0:45:14
3.  Cowley, Rhydian         18    VRWC     0:45:23
9.  Payne, Daniel           19    VRWC     0:51:40

Event 4: Boys Under 18 10k Race Walk - 7:30am
1.  Bird-Smith, Dane        17    QRWC     0:44:07
2.  Fitzsimons, Sean        17    WARWC    0:45:14
3.  Steele, Blake           16    SARWC    0:46:49

Event 5: Women 20k Open Race Walk - 7:35am
1.  Tallent, Clare          28    AIS      1:35:58
2.  Fagan, Nicole           20    NSWRWC   1:50:40

Event 6 & 7: Women 10k Open & Masters RWA Race Walk - 7:35am
1.  Tallent, Clare          28    SARWC    0:47:03
2.  Kim, Woon Jung (KOR)    19    QRWC     0:50:23
3.  Weon, Seas Byeol (KOR)  19    QRWC     0:50:31
4.  Tallent, Rachel         16    VRWC     0:51:18
    Alexander, Beth         17    VRWC     DNF

Event 8: Women Under 20 10k Race Walk - 7:35am
1.  Kim, Woon Jung (KOR)    19    QRWC     0:50:23
2.  Weon, Seas Byeol (KOR)  19    QRWC     0:50:31
3.  Tallent, Rachel         16    VRWC     0:51:18

Event 10: Girls 2k Under 12 Race Walk RWA - 8:40am
1.  MacDonald, Jasmyn       10    NSWRWC   0:10:17
2.  Smith, Jemma            10    TRWC     0:10:30
3.  Hunt, Tahlia            11    TRWC     0:11:04

Event 9: Boys Under 12 2k Race Walk RWA - 8:40am
1.  Wright, Jack            11    TRWC     0:11:20
2.  Glover, Jordan          10    REGAL    0:11:20
3.  Murphy, Michael         10    REGAL    0:11:21

Event 12: Girls Under 14 3k Race Walk - 8:55am
1.  George, Stephanie       13    VRWC     0:14:58
2.  Burren, Sarah           13    VRWC     0:15:07
3.  Holt, Kate              13    WARWC    0:15:24
8.  Stadus, Lauren          13    VRWC     0:16:11
23. Bertrand, Carly         13    VRWC     0:19:07

Event 11: Boys Under 14 3k Race Walk - 8:55am
1.  Tesch, Benjamin         13    QRWC     0:14:31
2.  Allamby, Bill           12    VRWC     0:15:02
3.  Anderson, Tristan       13    WARWC    0:15:20
10.  Coleman, Harry         11    VRWC     0:17:44
12.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody 11    VRWC     0:19:50

Event 14: Girls Under 16 5k Race Walk - 9:20am
1.  Burren, Amy             15    VRWC     0:25:01
2.  Hockley Samon, Jmara    14    VRWC     0:25:22
3.  Watson, Hannah          15    WARWC    0:25:32
4.  Finnegan, Amelia        14    VRWC     0:25:57
8.  Mason, Ella             15    VRWC     0:28:00
10. Tallent, Ebony          15    VRWC     0:28:13
12. Albert, Ashley          14    VRWC     0:28:49

Event 13: Boys Under 16 5k Race Walk - 9:20am
1.  Aiton, Brad             15    QRWC     0:23:54
2.  Dib, Samuel             15    WARWC    0:24:20
3.  Osborne, Jesse          14    QLD      0:24:33
10. Antidormi, Ryan         14    VRWC     0:27:27
12. Gardner, Aaron          14    VRWC     0:29:53

Event 15: Girls Under 18 5k Race Walk - 9:55am
1.  Tallent, Rachel         16    VRWC     0:25:21
2.  Harrington, Lauren      16    SARWC    0:25:56
3.  Psarianos, Dimitra      16    NSWRWC   0:27:18
7.  Payne, Emily            16    VRWC     0:29:44
    Stadus, Lauren          13    VRWC     DNF
    Brazel, Hilary          16    VRWC     DQ

In the additional non-RWA events on offer, Georgia Bertrand won the U10 girls walk in 5:11, Hayley George was 3rd in 5:30, James Burren was 4th in the U10 Boys walk in 5:27 and Billy Allamby backed up after his win in the U12 event to take 3rd in the Open 5km in a PB time of 29:38. Well done everyone on some sterling performances.

Event 16: Open 5k Race Walk - 9:55am         
1.  Kenza Benzenati         28:12
2.  Cassandra Staples       29:18
3.  Billy Allamby           29:38
         
Event 17: Under 10 Boys 1 km Race Walk - 10:10am         
1.  Elijah Harris           05:19
2.  Benjamin Tisdale        05:19
3.  Yanis Benzenati         05:21
4.  James Burren            05:27
         
Event 18: Under 10 Girls 1 km Race Walk - 10:10am         
1.  Georgia Bertrand        05:11
2.  Abbey Dhu               05:19
3.  Hayley George           05:30

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 29 AUGUST 2009

It was a quiet weekend at Albert Park with the Australian roadwalking championships in Sydney but we still had 31 walkers who availed themselves of the chance for a local hitout. Special mention to Stacey McLaren who jumped up from the U12 age group and completed her first ever 8km event with 61:12).

8km Open       
1.  Tindal, Pam               43:37
2.  Thompson, Alison          50:14
3.  McLaren, Stacey           61:12

1.  Kollmorgen, Stuart        39:39
2.  McDonough, Aaron          43:37
3.  Bennett, Ralph            43:46
4.  Gardiner, Bob             48:26
5.  Thillaisundaram, Anand    48:53
       
6km Open       
1.  McIntyre, Gayle           35:02
2.  Elms, Donna               39:07

1.  Seid-Christmass, James    34:12
2.  Dickenson, Russ           36:43
3.  McShanag, Connor          38:21
    Donahoo, Mark             Ab
    Barrow, Geoff             Disq
       
4km Open       
1.  Mews, Pam                 38:04

1.  Riddoch, Clyde            22:50
2.  Wicks , Barrie            28:21
3.  Onley, Gordon             31:01
       
4km U15       
1.  Attard, Bianca            23:09
2.  Gatens, Georgia           27:41

1.  Walker, Jared             22:38
2.  Tam, Aaron                25:52
       
2km U12       
1.  Walker, Megan             11:46
2.  De Lisen, Paige           12:09
3.  Barbour, Beth             12:26
4.  Swan, Emily               13:21
5.  Crea, Gabbie              13:45

1km U 9       
1.  Lillie, Jessica           06:10
2.  Lillie, Brianna           06:39
    Owen-Smith, Chelsea       Disq

Thanks to our officials who keep the show on the road week in and week out. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Judges:     Peter Vysma, Fran Attard, Lloyd Nicholls   
Officials:  Natalie & Ian Laurie, Paul Kozaris, Ron Miller, Bob Gardiner, Mark Donahoo, Marlene Stanway, Don McLaren, +1   
Canteen:    Barb Gardiner, Kate Suich   

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 22 AUGUST 2009

On Saturday 60 walkers availed themselves of one final hitout before the National roadwalking championships in Sydney next weekend. Although the weather was fine, Melbourne was plagued once again by strong northerly winds but our walkers must be used to this by now as this has been the case for most of the season. The longest race on offer was the 8km and Tom Barnes was in sparking form, clocking 34:55. Others to break the 40 minute barrier included Rhydian Cowley (38:42), Stuart Kollmorgen (39:05) and Megan Szirom (39:32). Good luck to Megan who is running next weekend in the South Australian Marathon championship. Pam Tindal was another walker to excel, burning up the tarmac with a PB time of 42:26.

8km Open
1. Barnes, Tom               34:55
2. Cowley, Rhydian           38:42
3. Kollmorgen, Stuart        39:05
4. Reid, Ross                44:32
5. McDonough, Aaron          44:43
6. Dickenson, Russ           46:59
7. Thillaisundaram, Anand    47:55
8. Gardiner, Bob             49:05
9. McShanag, Connor          49:23
   Payne, Daniel             DNF
   Felton, Matthew           DNF

1. Szirom, Megan             39:32
2. Tindal, Pam               42:26
3. Irshad, Kylie             44:32
4. Thompson, Alison          48:52
5. Attard, Bianca            49:17
   Campbell, Caitlin         DNF
   Campbell, Rebecca         DNF

The 4km saw Heather Carr easily the fastest walker with her 21:42 while Tony Doran was the best of the men with 25:55.

4km Open
1. Doran, Anthony            25:55
2. Wicks , Barrie            28:27
3. Morrison, John            28:50
4. Harrison, Lindsay         28:51
5. Onley, Gordon             31:05

1.  Carr, Heather            21:42
2.  Payne, Emily             24:13
3.  Feldman, Liz             24:15
4.  Shaw, Kirstin            25:51
5.  Shaw, Robyn              27:07
6.  Stanway, Marlaine        28:57
7.  Mews, Pam                41:45

The U15 4km race saw a great contest between Stephanie George and Jmara Hockley-Samon with both girls walking stride for stride.  Stephanie (who will contest the U14 3km next week in Sydney) pulled out as planned at the 3km mark in 14.38 (a 17 sec PB) with Jmara (who will contest the U16 5km) only about 2 secs behind (also a big PB). Jmara continued on to record a super fast 4km time of 20.04. Certainly a good tune up for Sydney this week for both girls! Cooper Owen and Kyle Swan moved up from the U12 division and walked excellently to be the first boys to finish with times of 22:50 and 23:28 respectively.

4km U15
1.  Owen, Cooper             22:50
2.  Swan, Kyle               23:28
3.  Kaiser, Josh             23:35
4.  Gardner, Aaron           23:49
5.  Tam, Aaron               24:54

1.  Hockley Samon, Jmara     20:04
2.  Stadus, Lauren           22:59
3.  Hallett, Nicole          24:20
4.  Gatens, Georgia          28:04
    George, Stephanie        DNF
    Gerlich, Annemarie       DNF
    Mason, Ella              DNF

2.5km U12
1.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody   15:56
2.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       17:07

1.  Irshad, Jasmine          13:57
2.  Walker, Megan            14:43
3.  Bertrand, Carly          14:55
4.  Hamilton, Emily          15:05
5.  Ventura, Amy             15:10
6.  Cullen, Larissa          15:36
7.  McLaren, Stacey          16:08

1500m U9
1.  Candotti, Sam            09:38
2.  Candotti, Noah           13:45
 
1.  Bertrand, Georgia        08:27
2.  George, Hayley           08:45
3.  Lee, Georgia             08:57
4.  Xuereb, Tara             09:40
5.  Harrison, Charlee        09:56
6.  Lillie, Jessica          10:09
7.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea      10:45
8.  Lillie, Brianna          10:56
9.  Mason, Livinia           11:31

Judges:     Peter Vysma, Brenda Felton, Fran Attard, lloyd Nicholls   
Officials:  Harry Summers, Paul Kozaris, Ron Miller, Alan Lucas, Bob Gardiner, Don McLaren, Matt Owen

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 15 AUGUST 2009

The results from Stu Cooper advised that Melbourne saw yet another day of gale force winds on Saturday – it has certainly been a tough winter for our walkers. It was the final day of our Points competitions and 66 walkers took advantage of this one last opportunity to add to their totals for the season. Pam Tindal and Simon Evans were first home in the 10km walk with Pam and Stu Cooper winning the associated handicaps.  Since Simon and Stu had walked in the Victorian 30km championship last weekend, it was a good followup.

10 km Open                            Handicaps
1.  Evans, Simon             53:33    3
2.  Reid, Ross               58:02    4
3.  Thillaisundaram, Anand   61:48    2
4.  Cooper, Stuart           63:29    1

1.  Tindal, Pam              54:42    1
2.  McIntyre, Gayle          57:00    2
3.  Thompson, Alison         63:16    3
    Hallett, Nicole          DNF   
    Irshad, Kylie            DNF   

James Seid-Christmass has made the shorter events his own this season, winning nearly every week and taking quite a few handicap wins along the way. This week was no exception as he took maximum points in both competitions in the men's 5km. Hilary Brazel was just as dominant in the women's 5km section, also taking fastest time and handicap honours. Clyde Riddoch and Jan Morrey also  achieved the same double in the 3km events – it is unusual to see so this happening so frequently on the one day.

5 km Open                             Handicaps
1.  Seid-Christmass, James   26:18    1
2.  Keirl, Bernie            26:43    2
3.  Dickenson, Russ          33:51    5
4.  Wood, Robin              34:12    3
5.  Wicks, Barrie            35:50    4
    Onley, Gordon            DNF   

1.  Brazel, Hilary           26:17    1
2.  Steed, Gwen              31:18    3
3.  Campbell, Rebecca        31:52    2
4.  Elms, Donna              32:28    4
5.  Johnson, Celia           35:33    5
    Albert, Ashley           DNF   
    Burren, Amy              DNF   

3km Open                              Handicaps
1.  Riddoch, Clyde           16:24    1
2.  Elms, Jason              19:02    E2
3.  Morrison, John           22:04    E2
           
1.  Morrey, Jan              19:44    1
2.  Peachey, Anika           21:44    3
3.  Stanway, Marlaine        21:55    4
4.  Mews, Pam                31:47    2
5.  Davidson, Kelly          23:45   

Our U15 walkers contested 3km this week and Jared Walker and Connor McShanag were the big improvers, walking PB times of 15:42 and 15:56. Amelia Finnegan and Jmara Hockley Samon were the fastest girls with 15:08 and 15:15 (which was also a PB) respectively. Caitlin Campbell walked her best time for the winter season and was the girls' handicap winner.

3km Under 15                          Handicaps
1.  Walker, Jared            15:42    2
2.  McShanag, Connor         15:56    1
3.  Gardner, Aaron           17:33    4
4.  Tam, Aaron               17:36    3

1.  Finnegan, Amelia         15:08    4
2.  Hockley Samon, Jmara     15:15    2
3.  Burren, Sarah            16:04    7
4.  Mason, Ella              16:39    5
5.  Stadus, Lauren           16:47    6
6.  Campbell, Caitlin        17:04    1
7.  Attard, Bianca           17:17    8
8.  Barbour, Beth            18:21    9
9.  Ventura, Amy             19:07    3
10. Gerlich, Annemarie       19:35    11
11. Gatens, Georgia          21:49    10
12. Attard, Michaela         21:56

Billy Allamby and Megan Walker were the fastest boy and girl walkers in the U12 division as usual with Billy actually waling a PB with a super time of 10:10 but it was not enough to win the handicap as Paul Tremigliozzi also walked a PB with his time of 12:49. Larissa Cullen also walked a PB of 12:07 and this earned her the handicap win in the girls's event.

2 km Under 12                         Handicaps
1.  Allamby, Billy           10:10    3
2.  Walmsley, Reese          10:47    5
3.  Swan, Kyle               10:55    2
4.  Owen, Cooper             11:15    4
5.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       12:49    1

1.  Walker, Megan            11:29    8
2.  DeLisen, Paige           11:42    9
3.  Hamilton, Emily          12:04    7
4.  Cullen, Larissa          12:07    1
5.  McCann, Tessa            12:32    5
6.  McLaren, Stacey          12:35    3
7.  Henderson, Keely         12:49    6
8.  Segota, Bronte           13:15    4
9.  Harrison, Charlee        13:19    2
    Crea, Gabriella          DQ   

A smaller than usual U9 field this week but plenty of good walking with James Burren and Jessica Lillie fastest and Tara Xuereb winning the girl's handicap.

1km Under 9                           Handicaps
1.  Burren, James            06:10    1

1.  Lillie, Jessica          06:13    2
2.  Xuereb, Tara             06:17    1
3.  Lillie, Brianna          07:01    3
4.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea      07:07    4   

Judges: Peter Vysma (Chief), Lloyd Nicholas, Francis Attard, Lloyd Nicholas, Brenda Felton

AV AND VRWC CHAMPIONSHIPS, ALBERT PARK, SUNDAY 9 AUGUST 2009

It was another big day of racing at Albert Park on Sunday as 88 walkers met to contest the annual Victorian roadwalking championships. The big event of the day (at least in terms of distance) was the 30 km for Open Men and it was Tom Barnes who won it for the third time in the last 4 years with a very good time of 2:20:21. It was then a long wait for the other two finishers, Simon Evans and Stuart Cooper. But for both walkers, it was a job well done just to finish such a challenging event. I checked back in my records and found that the last time Stuart Cooper scored a Victorian championship medal was in 1981 when he was second in the Victorian 50 km event. It is a case of a long time between drinks so well done to Stu on such a momentous comeback.   

AV 30km Open Men
1.  Barnes, Tom          MUU    2:20:21
2.  Evans, Simon         BOH    2:59:37
3.  Cooper, Stuart       SSH    3:27:31

Our younger walkers were in action over distances ranging up to 10km and the full results are shown below. The pick of the times were probably Rachel Tallent (an equal PB of 49:31 for the U20 10km), Beth Alexander (24:37 for the U18 5km), Amy Burren (25:36 for the U16 5km), Stephanie George (15:07 for the U14 3km) and Brad Simpson (54:02 for the U18 10km).

AV 10km U20
1.  Cowley, Rhydian      GHY    47:45

1.  Tallent, Rachel      BYC    49:31
2.  Attard, Tamara       KNA    61:30
3.  Shaw, Kirstin        WES    62:58

AV 10km U18 Men
1.  Simpson, Brad        KNA    54:02

AV 5km U18 Women
1.  Alexander, Beth      KNA    24:37
2.  Brazel, Hilary       ANW    27:12
3.  Tallent, Ebony       BYC    29:20
4.  Payne, Emily         COR    30:24

AV 5km U16
1.  Clark, Lewis         CHI    26:26
2.  Walker, Jared        COR    27:30
3.  Gardner, Aaron       DIV    28:12
4.  Tam, Aaron           KNA    30:16
    Felton, Matt         KNA    DNF
    Antidormi, Ryan      ANW    DQ

1.  Burren, Amy          MAL    25:36
2.  Finnegan, Amelia     KNA    25:47
3.  Hockley Samon, Jmara CHI    26:57
4.  Heard, Amanda        EAG    27:36
5.  Albert, Ashley       MAL    28:15
6.  Whiley, Ebony        EAG    28:25
7.  Mason, Ella          BOH    28:33
8.  Attard, Bianca       KNA    28:53
9.  Campbell, Caitlin    ATE    29:32

AV 3km U14
1.  Allamby, Billy       KNA    15:53
2.  Heiden, Dane         BEU    16:25
3.  Taylor, Lucas        SCA    16:59
    McShanag, Connor     ATE    DQ

1.  George, Stephanie    SCA    15:07
2.  Burren, Sarah        MAL    15:38
3.  Guy, Rebecca         CCA    16:16
4.  Irshad, Jasmine      SCA    16:26
5.  Stadus, Lauren       KNA    16:31
6.  Walker, Megan        COR    17:32
7.  Campbell, Rebecca    ATE    18:52

There were also a selection of VRWC events on offer, including U9 and U12 2km club championships. The 5km event was keenly contested with James Seid-Christmass, Bernie Keirl, Megan Szirom and Kylie Irshad all doing good times. The U9 and U12 events were also great events by the look of things. Reese Walmsley and Kyle Swan walked neck and neck in the U12 boys event with Reese getting up by the smallest of margins, 10:40 to 10:41 while Megan Walker won the girls' event amd also broke the 11 minute barrier with 10:58. In the U9 events, James Burren (13:07) and Georgia Bertrand (11:33) were the winners.

VRWC Open 5km
1.  Seid-Christmass, James 26:13
2.  Keirl, Bernie          26:16
3.  Bennett, Ralph         26:52
4.  Elms, Jason            30:06
5.  Dickenson, Russ        32:55
6.  Doran, Anthony         33:01
7.  Wood, Robin            34:45
8.  Wicks, Barrie          35:06
9.  Onley, Gordon          39:30

1.  Szirom, Megan          25:22
2.  Irshad, Kylie          26:07
3.  Elms, Donna            32:11
4.  Johnson, Celia         35:12
    Brunton, Caitlin       DNF

VRWC 2 km U12 Club Championship
1.  Walmsley, Reese        10:40
2.  Swan, Kyle             10:41
3.  Owen, Cooper           11:02
4.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody 12:14

1.  Walker, Megan          10:58
2.  Hamilton, Emily        11:23
3.  Bertrand, Carly        11:30
4.  Barbour, Beth          11:52
5.  McCann, Tessa          12:04
6.  Cullen, Larissa        12:28
7.  Swan, Emily            12:33
8.  McLaren, Stacey        12:41
9.  Crea, Gabriella        12:44
10. Segota, Bronte         13:34
11. Harrison, Charlee      13:42

VRWC 2 km U9 Club Championship   
1.  Burren, James          13:07
    Hockley Samon, Harry   DQ
    Hockley Samon, Tom     DQ

1.  Bertrand, Georgia      11:33
2.  George, Hayley         11:42
3.  Lee, Georgia           12:01
4.  Xuereb, Tara           13:12
5.  Lillie, Jessica        13:34
6.  Lillie, Brianna        13:57
7.  Taylor, Lee            16:00

Officials: Harry Summers, Bob Gardiner, Ron Miller, Jim leppik, Russ Dickenson, Paul Kozaris, Marlaine Stanway, Celia Johnson, Bob Hallett, Don McLaren, Matt Owen
Judges: Gordon Loughlan (Chief), Peter Vysma, Lloyd Nicholas, Francis Attard, Elke Raselli, Alan Lucas, Shane Bertrand, Les Clarke (DQ board)

VRWC EVENTS, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 1 AUGUST 2009

I am sure that everyone appreciated finally not having to battle the cold windy weather. A total of 75 walkers were met with just about perfect racing conditions and they keenly contested the usual variety of events. With a number of our top walkers in Finland at the World Masters,  numbers contesting the 10km walks were down but not the quality as Pam Tindal surged to a PB of 53:20 (some 75 secs better than her previous best) and Tom Barnes put in his usual sparking performance, leading overall and finishing in 44:31.

10 km Open                             H'cap Place
1.  Barnes, Tom               44:31    2
2.  Evans, Simon              53:53    3
3.  Thillaisundaram, Anand    61:21    1
    Keirl, Bernie             DQ     

1.  Tindal, Pam               53:20    1
2.  McIntyre, Gayle           59:07    3
3.  Thompson, Alison          60:43    2

Most of our older walkers chose the 5km or 3km distances. First to the 5km where Rhydian Cowley started quietly but came through strongly for the fastest time of 24:34. David Ranger was next in with 25:29, a little faster than last week. Kylie Irshad and Kirstin Shaw walked together in the women's section to record times of 28:28 and 28:32 respectively. In the 3km events, Andrew Hogan (who normally races U12) was the fastest with 16:30 while Gwen Steed was the fastest of the women with 18:06.

5 km Open                              H'cap Place
1.  Cowley, Rhydian          24:34     
2.  Ranger, David            25:29     
3.  Seid-Christmass, James   26:48    1
4.  Bennett, Ralph           27:17    4
5.  Dickenson, Russ          29:41    5
6.  Cooper, Stuart           30:50     
7.  Barrow, Geoff            31:05    2
8.  Wicks , Barrie           35:47    3

1.  Irshad, Kylie            28:28    2
2.  Shaw, Kirstin            28:32    1

3km Open                              H'cap Place
1.  Hogan, Andrew            16:30    3
2.  Elms, Jason              17:10    2
3.  Morrison, John           20:56    4
4.  Harrison, Lindsay        21:01    1
    Onley, Gordon            DQ     

1.  Steed, Gwen              18:06    3
2.  Elms, Donna              18:27    4
3.  Morrey, Jan              19:25    1
4.  Boddy, Lana              20:22    5
5.  Stanway, Marlaine        21:04    2
6.  Peachey, Anika           22:30    6
7.  Mews, Pam                33:30    7

The U15 walkers tested themselves over 5km on Saturday with Matt Felton and Amelia Finnegan both excelling with big PBs, Matt recording 25:17 and Amelia recording 25:51. It was very satisfying to see so many walkers well under the 30 minute mark. And welcome to Michaela Attard who had her first walk with us and her first walk longer than 1500m – she walked a good 33:29.

5km U15                               H'cap Place
1.  Felton, Matthew          25:17    2
2.  Antidormi, Ryan          26:45    4
3.  Walker, Jared            27:23    3
4.  McShanag, Connor         28:44    1
5.  Kaiser, Joshua           33:02    5
6.  Tam, Aaron               33:02    6

1.  Finnegan, Amelia         25:51    1
2.  Attard, Bianca           29:35    3
3.  Stadus, Lauren           29:40    4
4.  Mason, Ella              29:45    6
5.  Hallett, Nicole          30:44    5
6.  Attard, Michaela         33:29     
7.  Campbell, Rebecca        33:37    7
8.  Gatens, Georgia          35:42    2
9.  Callaway, Jessica        38:29    8
    Campbell, Caitlin        DNF    (2k 12:35)
    George, Stephanie        DNF    (2k 10:25)

Our usual big field contested the U12 walks and they also tested themselves over a longer distance – 3km. Billy Allamby struggled in the second half, feeling quite poorly, but still held on for an excellent 16:02. Kyle Swan came through the field strongly to take second and win the handicap with his time of 16:29. Jasmine was the fastest of the girls with 16:41 while Larissa Cullen won the girls' handicap.

3km U12                              H'cap Place
1.  Allamby, Billy          16:02    4
2.  Swan, Kyle              16:29    1
3.  Owen, Cooper            17:30    2
4.  Garganis, Adam          18:19    3
5.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody  19:54    5
    Walmsley, Reece         DQ     

1.  Irshad, Jasmine         16:41    8
2.  Walker, Megan           17:26    12
3.  DeLisen, Paige          17:45    14
4.  Hamilton, Emily         18:04    2
5.  Barbour, Beth           18:25    11
6.  Ventura, Amy            18:32    7
7.  Bertrand, Carly         18:40    10
8.  Cullen, Larissa         19:24    1
9.  McCann, Tessa           19:34    6
10. Swan, Emily             19:57    9
11. McLaren, Stacey         20:12    3
12. Crea, Gabriella         20:13    4
13. Segota, Bronte          20:53    5
14. Henderson, Keely        21:24    13

The U9 walkers contested the 1.5km distance this week and, as usual, Sam and Noah Candotti shared the honours in the boys' event. On the girls' front, Georgia Bertrand walked brilliantly to win with 8:20 and took the handicap honours as well. Haley Brown had her first walk at Middle Park and did well, coming 3rd with 9:23.

1.5km U9                             H'cap Place
1.  Candotti, Sam           09:47    2
2.  Candotti, Noah          12:21    1

1.  Bertrand, Georgia       08:20    1
2.  George, Hayley          09:13    5
3.  Brown, Haley            09:23     
4.  Harrison, Charlee       09:57    2
5.  Lillie, Brianna         10:29    4
6.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea     10:48    6
7.  Mason, Livinia          12:17    3

Finally, thanks to everyone who helps keep the show on the road. Sorry if I missed out on any names.

Officials: Harry Summers, Tim Erickson, Paul Kozaris, Alan Lucas, Don McLaren, Matt Owen, Graham George, Elke Raselli
Judges: Peter Vysma (Chief) , Lloyd Nicholas, Francis Attard, Lloyd Nicholas, Gordon Loughnan, Mike Bodey, Brenda Felton.
Canteen: Joyce Summers, Marlaine Stanway

AV AND VRWC EVENTS, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 25 JULY 2009

We saw another big Saturday of walking at Albert Park last weekend with just on 80 competitors testing themselves over a variety of distances. Once again, windy cool weather made for testing conditions but times were still impressive.

The Victorian 10km roadwalking championships were the prime events of the day and the favourites – Tom Barnes and Megan Szirom – won as expected. For Tom, it was his 4th win (others being in 2004, 2006 and 2008) and followed on from his fine walk in the recent World Universiad 20km event in Belgrade. It also won him the Bert Gardiner medal, presented each year to the winner of this event. Former Australian international walker Paul Van Kopplen was second while super Masters walker Andrew Jamieson was third. This was Andrew's last local walk before heading off to defend his M60 titles at the World Masters Games in Finland this week. In the women's championship, Megan Szirom took the title for the second time (she also won it in 2006) ahead of junior walkers Beth Alexander and Rachel Tallent. Rachel won the championship last year at 15 years of age and she and Beth both recorded excellent times for walkers of such a young age.

Victorian 10 Km Championship, Open Men – for the Bert Gardiner Medal         
1.  Barnes, Tom          MUAC   45:28
2.  Van Kopplen, Paul    CDN    46:34
3.  Jamieson, Andrew     OSC    49:19
4.  Evans, Simon         BOH    52:21
5.  McDonough, Aaron     PTN    54:27
6.  Knox, Duncan         ATE    57:46
    Reid, Ross           COR     DNF
                 
Victorian 10 Km Championship, Open Women                 
1.  Szirom, Megan        FKN    47:53
2.  Alexander, Beth      KNA    50:39
3.  Tallent, Rachel      BYC    51:08
4.  Payne, Emily         COR    64:45
    Irshad, Kylie        SCA    DNF

The only other championship contested today was the Mabel Robinson Trophy, a VRWC Open Women's 10km club championship. Megan, Beth and Rachel took the first 3 places ahead of Pam Tindal who walked excellently for a 7 second PB of 54:27.     

VRWC 10 Km Championship Open Women -Mabel Robinson Trophy             
1. Szirom, Megan            47:53    3
2.  Alexander, Beth         50:39    1
3.  Tallent, Rachel         51:08    2
4.  Tindal, Pam             54:27    4
5.  Thompson, Alison        63:58    7
6.  Payne, Emily            64:45    5
7.  Elms, Donna             65:16    6
    Irshad, Kylie           DNF     

The remaining races were the usual mix of VRWC club races, contested as part of the Winter Season points competition (for Handicap, Fastest Times and Style Award points). It was good to see David Ranger back on the road again – David, from Ballarat, was one of our top juniors for many years. He won the 5km walk with a brisk 25 minute effort.

VRWC 10 km Open Men                 Hcp Place
1.  Barnes, Tom            45:28    7
2.  Van Kopplen, Paul      46:34    5
3.  Jamieson, Andrew       49:19    4
4.  Evans, Simon           52:21    6
5.  McDonough, Aaron       54:27    2
6.  Knox, Duncan           57:46    3
7.  Thillaisundaram, Anand 62:18    1
    Reid, Ross             DNF     
    Bennett, Ralph         DQ     
                 
VRWC 5 km Open                 
1.  Ranger, David          25:39    -
2.  Seid-Christmass, James 26:31    1
3.  Dickenson, Russ        29:54    4
4.  Skrucany, Rudolf       32:43    2
5.  Wicks, Barrie          35:29    3
    Barrow, Geoff          DQ     
                 
1.  Brazel, Hilary         26:37    2
2.  McIntyre, Gayle        28:05    4
3.  Guy, Rebecca           28:57    3
4.  Steed, Gwen            31:09    5
5.  Stanway, Marlaine      35:28    1
6.  Davidson, Kelly        41:40     
    Lamble, Regan          DNF
                 
VRWC 3km Open                 
1.  Elms, Jason            16:38    2
2.  Harrison, Lindsay      21:03    1
    Onley, Gordon          DQ     
                 
1.  Carr, Heather          15:57    3
2.  Morrey, Jan            20:01    1
3.  Johnson, Celia         21:02    4
4.  Peachey, Anika         21:44    2
    Mews, Pam              DQ     

Our U15 races saw 5 boys and 10 girls in action. Amelia Finnegan blitzed the field with a super fast 14:47 ahead of Stephanie George (15:33) who has made a very strong transtion from U12 into the higher age group. This performance also won the handicap competiton as well. Aaron Gardner was the fastest of the boys with 16:07 and must have a good lead by now in the boys overall points competition. Joshua Kaiser walked very well to win the boys' handicap competition with 16:50.
             
VRWC 3km Under 15                   Hcp Place         
1.  Gardner, Aaron         16:07    4
2.  Hogan, Andrew          16:14    5
3.  McShanag, Connor       16:16    2
4.  Kaiser, Joshua         16:50    1
5.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody 18:50    3
                 
1.  Finnegan, Amelia       14:47    1
2.  George, Stephanie      15:33    7
3.  Albert, Ashley         16:38    8
4.  Stadus, Lauren         16:41    2
5.  Irshad, Jasmine        17:01    3
6.  Attard, Bianca         17:05    4
7.  Hallett, Nicole        17:52    6
8.  Barbour, Beth          19:00    9
9.  Gatens, Georgia        21:02    5
    Burren, Amy            DNF     

The U12s are always a great age group to watch racing and this week was no exception. Billy Allamby led th1 19 walkers out but was eventually overhauled by Sarah Burren who was first to finish with a very impressive 10:06. Billy held on well to come in next with 10:19. Further back, Megan Walker and Paige De Lisen had their usual battle with Megan getting up to win by 1 second in the final sprint, 10:52 as against 10:53. How many battles have these girls had so far this season! Cooper Owen recorded a bit PB of 11:14 to be next over the line and, under normal circumstances, would have won the handicap competition but Paul Tremigliozzi did an even bigger PB with 13:02 to take the overall handicap points. The walkers in this age group are certainly improving as the season progresses.

VRWC 2 km Under 12                  Hcp Place         
1.  Allamby, Billy         10:19    3
2.  Owen, Cooper           11:09    2
3.  Swan, Kyle             11:14    4
4.  Tremigliozzi, Paul     13:02    1
                 
1.  Burren, Sarah          10:06    11
2.  Walker, Megan          10:52    10
3.  DeLisen, Paige         10:53    1
4.  Hamilton, Emily        11:28    6
5.  Guy, Rachael           11:54    3
6.  Bertrand, Carly        12:01    14
7.  Ventura, Amy           12:02    8
8.  McCann, Tessa          12:04    5
9.  Cullen, Larissa        12:19    2
10. Henderson, Keely       12:38    8
11. Segota, Bronte         13:06    7
12. Swan, Emily            13:15    15
13. Crea, Gabriella        13:19    12
14. McLaren, Stacey        13:23    13
15. Harrison, Charlee      13:38    4

Finally to our U9s who are also a very competitive group. Like last week, Sam and Noah Candotti shared the honours in the boys event while Georgia Bertrand took both fastest time and handicap honours in the girls event. Natasha Irshad had her first ever racewalk and did well to walk 7:06. She can only improve from there.
                 
VRWC 1 km Under 9                   Hcp Place         
1.  Candotti, Sam          06:27    2
2.  Candotti, Noah         08:48    1  
          
1.  Bertrand, Georgia      05:31    1
2.  George, Hayley         05:42    2
3.  Lillie, Jessica        06:05    4
4.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea    06:29    3
5.  Lillie, Brianna        06:42    5
6.  Irshad, Natasha        07:06     

Thanks to our many officials – sorry if I have missed out on anyone.

Officials: Harry Summers, Tim Erickson, Ron Miller, Paul Kozaris, Bob Hallett, Leanne Lamble, Jean Payne, Don McLaren, Matt Owen, Alan Lucas
Judges: Peter Vysma (Chief) , Lloyd Nicholas, Kathleen Marsh, Francis Attard, Lloyd Nicholas, Gordon Loughnan, Mike Bodey, Brenda Felton, Elke Raselli
Canteen: Joyce Summers, Kate Suich, Marlaine Stanway

VRWC EVENTS, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 18 JULY 2009

There were plenty of conflicting options for our walkers on Saturday what with Little Athletics Cross Country open days and the Victorian All Schools Cross Country championships on offer but we still saw 71 walkers in action at Albert Park – and a number of them had come straight from running events. Like last week, it was extremely windy and quite cool but the rain stayed away again and the walkers raced well. We had our second Handicap Start day for the winter on Saturday so the results show the handicap place rather than the fastest time (Actual) place. The columns show the time at which the walker started, the finish time and the actual
time. Obviously the first finisher wins the handicap.

Kirstin Shaw and Stuart Cooper were the first 8km walkers to finish (1 to 2 minutes clear of all their opposition) while Pam Tindal and Rhydian Cowley were the fastest overall. You had to feel a bit sorry for Rhydian who had to wait nearly 5 minutes after everyone else had started before he was allowed to start his chase. To his credit, he caught 3 of the 8km walkers but found the gap too great to catch them all.

8 km Open Handicap          Start time  Finish  Actual time  Actual place
1.  Shaw, Kirstin           06:57       52:40   45:43        2
2.  Feldman, Liz            06:22       54:49   48:27        3
3.  Tindal, Pam             12:05       55:02   42:57        1
4.  Shaw, Robyn             03:34       56:23   52:49        5
5.  Thompson, Alison        07:50       60:29   52:39        4
 
1.  Cooper, Stuart          02:35       52:31   49:56        6
2.  Evans, Simon            12:41       54:08   41:27        3
3.  Donahoo, Mark           13:58       54:43   40:45        2
4.  McDonough, Aaron        11:32       55:00   43:28        4
5.  Cowley, Rhydian         18:36       55:51   37:15        1
6.  Wood, Robin             00:00       55:57   55:57        8
7.  Dickinson, Murray       09:14       55:58   46:44        5
8.  Gardiner, Bob           06:38       60:29   53:51        7

The 4km walkers also had a staggered start and it was Anika Peachey and Gordon Onley who made the most of good starts and held off all opposition to knotch handicap wins. Kylie Irshad and James Seid-Christmass were the fastest overall.

4 km Open Handicap          Start time  Finish  Actual time  Actual place
1.  Peachey, Anika          03:59       32:18   28:19       10
2.  Stanway, Marlaine       04:11       32:27   28:16        9
3.  Wallace, Anna           07:45       32:46   25:01        7
4.  Irshad, Kylie           12:26       32:51   20:25        1
5.  Elms, Donna             08:52       33:07   24:15        3
6.  Wynen, Karen            08:36       33:09   24:33        5
7.  Beaumont, Margaret      02:53       33:14   30:21       11
8.  Steed, Gwen             09:05       33:26   24:21        4
9.  Carr, Heather           11:54       33:31   21:37        2
10. Brunton, Caitlin        10:20       34:58   24:38        6
11. Hallett, Nicole         09:23       35:09   25:46        8
                     
1.  Onley, Gordon           00:00       31:57   31:57        8
2.  Beaumont, Ian           01:23       32:09   30:46        7
3.  Wicks, Barrie           05:21       32:23   27:02        6
4.  Skrucany, Rudolf        06:58       32:42   25:44        5
5.  Seid-Christmass, James  11:40       32:47   21:07        1
6.  Dickenson, Russ         08:30       32:49   24:19        3
7.  Elms, Jason             09:44       33:05   23:21        2
8.  Barrow, Geoff           08:29       33:30   25:01        4

Lauren Stadus and Connor McShanag were the first to finish in the Under 14 4km, securing handicap wins; Lauren was also the fastest of the girls. Stephanie George walked a fast 3km after coming straight from the All Schools Cross Country running championships. Aaron Gardner was the fastest of the boys but still found himself finishing 13 secs behind Connor.

4 km Under 15 Handicap      Start time  Finish  Actual time  Actual place
1.  Stadus, Lauren          05:31       28:12   22:41        1
2.  Irshad, Jasmine         05:09       28:42   23:33        2
4.  Campbell, Rebecca       03:05       28:48   25:43        4
5.  Gatens, Georgia         00:00       28:49   28:49        5
6.  Campbell, Caitlin       04:06       28:49   24:43        3   
    George, Stephanie       08:02       DNF (3km in 15:20)

1.  McShanag, Connor        05:04       27:52   22:48        2
2.  Gardner, Aaron          06:22       28:05   21:43        1
    Walker. Jared           06:42       DQ
    Felton. Matthew         08:07       DQ
 
The Under 12 walkers had a normal massed start but the results are still shown in handicap order like the results for the older walkers. Paul Tremigliozzi did a 30 sec PB to win the U12 handicap with his time of 13:03. Billy Allamby was the fastest overall with a very speedy 10:21 and had a good battle for a while with Simon Evans who was walking in the 8km event. Paig De Lisen and Megan Walker had a great battle in the U12 girls' event with Megan winning the final sprint to take fastest time with 10:54. But the battle helped Paige to win the handicap with her time of 10:58.

2 km  Under 12 Handicap     Time    Actual Place
1.  De Lisen, Paige         10:58    2
2.  Harrison, Charlee       13:42   14
3.  Walker, Megan           10:54    1
4.  McCann, Tessa           12:33    6
5.  Crea, Gabbie            13:08   11
E6. McLaren, Stacey         13:08   10
E6. Hamilton, Emily         11:54    4
8.  Segota, Bronte          13:40   13
9.  Barbour, Beth           11:57    5
E10.Swan, Emily             12:33    7
E10.Ventura, Amy            12:36    8
E10.Cullen, Larissa         13:40   12
13. Sanders, Jade           11:32    3
14. Harrison, Annaliese     15:10   15
15. McNicol-Davidson, Chloe 13:04    9
 
1.  Tremigliozzi, Paul      13:03    6
2.  Swan, Kyle              10:54    2
3.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody  12:30    5
4.  Allamby, Billy          10:21    1
5.  Owen, Cooper            11:40    4
6.  Walmsley, Reese         11:05    3

The Under 9's also had a massed start and the handicap results were calculated later on. Georgia Bertrand took fastest time of 5:42 and also won the girls' handicap. Brothers Noah and Sam Candotti were our only two boys and they shared the honours with Noal winning the handicap with 9:25 while Sam too fastest time with 6:27.

1 km  Under 9 Handicap      Time     Actual Place
1.  Bertrand, Georgia       05:42    1
2.  George, Hayley          05:43    2
3.  Lillie, Brianna         06:42    4
4.  Lillie, Jessica         06:20    3
5.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea     06:52    5
 
1.  Candotti, Noah          09:25    2
2.  Candotti, Sam           06:27    1
 
Thanks as usual to all our officials. Sorry if I have missed anyone.

Officials: Harry Summers, Bob Gardiner, Tim Erickson, Ron Miller, Celia Johnson, Bob Hallett, Paul Kozaris, Don McLaren
Judges: Peter Vysma (chief), Lloyd Nicholls, Shane Bertrand, Ralph Bennett
Canteen: Barb Gardiner, Joyce Summers, Marlaine Stanway, Celia Johnson

RACEWALKING AUSTRALIA POSTAL CHALLENGE, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 11 JULY 2009

We were worried that we mightn't have many walkers at Albert Park on Saturday with gale force winds and storms forecast but we need not have worried – 72 walkers tried their utmost and the rain stayed away. The same can't be said for the wind which was so strong that, at times, the walkers were just about blown to a stand still. It was definitely our worst day, weather wise, for quite some time. Yet despite it all, the times were pretty good and we even had one PB!

Saturday saw the annual Racewalking Australia Postal Challenge and our annual fundraising day for the International Brain Tumour Alliance. Mark Donahoo will be posting the Challenge results in the next week of so so more of that in a future newsletter. On the IBTA side of things, we raised just on $600 from race entries, canteen sales and donations and I have forwarded a cheque for the full amount to the Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuroscience Foundation. We also walked a total distance of 372km towards the IBTA 2009 Walk Around the World (see http://www.theibta.org/).

And now onto our race reports. 10 km walks were on offer for Open, Masters and Under 20 walkers and we were able to provide starters in all divisions. As usual, Rhydian Cowley led from the front with a slick 46:21 while Kylie Irshad and Pam Tindal were the fastest of the ladies with identical times of 55:32. In the Masters divisions, Murray Dickinson (M70 – 59:42) and Heather Carr (W55 – 58:11) were probably our best. It was good to see Simon Evans back after a break and he looked good for his 54:10. And finally Anand Thillaisundaram walked a 3+ minute PB – wind and all! We were all astounded at this performance which I would have to rate as the walk of the week.
 
Open 10 km Walk
1.  Donahoo, Mark             52:59
2.  McDonough, Aaron          57:03
3.  Thillaisundaram, Anand    60:44
 
1.  Irshad, Kylie             55:32
 
Masters 10 km Walk
1.  Tindal, Pam               55:32
2.  Carr, Heather             58:11
3.  Feldman, Liz              62:29
4.  Elms, Donna               64:47
5.  Shaw, Robyn               64:55
    Thompson, Alison          DQ
 
1.  Evans, Simon              54:10
2.  Dickinson, Murray         59:42
3.  Cooper, Stuart            63:59
4.  Wood, Robin               71:32
    Skrucany, Rudolf          DNF
    Jamieson, Andrew          DQ
    Barrow, Geoff             DQ
    Bennett, Ralph            DQ
 
U20 10 km Walk
1.  Shaw, Kirstin             59:37
2.  Campbell, Caitlin         64:46
3.  Campbell, Rebecca         68:08
 
1.  Cowley, Rhydian           46:21
2.  McShanag, Connor          64:48
    Elms, Jason               DQ
 
Our U18 walkers walked 8km, our U16s walked 5km, our U14s walked 3km, our U12s walked 2km and our U10s walked 1.5km. We managed to fill all divisions except for two so were very pleased. The challenge always remains to get everyone together in one place at one time. But then again, if we did that, we would have so many walkers on the start line that we would have other problems! Our U16s in particular were very strong with Amelia Finnegan (26:09) and Matt Felton (25:49) walking excellently in the conditions.

U18 8 km Walk
1.  Payne, Emily             48:33
 
U16 5km Walk
1.  Finnegan, Amelia         26:09
2.  Brazel, Hilary           27:36
3.  Hockley-Samon, Jmara     27:52
4.  Mason, Ella              28:33
5.  Gatens, Georgia          37:01
 
1.  Felton, Matthew          25:49
2.  Gardner, Aaron           27:47
 
U14 3km Walk
1.  Stadus, Lauren           16:49
2.  Bertrand. Carly          18:27
3.  McNicol-Davidson, Chloe  19:41
4.  Swan, Emily              20:32
 
1.  Walker, Jared            16:10
 
Our U12 and U10 numbers were big and the races were fiercely contested as usual. Megan Walker, Cooper Owen and Paige De Lisen all recorded fast winning times which should stand us in good stead for the Postal Challenge. I was on the bike and our littliest walkers certainly had to battle the wind!

U12 2km Walk
1.  Walker, Megan            11:01
2.  Barbour, Beth            12:11
3.  Cullen, Larissa          12:14
4.  Hamilton, Emily          12:14
5.  Ventura, Amy             12:20
6.  Mclaren, Stacey          13:09
7.  Henderson, Keely         13:17
8.  Crea, Gabriella          13:29
 
1.  Owen, Cooper             11:26
2.  Swan, Kyle               11:41
3.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody   12:33
4.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       13:29
    Walmsley, Reese          DQ
 
U10 1.5km Walk
1.  De Lisen, Paige          08:27
2.  Bertrand, Georgia        08:42
3.  Lee, Georgia             08:54
4.  Lillie, Jessica          09:30
5.  Xuereb, Tara             09:39
6.  Lillie, Brianna          09:46
7.  Mason, Livinia           12:25
    Owen-Smith, Chelsea      DQ
 
Finally, we had a 3km Open walk for those club members who just wanted a fitness workout for the day. James Seid-Christmass was the fastest man as usual while Gwen Steed was the best of the women. Also welcome back to Anna Wallace who had her first walk for the winter.

VRWC 3km Open
1.  Steed, Gwen              18:17
2.  Wallace, Anna            19:43
3.  Peachey, Anika           21:21
4.  Stanway, Marlaine        21:22
5.  Beaumont, Margaret       22:33
6.  Davidson, Kelly          24:10
7.  Mews, Pam                37:55
 
1.  Seid-Christmas, James    15:40
2.  Wicks, Barrie            20:34
3.  Morrison, John           21:23
4.  Onley, Gordon            24:52
    Beaumont, Ian            DQ

In closing, thanks as usual to the many hard workers who make our weekly races so successful. Sorry if I missed your name.

Officials: Harry Summers, ob Gardiner, Tim Erickson, Ron Miller, Celia Johnson, Caroline Peachey, Matt Owen, Don McLaren, Paul Kozaris
Judges: Peter Vysma, Gordon Loughnan, Alan Lucas, Lloyd Nicholls, Brenda Felton, Michael Bodey, Kathleen Marsh
Canteen: Barb Gardiner, Kate Suich, Joyce Summers

VRWC EVENTS, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 4 JULY 2009

63 walkers braved what was forecast as cold and wet conditions on Saturday at Albert Park and they struck it lucky as the bad weather swept past us on either side. By comparison, we experienced good racing conditions and an enjoyable day's racing. To add some additional flavour to the day, a large group of black swans grazed on the oval next to us.

The longest event on offer was 8km and Rhydian Cowley led from the front, winning by the proverbial mile with a very good 36:53. Andrew Jamieson was so late arriving that he had to run for the start line as his warmup – to make matters worse, he was forced to a couple of unexpected nature stops – all in all, it meant that he and Mark Donahoo had a topsy turvy battle and crossed the line together in 40:59, Andrew getting the nod from the finishing judges. Anand Thillaisundaram continued his great first season of walking and is looking better every week. On this occasion, he won the handicap with his time of 49:54. Pam Tindal was the fastest lady with a swift 43:18 while Robyn Shaw won the handicap with her time of 51:39.
 
Open 8 km Walk                        Hcp Place 
1.  Tindal, Pam              43:18    2
2.  McIntyre, Gayle          45:17    3
3.  Shaw, Robyn              51:39    1
 
1.  Cowley, Rhydian          36:53    4
2.  Jamieson, Andrew         40:59    7
3.  Donahoo, Mark            40:59    2
4.  McDonough, Aaron         43:38    3
5.  Dickinson, Murray        46:50    6
6.  Thillaisundaram, Anand   49:54    1
7.  Barrow, Geoff            51:33    5
    Nunn, Paul               Ab
 
Just like her mum in the 8km event, Kirstin Shaw won the women's handicap in the 4km event. She walked very well to finish not far behind fastest time winner Heather Carr (21:47 as against 21:24). It is easily Kirstin's fastest time of the season and she certainly looked strong. Geelong walker Karen Shiels had her first walk with the club and walked a very good 27:00. James Seid-Christmass seems to win the shorter walk just about every week and it was more of the same on Saturday as he powered through to a time of 21:06. Jason Elms was the handicap winner with his 22:43, a good time for him.

Open 4 km Walk                        Hcp Place 
1.  Carr, Heather            21:24    5
2.  Shaw, Kirstin            21:47    1
3.  Steed, Gwen              24:17    6
4.  Elms, Donna              24:41    7
5.  Morrey, Jan              26:22    3
6.  Shiels, Karen            27:00    Invitation
7.  Peachey, Anika           28:22    2
8.  Stanway, Marlaine        28:38    4
9.  Mews, Pam                45:07    8
 
1.  Seid-Christmass, James   21:06    2
2.  Elms, Jason              22:43    1
3.  Wicks, Barrie            27:42    3
4.  Morrison, John           28:34    4
    Onley, Gordon            Disq

Amy Burren was the fastest of the Under 15 walkers with 20:36, taking the girls' handicap honours as well. Matt Felton, who was sick last week, walked better today for a time of 20:52 but is obviously still not back to full strength. Young Connor McShanag was the boys' handicap winner with a very good 22:44. He has really kicked on since his excellent walking in the Canberra carnival.

Under 15 4 km Walk                    Hcp Place 
1.  Burren, Amy              20:36    1
2.  Albert, Ashley           21:48    6
3.  Stadus, Lauren           22:49    4
4.  Campbell, Caitlin        24:40    7
5.  Campbell, Rebecca        25:15    3
6.  Hockley-Samon, Jmara     25:29    8
7.  Gelov, Lauren            26:41    5
8.  Gatens, Georgia          27:54    2
    McNicol-Davidson, Chloe  Ab     
 
1.  Felton, Matt             20:52    4
2.  Gardner, Aaron           21:40    2
3.  Walker, Jared            22:15    3
4.  McShanag, Connor         22:44    1
 
Amy Burren's younger sister Sarah was the fastest Under 12 walker, gradually clearing away from Billy Allamby who was the fastest boy – their 2.5km times were 12:49 and 13:19 respectively. Stacey McLaran and Paul Tremigliozzi were the handicap winners. Our Under 12 division continues to be a fiercely contested age group with lots of good young walkers.

Under 12 2.5 km                       Hcp Place 
1.  Burren, Sarah            12:49    6
2.  Walker, Megan            14:16    8
3.  De Lisen, Paige          14:29    2
4.  Bertrand, Carly          15:09    11
5.  Ventura, Amy             15:12    5
6.  Hamilton, Emily          15:46    10
7.  McLaren, Stacey          15:53    1
8.  Henderson, Keely         15:56    4
9.  Crea, Gabriella          16:24    3
10. Cullen, Larissa          16:50    7
11. Harrison, Annalise       18:43    9
 
1.  Allamby, Billy           13:19    eq3
2.  Walmsley, Reese          14:11    5
3.  Owen, Cooper             14:16    2
4.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody   16:02    eq3
5.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       16:28    1
 
Our Under 9's walked 1.5 km this week and, like previous weeks, Georgia Bertrand led from the front with 8:45 while Harry Hockley-Samon was the fastest boy with 9:09 to take the handicap as well. The girls' handicap points were shared between Jessica Lillie and Tara Xuereb.

Under 9 1.5 km                        Hcp Place 
1.  Bertrand, Georgia        08:45    3
2.  Lillie, Jessica          09:09    eq1
3.  Lillie, Brianna          10:04    4
4.  Xuereb, Tara             10:07    eq1
5.  Harrison, Charlee        10:14    Out of age group
 
1.  Hockley-Samon, Harry     09:09    1
2.  Burren, James            09:35    3
3.  Candotti, Sam            09:36    2
4.  Candotti, Noah           15:45    4

Finally thanks to our many officials who keep the show on the road each week.

Judges: Peter Vysma (chief), Gordon Loughnan, Ralph Bennett, Brenda Felton
Officials: Harry Summers, Tim Erickson, Ron Miller, Russ Dickenson, Mark Davidson, Celia Johnson, Don McLaren, Matt Owen, Brad McLaren, Stuart Cooper
Canteen: Joyce Summers, Kate Suich

AV, VMA AND VRWC CHAMPIONSHIPS, ALBERT PARK, SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2009

Over 100 walkers converged on Albert Park last Sunday for what is one of the biggest walking fixtures of the year, with Victorian Open, Victorian Schools, Victorian Masters and VRWC championships on offer. It was a very cold morning but the general consensus was that it was good racing weather and the times seem to reflect this view.

The first events to start were the 20 km events with a number of titles on offer – Victorian Open, Victorian Masters and VRWC club championships. Former international representative Paul van Kopplen showed that the has lost little form over the years as he held off Rhydian Cowley to win the men's event with 1:34:43. Rhydian, walking only his second 20 km, improved by just on 1 minute on his February PB to take second with 1:35:19. Stuart Kollmorgen took third with his own PB time of 1:41:20. Aaron McDonough continued his consistent form this winter with 4th place of 1:55:00. Kelly Ruddick walked a big PB to take the women's Victorian title with 1:43:57, ahead of Heather Carr who broke the 2 hour mark with a good solid performance.

Victorian Open Men 20 km Road Walk
1.  Van Kopplen, Paul      CDN   47.11   1:34:43
2.  Cowley, Rhydian        GHY   47.10   1:35:19
3.  Kollmorgen, Stuart     COL   49.12   1:41:20
4.  McDonough, Aaron       PTN   55.49   1:55:00
    Donahoo, Mark          ATE           DNF
    Jamieson, Andrew       OSC           DQ

Victorian Open Women 20 km Road Walk
1.  Ruddick, Kelly         BHA   51.47   1:43:57
2.  Carr, Heather          EAG   58.13   1:59:49
    Attard, Tamara         KNA   62.43   DNF
    Szirom, Megan          FKN   50.22   DNF

Victorian Masters and club walkers were also in action over the 20km distance with results a mixed bag. 20km is always a long distance for older Masters walkers and there were a numbef of DNFs. But they did at least give it a go so congratulations to everyone! Special mentions to Murray Dickinson (2:01:34 at 70 years of age – he just missed out on the M70 Aust record of 2:00:16, set by the great Tom Daintry way back in 1985), Stu Cooper (first one in a long time) and Anand Thillaisundaram (first one ever). I chatted with Stu via email and he had this to say about things

Thanks Tim ... it was very gratifying to be on the road on a championship race day and then getting a gong at the presentation, after three seasons of enforced watching. (This time 2 years ago I couldn't even stand for prolonged periods.) The one who impressed me was Anand. He'd never walked anything like 20k before. At the start he took off and I thought smugly 'Ah well, he'll learn.' It took him until 15k to start learning, by which time he was so far ahead of me that all I could do was take ground off him. With some long miles in his legs he could do very well.

VRWC 20 km Road Walk
1.  Thillaisundaram, Anand  64.06    2:13:37
    Irshad, Kylie           DNF

Victorian Masters Men 20 km Road Walk
M70 DQ  Beaumont, Ian
M70 1   Dickinson, Murray   58.51    2:01:34
M65 DQ  Bennett, Ralph       
M60 1   Lucas, Alan         61.40    2:05:39
M55 1   Cooper, Stuart      66:00    2:14:50
M50 DNF Donahoo, Mark
M50 1   Skrucany, Rudolf    71.00    2:26:39
M44 1   Van Kopplen, Paul   47.11    1:34:43
M35 1   McDonough, Aaron    55.49    1:55:00

Victorian Masters Women 20 km Road Walk   
WM0 DNF Beaumont, Margaret  79.40    DNF
W60 DNF Feldman, Liz        68.03    DNF
W55 1   Carr, Heather       58.13    1:59:49
W50 1   Bryant, Barbara     58.58    2:02:16
W45 1   Elms, Donna         66.46    2:27:22

VRWC Open Men 20 km championship - Alf Robinson Trophy
The Alf Robinson Trophy is one of our main VRWC club championships for Open Men and all VRWC members competing in any of the 20km events were automatically eligible. For the record book, the final results were as follows

1.  Van Kopplen, Paul       1:34:43
2.  Cowley, Rhydian         1:35:19
3.  Kollmorgen, Stuart      1:41:20
4.  McDonough, Aaron        1:55:00
5.  Dickinson, Murray       2:01:34
6.  Lucas, Alan             2:05:39
7.  Thillaisundaram, Anand  2:13:37
8.  Cooper, Stuart          2:14:50
9.  Skrucany, Rudolf        2:26:39

The Victorian Schools roadwalking championships were also contested on Sunday with big fields in the younger events, some great walking overall and lots of Pbs. Our U18/U20 events are always hit by Year 12 commitments and/or University exams and this year was no exception. Congratulations to all our medallists and to all the walkers who took part.

U/20 Girls 10 km Road Walk Championship
1.  ALEXANDER, BETH         BRENTWOOD SC                52:46
2.  SHAW, KIRSTIN           WESTBOURNE GS               61:04

U/20 Boys 10 km Road Walk Championship
No starters

U/18 Girls 5 km Road Walk Championship
1.  TALLENT, RACHEL        BALLARAT HIGH SCHOOL         24:50
2.  BRAZEL, HILARY         EMMAUS COLLEGE               26:23
3.  CAMPBELL, CAITLIN      COPPERFIELD SC               28:37
4.  PAYNE, EMILY           KARDINIA INTERN. COL.        29.06
5.  GAGE, MYKAELA          SACRED HEART COLLEGE GEELONG 33.53

U/18 Boys 5 km Road Walk Championship
1.  SIMPSON, BRAD          YARRA VALLEY GS              25:54
2.  KAISER, JOSHUA         DROMANA SC                   33:23

U/16 Boys 3 km Road Walk Championship
1.  CLARK, LEWIS           CHRISTIAN COLLEGE GEELONG    14:56
2.  ANTIDORMI, RYAN        EMMAUS COLLEGE               15:14
3.  GARDNER, AARON         MARIBYRNONG COLLEGE          15:29
4.  WALKER, JARED          LARA SECONDARY COLLEGE       15:31
5.  FELTON, MATTHEW        AQUINAS COLLEGE              16:13
6.  CURTIS, PETER          BENDIGO SOUTH EAST COLLEGE   17:42
7.  TAN, AARON             GLEN WAVERLEY SC             18:02

U/16 Girls 3 km Road Walk Championship
1.  FINNEGAN, AMELIA       MATER CHRISTIE COLLEGE       14:57
2.  HOCKLEY-SAMON, JMARA   CLONARD COLLEGE              15:16
3.  BURREN, AMY            KILLESTER COLLEGE            15:33
4.  HEARD, AMANDA          GOULBURN VALLEY GRAMMAR SCH  15:44
5.  ALBERT, ASHLEY         KILLESTER COLLEGE            15:57
6.  ATTARD, BIANCA         AQUINAS COLLEGE              16:25
7.  MASON, ELLA            MELBOURNE GIRLS COLLEGE      16:33
8.  TALLENT, EBONY         BALLARAT HIGH SCHOOL         16:56
9.  WHILEY, EBONY          CATHOLIC COLLEGE BENDIGO     17:16
10. HALLETT, NICOLE        ST FRANCIS XAVIER COLLEGE    17:21
11. CALLAWAY, JESSICA      MATER CHRISTIE COLLEGE       18:18
12. GELOV, LAUREN          CRAIGIEBURN SECONDARY COL    19:37

U/14 Boys 3 km Road Walk Championship
1.  ALLAMBY, BILLY         KAROO PRIMARY SCHOOL         15:49
2.  HOGAN, ANDREW          SALESIAN COLLEGE             15:54
3.  McSHANAG, CONNOR       ST BERNARDS COLLEGE          16:10
4.  TAYLOR, LUCAS          LILYDALE HIGH SCHOOL         16:36
5.  HEIDEN, DANE           ST JOSEPH'S PRIMARY SCHOOL   17:23
6.  COLEMAN, HARRY         JELLS PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL    18:23
7.  McNICOL-DAVIDSON, CODY KARINGAL HEIGHTS PRIMARY SCH 19:15
8.  TREMIGLIOZZI, PAUL     MOUNT SCOPUS MEMORIAL COL    21:23

U/14 Girls 3 km Road Walk Championship
1.  GEORGE, STEPHANIE      YARRA VALLEY GRAMMAR         15:26
2.  BURREN, SARAH          KILLESTER COLLEGE            15:45
3.  BOLDISTON, ZOE         ST MEL'S PRIMARY SCHOOL      16:06
4.  GUY, REBECCA           BERWICK SECONDARY COLLEGE    16:20
5.  STADUS, LAUREN         IVANHOE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 16:34
6.  WALKER, MEGAN          LARA PRIMARY SCHOOL          17:18
7.  BERTRAND, CARLY        SALESIAN COLLEGE             17:58
8.  CAMPBELL, REBECCA      SYDENHAM HILLSIDE PRIMARY S  18:30
9.  HAMILTON, EMILY        KAROO PRIMARY SCHOOL         19:46
10. McNICOL-DAVIDSON,CHLOE FLINDERS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE   19:48
11. BARBOUR, BETH          NORTHCOTE HIGH SCHOOL        20:17

Our youngest walkers had their second club championship for the winter - they raced a 1km championship earlier in the season and have a 2km championship later on in the season. Our boys numbers were down for some reason but the girls were there in force.

U/12 1.5 km Road Walk Championship
1.  Swan, Kyle              08:59

1.  Walker, Megan           07:58
2.  McCann, Tessa           08:36
3.  Hamilton, Emily         08:41
4.  Ventura, Amy            08:44
5.  Swan, Emily             09:17
6.  Henderson, Keely        09:18
7.  Segota, Bronte          09:38
8.  McLaren, Stacey         09:54
9.  Harrison, Charlee       10:18
    Cullen, Larissa         DNF

U/9 1.5 km Road Walk Championship
1.  Burren, James           09:17

1.  Bertrand, Georgia       08:24
2.  George, Hayley          08:39
3.  Lee, Georgia            08:40
4.  Lillie, Jessica         09:25
5.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea     09:37
6.  Lillie, Brianna         09:52
7.  Xuereb, Tara            10:51
8.  Taylor, Lee             11:09

Finally, we had an Open 5km event for those walkers who just wanted a fitness workout for the day.

VRWC Open 5km event
1.  Tindal, Pam             26:23
2.  Seid-Christmass, James  27:49
3.  Riddoch, Clyde          28:50
4.  Shaw, Robin             31:58
E5  Wicks, Barrie           35:05
E5  Gatens, Georgia         35:05
   Elms, Jason              DQ

And thanks to the many people who helped the big day go so well.

Officials: Harry Summers, Peter Vysma, Bob Gardiner, Les Clark, Ron Miller, Jim Leppik, Russ Dickenson, Paul Kozaris, Marlaine Stanway, Don McLaren, Matt Owen, Celia Johnson
Judges: Gordon Loughnan (Chief), Peer Vysma, Michael Bodey, Shane Bertrand, Frances Attard, Lloyd Nicholls,
Canteen: Barb Gardiner, Kate Suich, Joyce Summers

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2009

With a dreadful day forecast for Melbourne (very unusual for our wonderful metropolitan city!), we did not expect to see many walkers at Albert Park on Saturday but we were proved wrong yet again with 88 competitors in action. Special thanks to Simon Baker who took our photos this week.
   
The strong winds meant that good times were that bit harder to get but it did not stop Rhydian Cowley leading the way in the 10km event, powering to a good time of 45:55. Anand Thillaisundaram did a 1 minute PB to win the handicap while Aaron McDonough also walked very well for his 55:00. In the women's event, the 3 entrants were all close in times with Kylie Irshad fastest with 54:47 and Gayle McIntyre taking the handicap honours with 56:09.
           
10 km Open                           Handicap Place           
1.  Cowley, Rhydian         45:55    2
2.  McDonough, Aaron        55:00    E3
3.  Dickinson, Murray       57:41    E3
4.  Lucas, Alan             60:43   
5.  Gardiner, Bob           61:34    5
6.  Thillaisundaram, Anand  64:24    1
    Wood, Robin             DQ   
           
1.  Irshad, Kylie           54:47    3
2.  Tindal, Pam             55:00    2
3.  McIntyre, Gayle         56:09    1

Paul Kennedy was our fastest 5km walker and improved considerably on his walk of last week to record 24:25. I noticed how well Rudolf Skrucany was walking on the day so it was no surprise when I saw that he had won the handicap with his time of 32:31. Hilary Brazel and Heather Carr had a good battle in the women's event with Hilary taking the fastest time honours with 26:57. 12 year old Sarah Burren did a big PB for her 27:44 but had to settle for second place in the handicap behind Kirstin Shaw with 28:43.
           
5 km Open                            Handicap Place           
1.  Kennedy, Paul           24:25    2
2.  Donahoo, Mark           25:21    5
3.  Elms, Jason             30:40    7
4.  Barrow, Geoff           31:09    3
5.  Skrucany, Rudolf        32:31    1
6.  Kozica, Jason           33:59    4
7.  Wicks, Barrie           35:57    6
           
1.  Brazel, Hilary          26:57    4
2.  Carr, Heather           27:03    6
3.  Burren, Sarah           27:44    2
4.  Shaw, Kirstin           28:43    1
5.  Gourlay, Marlene        29:33    9
6.  Feldman, Liz            29:36    8
7.  Payne, Emily            30:07    10
8.  Steed, Gwen             30:33    7
9.  Elms, Donna             31:03    11
10. Shaw, Robyn             31:18    5
11. Gage, Mykaela           34:29    3

A small number of Open walkers and a large number of U15 walkers contested the 3km events with Matthew Felton continuing on from his fine form of last week to record the fastest time of 14:41. Walkers to do PBs included Ryan Antidormi, Aaron Gardner and Stephanie George whose time of 14:55 made her both fastest time and handicap winner for the girls. It was also nice to welcome back Andrew Hogan after some time away from the club. Welcome also to Joshua Kaiser who had his first walk with the club, producing a promising 17:51.
           
3km Open        Handicap Place           
1.  Seid-Christmass, James  15:31    2
2.  Harrison, Lindsay       21:19    1
    Onley, Gordon           DQ   
           
1.  Wynen, Karen            18:10    2
2.  Holmes, Janet           19:41    5
3.  Morrey, Jan             19:48    1
4.  Peachey, Anika          21:57    3
5.  Mews, Pam               31:23    4
           
3km Under 15                         Handicap Place           
1.  Felton, Matthew         14:41    1
2.  Antidormi, Ryan         14:56    4
3.  Gardner, Aaron          15:50    3
4.  Walker, Jared           16:02    7
5.  Hogan, Andrew           16:41   
6.  McShanag, Connor        16:47    2
7.  Taylor, Lucas           16:56    5
8.  Kaiser, Joshua          17:51   
9.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody  19:43    6
           
1.  George, Stephanie       14:55    1
2.  Finnegan, Amelia        15:13    7
3.  Mason, Ella             16:12    3
4.  Albert, Ashley          16:16    8
5.  Guy, Rebecca            17:15    9
6.  Sanders, Jade           17:46    4
7.  Gerlich, Annemaree      17:58    2
8.  Campbell, Rebecca       18:24    5
9.  Gelov, Lauren           19:15    6
    Bertrand, Carly         DNF   
    Attard, Bianca          DNF   
    Gatens, Georgia         DQ   

Our U12 and U9 numbers are just so big and the fields are so competitive. In the U12s, Billy Allamby (10:24) and Jasmine Irshad (10:44) were the fastest boy and girl while Paul Tremigliozzi and Paige De Lisen took handicap honours.  And welcome to Emily Swan who had her first walk with us for a good time of 12:23.
           
2 km Under 12                        Handicap Place           
1.  Allamby, Billy          10:24    4
2.  Swan, Kyle              10:44    3
3.  Owen, Cooper            11:51    5
4.  Burren, James           12:12    2
5.  Tremigliozzi, Paul      13:32    1
    Walmsley, Reese         DQ   
           
1.  Irshad, Jasmine         10:44    4
2.  Walker, Megan           10:51    5
3.  De Lisen, Paige         10:51    1
4.  Hamlton, Emily          11:57    11
5.  McCann, Tessa           12:03    3
6.  Cullen, Larissa         12:15    2
7.  Swan, Emily             12:23   
8.  Ventura, Amy            12:24    7
9.  Henderson, Keely        13:06    10
10. McLaren, Stacey         13:15    9
11. Crea, Gabriella         13:15    8
12. Harrison, Charlee       14:12    6
13. Harrison, Annalise      14:38    12

Sam Candotti walked excellently to take both fastest time and handicap honours in the boys U9 event with 6:13 but overall line honours went to Georgia Bertrand with her fine time of 5:30. Lee Taylor walked very well after a break from Albert Park and took handicap first place in the girls event with 6:48.
       
1 km Under 9                         Handicap Place           
1.  Candotti, Sam           06:13    1
2.  McShanag, Ethan         07:29    3
3.  Candotti, Noah          09:22    2
4.  Sanders, Jack           10:39    4
           
1.  Bertrand, Georgia       05:30    5
2.  Lillie, Jessica         05:57    7
3.  Xuereb, Tara            06:14    6
4.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea     06:15    2
5.  Lillie, Brianna         06:18    4
6.  Taylor, Lee             06:48    1
7.  Mason, Livinia          08:09    8
8.  McLennan, Allie         08:44    3

As usual, thanks to the many people who keep the show on the road every week. Sorry if I have missed anyone.

Judges: Peter Vysma, Kathleen Marsh, Brenda Felton, Lloyd Nicholas, Shane Bertrand, Mike Bodey, Frances Attard       
Officials: Tim Erickson, Harry Summers, Celia Johnson, Paul Kozaris, Mark Davidson, Don McLaren, Matt Owen, Ron Miller
Canteen: Joyce Summers, Barb Gardiner, Kate Suich   

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2009

If we expected a quiet day at Albert Park the week after Canberra, we were mistaken. Even though the weather had been dreadful all week, we still saw 86 walkers in action for our annual 'Guess Your Time' day. The concept is a simple one – places are based on how close you are to your guessed finish time. We finally got back onto a new 2km course and it seemed to work pretty well.

A surprise starter amongst the 15 walkers in the 10km race was 2008 Olympian Chris Erickson who was having a final walk before heading off on Monday to Europe to prepare for this year's World Championships. Anand Thillaisundaram and Heather Carr were closest to their guessed times while Chris Erickson and Gayle McIntyre had the fastest times. Gayle's time of 55:05 was in fact a big PB. Bernie Keirl also recorded a PB with his 55:01. And a special mention for Nicole Hallett who walked her first 10km event. It is always great to see our younger walkers testing themselves out over the longer distances.

Open 10km Walk              Time    Guess    Difference
1  Thillaisundaram, Anand   65:17   65:00    00:17
2  Kollmorgen, Stuart       49:24   48:49    00:35
3  Dickinson, Murray        58:18   57:30    00:48
4  Donahoo, Mark            52:34   51:40    00:54
5  Keirl, Bernie            55:01   56:30    01:29
6  Gardiner, Bob            60:55   62:30    01:35
7  Reid, Ross               54:51   53:00    01:51
8  Erickson, Chris          45:22   47:30    02:08
9  Skrucany, Rudolf         74:17   70:00    04:17
   Beaumont, Ian            DQ

1  Carr, Heather            56:40   57:30    00:50
2  Beaumont, Margaret       77:45   76:50    00:55
3  McIntyre, Gayle          55:05   57:00    01:55
4  Tindal, Pam              54:51   57:30    02:39
5  Hallett, Nicole          69:49   61:22    08:27

The winners in the 5km walks were spot on – Ralph Bennett was only 5 secs off and Marlaine Stanway was 8 secs off. Ella Mason jumped up from the Under 15 division and walked her first ever 5km in the very good time of 28:43. We also welcomed Paul Kennedy back after some time away and he was showed that he has not lost any form, taking fastest time with 25:07.

Open 5km Walk               Time    Guess    Difference
1  Bennett, Ralph           26:31   26:26    00:05
2  Wood, Robin              34:52   35:00    00:08
3  Barrow, Geoff            31:52   31:42    00:10
4  Antidormi, Ryan          27:12   28:30    01:18
5  Kennedy, Paul            25:07   27:00    01:53

1  Stanway, Marlaine        36:03   35:55    00:08
2  Steed, Gwen              30:52   30:38    00:14
3  Shaw, Kirstin            30:02   28:30    01:32
4  Mason, Ella              28:43   30:30    01:47

Our 3km walks saw equal firsts in both the men's and women's walks. Clyde Riddoch and James Seid-Christmass were 4 secs off their time estimates while Donna Elms and Janet Holmes were only 2 secs off. James and Janet were also the fastest times. We also welcomed two first time walkers,  Julie Walsh and Rhonda McNaughton who had never racewalked before – and they did well, walking together for 22:24. Well done ladies!

Open 3km Walk               Time    Guess   Difference
E1 Riddoch, Clyde           16:56   17:00    00:04
E1 Seid-Christmass, James   15:24   15:20    00:04
3  Elms, Jason              17:03   17:30    00:27
4  Doran, Anthony           19:02   19:31    00:29
5  Harrison, Lindsay        21:31   11:00    00:31
6  Kozica, Jason            19:23   10:00    00:37
7  McDonough, Aaron         19:47   17:30    02:17
   Onley, Gordon            DQ

E1 Elms, Donna              17:54   17:56    00:02
E1 Holmes, Janet            19:02   19:00    00:02
3  Box, Justine             24:04   24:00    00:04
4  Morrey, Jan              19:55   20:20    00:25
5  Mews, Pam                30:22   29:55    00:27
6  Peachey, Anika           20:45   20:00    00:45
   Walsh, Julie             22:24
   McNaughton, Rhonda       22:25

Sisters Rebecca and Caitlin Campbell walked together the whole way and were spot on, only finishing 7 secs outside their guessed times to win the girls' race while Aaron Gardner won the boys' event, only 3 secs different to his guess. Aaron actually did a PB along the way as did Matt Felton whose 14:35 was a fantastic performance.. Amelia Finnegan was the fastest of the girls with a very quick 15:00

Under 15 3km Walk           Time    Guess    Difference
1  Gardner, Aaron           15:57   16:00    00:03
2  Walker, Jared            16:05   16:30    00:25
3  Tam, Aaron               17:03   16:30    00:33
4  Felton, Matthew          14:35   15:00    00:35
5  McShanag, Connor         18:12   16:53    01:19
   McNicol-Davidson, Cody   DNF

E1 Campbell, Rebecca        19:06   18:59    00:07
E1 Campbell, Caitlin        19:06   18:59    00:07
3  Irshad, Jasmine          17:20   17:30    00:10
E4 Gatens, Georgia          20:49   21:00    00:11
E4 Finnegan, Amelia         15:00   15:11    00:11
6  McNicol-Davidson, Chloe  18:52   18:30    00:22
7  George, Stephanie        15:17   15:40    00:23
8  Hockley-Samon, Jmara     15:57   15:30    00:27
9  Bertrand, Carly          18:31   18:00    00:31
10 Gelov, Lauren            19:47   18:15    01:32

Our Under 9 walkers headed off at 2:30PM and tested themselves out on a new course. Harry Hockley-Samon and Georgia Bertrand were closest to their guesstimates with Georgia being our best guesser of the day – only 1 second out. She was also the fastest U9 girl with 5:30 while Sam Candotti was the fastest boy with 6:21.

Under 9 1km Walk            Time    Guess    Difference
1  Hockley-Samon, Harry     06:47   07:00    00:13
2  Candotti, Sam            06:45   06:21    00:24
3  Box, Ryan                08:21   07:44    00:37
   Candotti, Noah           DQ

1  Bertrand, Georgia        05:29   05:30    00:01
2  Lillie, Brianna          06:33   06:30    00:03
3  George, Hayley           05:58   05:50    00:08
4  Xuereb, Tara             06:18   06:27    00:09
5  Owen-Smith, Chelsea      06:49   06:38    00:11
6  Box, Erin                07:09   07:21    00:12
7  Lee, Georgia             05:33   05:50    00:17
8  Lillie, Jessica          05:53   06:16    00:23

The Under 12s were last away today at around 2:40PM and Billy Allamby walked excellent to get the double – best guess and fastest time of 10:28. Tessa McCann was the best guess amongst the girls while Megan Walker and Paige De Lisen had a great battle for fastest time with Megan just getting up by 1 second with 10:55.

Under 12 2km Walk          Time    Guess    Difference
1  Allamby, Billy          10:28   10:36    00:08
2  Owen, Cooper            11:26   11:35    00:09
3  Swan, Kyle              11:34   11:10    00:24
4  Tremigliozzi, Paul      13:58   14:25    00:27
5  Garganis, Adam          12:04   12:40    00:36
   Walmsley, Reese         DQ

1  McCann, Tessa           11:57   12:05    00:08
2  Ventura, Amy            12:09   12:20    00:11
3  Crea, Gabriella         13:42   13:31    00:11
4  Harrison, Annalise      14:32   14:20    00:12
5  Hamilton, Emily         11:48   12:04    00:16
6  Segota, Bronte          12:55   13:14    00:19
7  Walker, Megan           10:55   11:20    00:25
8  De Lisen, Paige         10:56   11:25    00:29
9  Henderson, Keely        13:14   12:45    00:29
10 Harrison, Charlee       14:25   13:50    00:35
11 Cullen, Larissa         12:08   12:45    00:37
12 McLaren, Stacey         14:08   13:30    00:38

As usual, thanks to all our officials and helpers – the events would not run without you. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Judges:    Peter Vysma (chief), Lloyd Nicholls, Kathleen Marsh, Brenda Felton, Shane Bertrand, Michael Bodey
Officials: Tim Erickson, Harry Summers, Bob Gardiner, Bob Hallett, Alan Lucas, Paul Kozaris, Don McLaren, Mark Cooper
Canteen:   Joyce Summers, Kate Suich

RACEWALKING AUSTRALIA CARNIVAL, CANBERRA, SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2009

A record 397 entries by 297 competitors meant that the previous year’s record attendance was well and truly shattered, making this year's Canberra carnival the biggest walking carnival ever held in Australia. While conditions were perfect for the 20 mile and 10 mile events, intermittent showers later in the day meant that some of the events for the younger walkers were raced in trying conditions - but nothing dampened what was a huge carnival.

VRWC sent its biggest team ever (82 walkers) but this was matched by NSWRWC which also sent 82 walkers. Strong teams from QLD and SA made for some very competitive events and smaller teams from Tasmania, ACT, Bendigo, WA and Regal walkers meant that we had a truly Australian wide carnival.

The day's proceedings started with the long events around the lake – 20 miles, 10 miles and 5 miles. The 20 mile race was a corker with the four AIS walkers in control as expected. NSW AIS star Luke Adams took off from the gun with an 8 minute first 2km over the rolling hills. VRWC's Jared Tallent took up the challenge, caught him at around the 4km mark and then went straight to the front and was never headed. With Jared passing the 10 mile mark in 66:21, his existing course record was always going to be bettered and thus it unfolded – with the Olympic dual medalist crossing the finish line in 2:14:57. Luke continued to walk strongly to record an 11 min PB time of 2:18:49, the third fastest of all time while VRWC's Chris Erickson also PB’d with his third place time of 2:22:47. The remaining AIS walker, NSWRWC's Adam Rutter, filled the fourth spot with 2:28:40. Young ACT walker Brendon Reading debuted successfully with an excellent 2:35:43 while Andrew Jamieson, now 62 years of age, belied the years with his time of 2:42:53. Megan Szirom walked the second fastest ever time by a woman to finish 8th with 2:49:54. Peter Bennett of QLD, only a week after finishing first in one of the big European 24 Hour classics (with 213km), came down in distance for a time of 3:27:02.

The 20 mile event remains the classic around which the carnival has grown and it remains one of the most highly sought titles in Australian racewalking. Jared has now has 4 golds and 1 silver from the last 5 years – a huge effort. This and lots of other interesting information about this classic event are to be found in my history of the Canberra 20 Miler. Pour a coffee, point your browser to http://www.racewalkingaustralia.com.au/AFORWC-Canberra20MileResults-complete.pdf and sit back for a good read.

Other Carnival highlights for me included

- 19 year old Jess Rothwell winning the Open Women's 10 Miles in 1:14:33, the second fastest time in the history of this event and only 24 secs outside the championship record, held by the great Kerry Saxby-Junna.
- Australia's best female masters walker, Lyn Ventris, who came 5th overall in this event in 1:24:34. Lyn might be in the W50 category but, like Andrew Jamieson, she shows no signs of slowing as yet.
- Dane Bird-Smith of QRWC who won the U20 10km with 44:17, then backed up to win the U18 5km with 22:19. Dane is off to the World Youth Championships next month and is in great shape.
- VRWC's Billy Allamby who won the U12 2km with 10:21 and then backed up for 2nd in the U14 2km with an even faster 10:18 after walking extra distance en route because of a mixup in race directions.
- SAAWC's Paige Hooper who won the U18 5km with 24:31 and then backed up 15 mins later to take 2nd in the U20 5km with 25:18. Paige is also in the World Youth team.
- VRWC's Rachel Tallent who was 2nd to Paige in the U18 5km with 25:17 after battling shins and then backed up 15 mins later to win the U20 5km with a faster time of 25:15!
- ACT walker Jillian Hosking who took 3rd in the Open Women's 10 Miles in the morning (1:18:19) and then backed up to win the Open Women's 5km (22:30) in the afternoon. Jillian heads off soon to represent us in the World University Games.
- VRWC's Jmara Hockley-Samon who won the U14 Girls 2km with 9:55 and then backed up with 3rd in the U16 Girls 3km with 15:21.

There were many other great performances and lots and lots of PBs. It is just not possible to mention everyone but I will specially acknowledge the many club members who competed in more than 1 event, thus giving us maximum chance of success in the teams competitions. Some of them like Billy Allamby and Rachel Tallent have been mentioned above but all deserve special congratulations – none more so than Sam Candotti who actually competed in 3 events!

Sam Candotti           U10 Boys 1km, U12 Boys 2km and U14 Boys 2km
Donna Elms             Open Women 10 Miles and 5km
Connor McShanag        U14 Boys 2km and U18 Boys 5km
Billy Allamby          U12 Boys 2km and U14 Boys 2km
Kyle Swan              U12 Boys 2km and U14 Boys 2km
Reese Walsmley         U12 Boys 2km and U14 Boys 2km
Carly Bertrand         U14 Girls 2km and U16 Girls 3km
Rebecca Campbell       U12 Girls 2km and U16 Girls 3km
Caitlin Campbell       U16 Girls 3km and U20 Girls 5km
Jeremiah Jones         U14 Boys 2km and U16 Boys 3km
Cody McNicol-Davidson  U12 Boys 2km and U16 Boys 3km
Chloe McNicol-Davidson U14 Girls 2km and U16 Girls 3km
Matt Felton            U16 Boys 3km and U18 Boys 5km
Bianca Attard          U14 Girls 3km and U18 Girls 5km
Hilary Brazel          U16 Girls 3km and U18 Girls 5km
Lauren Stadus          U14 Girls 2km and U18 Girls 5km
Rachel Tallent         U18 Girls 5km and U20 Girls 5km

VRWC won 24 individual medals in the main events (9 gold, 6 silver and 9 bronze)

Golds:   Jared Tallent        Open Men 20 Miles      2:14:57
         Megan Szirom         Open Women 20 Miles    2:49:54
         Andrew Jamieson      Masters Men 20 Miles   2:42:53
         Jess Rothwell        Open Women 10 Miles    1:14:33
         Ralph Bennett        Masters Men 10 Miles   1:32:10
         Damien Elms          Fitness 5 Miles          55:49
         Billy Allamby        U12 Boys 2km             10:21
         Jmara Hockley-Samon  U14 Girls 2km             9:55
         Rachel Tallent       U20 Girls 5km            25:15

Silvers: Pam Tindal           Masters Women 10 Miles 1:32:13
         Ross Reid            Masters Men 10 Miles   1:32:12
         Georgia Bertrand     U10 Girls 1km             5:21
         Billy Allamby        U14 Boys 2km             10:18
         Rachel Tallent       U18 Girls 5km            25:17
         Kellie Wapshott      Open Women 5km           22:48

Bronzes: Chris Erickson       Open Men 20 Miles      2:22:47
         Ralph Bennett        Open Men 10 Miles      1:32:10
         Bernie Keirl         Masters Men 10 Miles   1:32:53
         Robin Wood           Fitness 10 Miles       1:57:31
         Rhydian Cowley       U20 Men 10 km            44:57
         Jared Walker         U12 Boys 2km             10:22
         Stephanie George     U12 Girls 2km            10:19
         Lewis Clark          U16 Boys 3km             14:20
         Jmara Hockley-Samon  U16 Girls 3km            15:21

and 13 Teams medals (5 gold, 7 silver and 1 bronze)

Open 20 Miles       1  Jared Tallent, Chris Erickson, Andrew Jamieson
Open Women 10 Miles 2  Jess Rothwell, Beth Alexander, Pam Tindal
U10 Boys 1km        2  Sam Candotti, Ethan McShanag, Noah Candotti
U10 Girls 1km       2  Georgia Bertrand, Hayley George, Jessica Lillie
U12 Boys 2km        1  Billy Allamby, Kyle Swan, Cooper Owen
U12 Girls 2km       1  Megan Walker, Paige De Lisen, Emily Hamilton
U14 Boys 2km        1  Billy Allamby, Jared Walker, Jeremiah Jones
U14 Girls 2km       1  Jmara Hockley-Samon, Stephanie George, Bianca Attard
U16 Boys 3km        2  Lewis Clark, Matt Felton, Aaron Gardner
U16 Girls 3km       2  Jmara Hockley-Samon, Amelia Finnegan, Hilary Brazel
U18 Boys 5km        3  Brad Simpson, Matt Felton, Connor McShanag
U18 Girls 5km       2  Rachel Tallent, Natalie Laurie, Hilary Brazel
Open Women 5km      2  Kellie Wapshott, Rachel Tallent, Emma Smith

The huge efforts by all our club members enabled our big team to take overall honours and, after this first carnival, we currently hold a tidy lead over NSWRWC in the Brennen Shield. The next carnival, to be held in conjunction with the Australian Roadwalking championships in Sydney on August 30th, will decide the overall outcome. Progressive Brennen Points read as follows

VRWC    1045
NSWRWC   933
QRWC     420
SAAWC    379
REGAL    282
ACTRFWC  217
TARWC     62

I reproduce below the first 3 places in each of the main races along with the complete results for all VRWC walkers. For the entire results listing, point browsers to http://www.racewalkingaustralia.com.au/2009LBGResults.html

OPEN MEN 20 MILES             
1  Jared Tallent           VRWC   2:14:57
2  Luke Adams              REGAL  2:18:49
3  Chris Erickson          VRWC   2:22:47
7  Andrew Jamieson         VRWC   2:42:53
11 Stuart Kollmorgen       VRWC   3:15:56
             
OPEN WOMEN 20 MILES              
1  Megan Szirom            VRWC   2:49:54
             
MASTERS MEN 20 MILES              
1  Andrew Jamieson        VRWC   2:42:53
5  Stuart Kollmorgen      VRWC   3:15:56

OPEN WOMEN 10 MILES
1  Jess Rothwell          VRWC    1:14:33
2  Cheryl Webb            REGAL   1:16:50
3  Jillian Hosking        ACTRFWC 1:18:19
8  Beth Alexander         VRWC    1:28:30
10 Pam Tindal             VRWC    1:32:13
18 Donna-Marie Elms       VRWC    1:53:16

MASTERS WOMEN 10 MILES
8  Donna-Marie Elms       VRWC    1:53:16
             
OPEN MEN 10 MILES              
1  Kyle Malone            NSWRWC  1:21:33
2  Michael Reading        ACTRFWC 1:24:31
3  Ralph Bennett          VRWC    1:32:10
4  Ross Reid              VRWC    1:32:12
5  Bernie Keirl           VRWC    1:32:53
6  Daryl Biggin           VRWC    1:37:27
7  Maurice Prendergast    VRWC    1:37:50
8  Paul Nunn              VRWC    1:39:33
14 Peter Luke             VRWC    2:06:18
15 Harry Summers          VRWC    2:13:16

MASTERS MEN 10 MILES             
1  Ralph Bennett          VRWC    1:32:10
2  Ross Reid              VRWC    1:32:12
3  Bernie Keirl           VRWC    1:32:53
4  Daryl Biggin           VRWC    1:37:27
5  Maurice Prendergast    VRWC    1:37:50
6  Paul Nunn              VRWC    1:39:33
11 Peter Luke             VRWC    2:06:18
12 Harry Summers          VRWC    2:13:16
             
FITNESS 10 MILES             
3  Robin Wood             VRWC    1:57:31

FITNESS 5 MILES             
1  Damien Elms            VRWC    55:49

U20 MENS 10 km              
1  Dane Bird-Smith        QRWC    44:17
2  Derek Mulhearn         NSWRWC  44:32
3  Rhydian Cowley         VRWC    44:57
4  Daniel Payne           VRWC    47:32
   Jason Elms             VRWC    DQ
             
U10 BOYS 1 km              
1  Lewis Thompson         NSWRWC  5:05
2  Benjamin Tisdale       NSWRWC  5:39
3  Yanis Benzenati        QRWC    5:41
8  Samuel Candotti        VRWC    6:26
9  Ethan McShanag         VRWC    7:22
11 Noah Candotti          VRWC    9:01
         
U10 GIRLS 1 km              
1  Jasmyn McDonald        NSWRWC  5:09
2  Georgia Bertrand       VRWC    5:21
3  Jemma Smith            TARWC   5:25
8  Hayley George          VRWC    6:05
9  Jessica Lillie         VRWC    6:14
13 Brianna Lillie         VRWC    6:38
14 Chelsea Owen-Smith     VRWC    6:41
16 Charlee Harrison       VRWC    6:47
20 Rhianna Biggin         VRWC    7:27
   Shelby Currie          VRWC    DQ
             
U12 BOYS 2 km              
1  Billy Allamby          VRWC    10:21
2  Dane Heiden            BRWC    10:31
3  Lewis Thompson         NSWRWC  10:50
4  Kyle Swan              VRWC    10:56
5  Cooper Owen            VRWC    11:11
10 Cody McNicol-Davidson  VRWC    14:44
11 Samuel Candotti        VRWC    15:17
   Reese Walmsley         VRWC    DQ
             
U12 GIRLS 2 km              
1  Caitlin Hosking        ACTRFWC 10:25
2  Kenza Benzenati        QRWC    10:43
3  Grace Edlin            BRWC    10:48
5  Megan Walker           VRWC    11:22
6  Paige De Lisen         VRWC    11:39
8  Emily Hamilton         VRWC    11:46
9  Rebecca Campbell       VRWC    11:47
             
U14 BOYS 2 km              
1  Jay Felton             NSWRWC  10:17
2  Billy Allamby          VRWC    10:18
3  Jared Walker           VRWC    10:22
4  Jeremiah Jones         VRWC    10:26
7  Connor McShanag        VRWC    10:52
10 Kyle Swan              VRWC    11:35
16 Samuel Candotti        VRWC    15:31
17 Jack Allamby           VRWC    17:59
   Reese Walmsley         VRWC    DQ

U14 GIRLS 2 km              
1  Jmara Hockley-Samon    VRWC     9:55
2  Tayla-Paige Billington NSWRWC  10:00
3  Stephanie George       VRWC    10:19
6  Bianca Attard          VRWC    10:42
7  Lauren Stadus          VRWC    10:47
18 Carly Bertrand         VRWC    11:38
21 Chloe McNicol-Davidson VRWC    11:59
22 Beth Barbour           VRWC    12:02
26 Lauren Gelov           VRWC    12:35
28 Madison Jones          VRWC    12:54
31 Shae Ohlsen            VRWC    13:38
             
U16 BOYS 3 km              
1  Brad Aiton             QRWC    14:09
2  Jesse Osborne          QRWC    14:12
3  Lewis Clark            VRWC    14:20
8  Matt Felton            VRWC    15:31
10 Aaron Gardner          VRWC    16:35
12 Jeremiah Jones         VRWC    16:52
17 Cody McNicol-Davidson  VRWC    22:55
             
U16 GIRLS 3 km              
1  Elizabeth Hosking      ACTRFWC 14:31
2  Lauren Harrington      SAAWC   14:50
3  Jmara Hockley-Samon    VRWC    15:21
5  Amelia Finnegan        VRWC    15:27
8  Hilary Brazel          VRWC    15:46
12 Ella Mason             VRWC    16:35
14 Ebony Tallent          VRWC    16:44
21 Rebecca Campbell       VRWC    18:50
24 Chloe McNicol-Davidson VRWC    19:40
25 Carly Bertrand         VRWC    19:58
   Caitlin Campbell       VRWC    DQ
             
U18 BOYS 5 km              
1  Dane Bird-Smith        QRWC    22:19
2  Blake Steele           SAAWC   22:46
3  Jordan Mulhearn        NSWRWC  24:04
5  Brad Simpson           VRWC    25:39
11 Matt Felton            VRWC    28:17
14 Connor McShanag        VRWC    30:49
15 Michael O'Mahony       VRWC    31:05
             
U18 GIRLS 5 km              
1  Paige Hooper           SAAWC   24:31
2  Rachel Tallent         VRWC    25:17
3  Shannon Jennings       NSWRWC  25:29
6  Natalie Laurie         VRWC    27:35
8  Hilary Brazel          VRWC    28:37
9  Emily Payne            VRWC    29:02
10 Lauren Stadus          VRWC    29:21
12 Bianca Attard          VRWC    31:06
16 Anika Peachey          VRWC    37:50

OPEN WOMEN 5 km              
1  Jillian Hosking        ACTRFWC 22:30
2  Kellie Wapshott        VRWC    22:48
3  Kelly Watson           SAAWC   25:12
4  Rachel Tallent         VRWC    25:15
17 Emma Smith             VRWC    29:53
25 Donna-Marie Elms       VRWC    33:18
32 Joy Stephens-Jones     VRWC    38:21
             
UNDER 20 WOMEN 5 km             
1  Rachel Tallent         VRWC    25:15
2  Paige Hooper           SAAWC   25:18
3  Stephanie Stigwood     SAAWC   26:17
10 Emma Smith             VRWC    29:53
12 Kate Sandford          QRWC    31:52
   Caitlin Campbell       VRWC    DQ
             
MASTERS WOMEN 5 km             
7  Donna-Marie Elms       VRWC    33:18
13 Joy Stephens-Jones     VRWC    38:21

Thanks to fellow team manager Daryl Biggin and to our VRWC judges Peter Vysma, Shane Bertrand, Fran Attard and Elke Raselli who all helped out on the big day. Finally, a special thank you to the ACT Race and Fitness Walking Club who do a fantastic job with this carnival. They may only have a small membership but their efforts in this carnival are super-human. Well done to everyone in Canberra.

VRWC EVENTS, ALBERT PARK SATURDAY 30 MAY 2009

We had our biggest field for the season on Saturday with 90 walkers in action at Albert Park in cool and windy conditions. For all races except for the Under 9 and Under 12, handicap starts were used with the slower walkers starting first and the faster walkers starting later. Thus the resultant display looks quite different to normal. The first column (Start time) is the time at which that walker started. The second column (Finish time) is the elapsed time at which that walker finished. The third column (Actual time) is the time that that walker actually took to walk the race distance. The final two columns are the Handicap places and the Actual time places. The emphasis this week was on the handicap winners and the overall handicap winner in each division got to choose from the prizes table after all the calculations were completed.
 
Kirstin Shaw and Anand Thillaisundaram were our 8km handicap winners, being the first walkers to reach the finish line after their staggered starts. Kirstin gave a 13 minute head start to outmarker Margaret Beaumont but caught and passed her in the final lap. The accuracy of Mark Donahoo's handicapping may be seen in the fact that nearly all the walkers finished in the 1:01:00 - 1:03:40 timefame – ie all finished within a few minutes of each other. Backmarkers Pam Tindal and Daniel Payne battled bravely and had the fastest times overall but could not bridge the gap to all those in front.

8 km  Open              Start time  Finish time  Actual time  Hcp place  Actual place
Shaw, Kirstin           13:43       1:00:05      46:22        1          2
Feldman, Liz            13:25       1:01:54      48:29        2          4
Beaumont, Margaret      00:48       1:02:48      62:00        3          6
Tindal, Pam             19:32       1:02:48      43:16        4          1
Shaw, Robyn             11:13       1:02:51      51:38        5          5
McIntyre, Gayle         17:56       1:04:31      46:35        6          3
 
Thillaisundaram, Anand  07:11       1:01:01      53:50        1          8
Cooper, Stuart          09:16       1:01:29      52:13        2          7
Donahoo, Mark           21:17       1:02:44      41:27        3          2
McDonough, Aaron        18:46       1:02:47      44:01        4          3
Barrow, Geoff           11:12       1:02:49      51:37        5          6
Skrucany, Rudolf        05:51       1:02:57      57:06        6          10
Payne, Daniel           25:07       1:03:01      37:54        7          1
Dickinson, Murray       16:42       1:03:04      46:22        8          4
Gardiner, Bob           13:55       1:03:44      49:49        9          5
Wood, Robin             07:39       1:04:11      56:32        10         9
Beaumont, Ian           00:00       DQ           DQ           DQ
Keirl, Bernie           18:13       DQ           DQ           DQ

Justine Box and Lindsay Harrison were our winners in the Open 4km events. They made the most of their early start, caught the couple of walkers ahead of them and then held off all the challengers charging through behind them. Backmarkers Heather Carr and James Seid-Christmass both walked very fast times but finished mid field.

4 km  Open              Start time  Finish time  Actual time  Hcp place  Act place
Box, Justine            08:33       40:05        31:32        1          11
Morrey, Jan             13:40       40:23        26:43        2          7
Laurie, Natalie         18:43       40:26        21:43        3          2
Wynen, Karen            16:22       40:28        24:06        4          4
Peachey, Anika          11:31       40:44        29:13        5          10
Stanway, Marlaine       11:52       40:47        28:55        6          9
Elms, Donna             16:40       41:04        24:24        7          5
Carr, Heather           19:32       41:06        21:34        8          1
Gourlay, Marlene        17:49       41:07        23:18        9          3
Steed, Gwen             16:57       41:33        24:36        10         6
Hammond, Nardene        16:15       43:06        26:51        11         8
Irshad, Amna            03:19       DNF          DNF          DNF 
Mews, Pam               00:00       DQ           DQ           DQ
 
Harrison, Lindsay       11:14      40:13         28:59        1          5
Wicks, Barrie           12:57      40:30         27:33        2          4
Seid-Christmass, James  19:12      40:38         21:26        3          1
Barrett, Tony           17:09      40:55         23:46        4          3
Elms, Jason             17:28      41:02         23:34        5          2
Onley, Gordon           08:53      43:18         34:25        6          6
Elms, Damien            13:43      DQ            DQ           DQ
 
Rebecca Guy and Aaron Gardner were the first U15 walkers to reach the finish line. They both recorded big PBs with times of 21:57 and 21:40 and showed just what you have to do to win handicap races. In fact, well over half the walkers set new best times. This was certainly the case for backmarker Amelia Finnegan whose 20:49 was excellent but she could only manage fourth place. Special mention to Jared Walker who was just 4 secs slower than Aaron Gardner with his 21:44 – these two boys are having some great battles this season.

4 km  Under 15          Start time Finish time  Actual time  Hcp place  Act place
Guy, Rebecca            05:38      27:35        21:57        1          2
Mason, Ella             06:07      29:13        23:06        2          4
McNicol-Davidson, Chloe 03:19      29:14        25:55        3          9
Finnegan, Amelia        08:26      29:15        20:49        4          1
Stadus, Lauren          06:20      29:16        22:56        5          3
Gatens, Georgia         00:00      29:21        29:21        6          10
Barbour, Beth           05:01      29:42        24:41        7          8
Campbell, Caitlin       05:33      30:02        24:29        8          7
Hallett, Nicole         06:03      30:27        24:24        9          6
Attard, Bianca          06:30      30:49        24:19        10         5
George, Stephanie       05:10      DNF          DNF          DNF
 
Gardner, Aaron          06:59      28:39        21:40        1          1
Walker, Jared           07:32      29:16        21:44        2          2
McShanag, Connor        06:01      29:41        23:40        3          3
Felton, Matthew         08:24      DNF          DNF          DNF 
O'Mahony, Michael       07:21      DNF          DNF          DNF 
 
Our U9 and U12 walkers did not have handicap starts but had their usual mass starts. We then calculated their handicap placings after the event – you can see the outcomes below. In the U12 division, Larissa Cullen and Cooper Owen were the handicap winners while in the U9 division, Ryan Box and Livinia Mason won the handicap prizes. I took some time out to have a good watch this week and I was impressed by the overall standard of walking. While a few of the walkers may lose their style a little in the latter stages of the events (as they tire), the overall standard was excellent and omens well for the future.

2 km Under 12           Actual time  Handicap  Diff    Hcp place  Act place
Cullen, Larissa         12:33        13:59     -1:26   1          7
De Lisen, Paige         11:12        12:34     -1:22   2          4
McCann, Tessa           12:28        13:41     -1:13   3          6
Segota, Bronte          13:16        14:14     -0:58   4          10
Irshad, Jasmine         10:54        11:42     -0:48   5          1
Henderson, Keely        12:51        13:37     -0:46   6          9
Walker, Megan           11:11        11:44     -0:33   7          =2
Ventura, Amy            12:38        13:06     -0:28   8          8
Sanders, Jade           11:11        11:34     -0:23   9          =2
McLaren, Stacey         13:30        13:43     -0:13   10         11
Campbell, Rebecca       11:59        12:03     -0:04   11         5
Harrison, Annalise      15:00        14:55     +0.05   =12        12
Bertrand, Carly         11:42        11:37     +0.05   =12        4
Crea, Gabbie            DQ           13:43             DQ         DQ
 
Owen, Cooper            11:36        12:15     -0:39   1          3
McNicol-Davidson, Cody  12:45        13:18     -0:33   2          5
Allamby, Billy          10:35        10:59     -0:24   3          1
Walmsley, Reese         10:49        11:07     -0:18   4          2
Swan, Kyle              11:31        11:25     +0:06   5          4
Allamby, Jack           DNF                            DNF        DNF
 
1 km Under 9            Actual time  Handicap  Diff    Hcp place  Act place
Box, Ryan               07:47        08:02     -0:15   1          3
Burren, James           05:50        05:50      0:00   2          1
Candotti, Noah          10:05        09:19     +0:46   3          4
Candotti, Sam           07:11        06:21     +0:50   4          2
McShanag, Ethan         DNS                            DNS        DNS
 
Mason, Livinia          07:46        08:12     -0:26   1          10
Bertrand, Georgia       05:38        05:48     -0:10   2          1
Box, Erin               07:18        07:26     -0:08   =3         9
Owen-Smith, Chelsea     06:57        07:05     -0:08   =3         6
Lee, Georgia            05:53        06:00     -0:07   5          2
Xuereb, Tara            06:30        06:27     +0:03   6          5
Lillie, Jessica         06:12        06:02     +0:10   7          4
George, Hayley          06:02        05:51     +0:11   8          3
Lillie, Brianna         07:08        06:34     +0:34   9          7
Harrison, Charlee       07:16        06:32     +0:44   10         8
McLennan, Allie         09:06        -                            11

As usual, thanks to the many people who helped keep the show on the road. Apologies to anyone I have missed.

Officials Tim Erickson, Bob Hallett, Ian Laurie, Alan Lucas, Paul Kozaris, Harry Summers, Mark Owen, Don McLaren, Ron Miller
Judges    Peter Vysma (chief), Brenda Felton, Gordon Loughnan, Frances Attard, Lloyd Nicholls, Shane Bertrand     
Canteen   Bar Gardiner, Joyce Summers, Kate Suich

VICTORIAN COUNTRY ROADWALKING CHAMPIONSHIPS, BENDIGO, SUNDAY 24 MAY 2009

The Victorian Country roadwalking championships were held in Bendigo on Sunday 24 May. A new course, on the roads inside the Bendigo Livestock Exchange, proved to be a successful venue. Conditions were good with a temperature around 20oC and a light breeze to keep the competitors cool. The carnival also hosted the Victorian Open 15km roadwalking championships which saw two first time Victorian road champions in Stuart Kollmorgen of Collingwood Harriers and Kelly Ruddick of Ballarat Harriers.

Victorian Open Men 15km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Kollmorgen, Stuart    COL    1:17:36
2.  Reid, Ross            COL    1:24:37
3.  Knox, Duncan          ATE    1:26:45

Victorian Open Women 15km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Ruddick, Kelly        BHA    1:16:31
2.  Carr, Heather         EAG    1:27:31
3.  Bryant, Barbara       EAG    1:29:02
    Szirom, Megan         FKN    DNF
    Rothwell, Jessica     EAG    DNF
    Irshad, Kylie         SCA    DNS

The Victorian Country 10km roaadwalking championships were held alongside the 15 km events and allowed country athletes to participate in both championships. Jess Rothwell produced the walk of the day to win the women’s 10km event with a super fast 44:19. Jess, who is soon to head off to Europe as part of the IAAF World Championship team, showed that she is in great shape and this will be a confidence booster to her ahead of her trip. Young Geelong walker Daniel Payne was the fastest of the 10km men and with a good 48:51. And finally a special mention to Eaglehawk walker Geoff Major, the oldest competitor at 72 years of age, who took third place in the men’s championship with 1:10:02.

Victorian Country Open Men10 km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Payne, Daniel         COR      48:51
2.  Prendergast, Maurice  BYC      59:56
3.  Major, Geoff          EAG    1:10:02
    Biggin, Daryl         BYC    DQ
    Cousins, Duane        EAG    DNS
    Nunn, Paul            WEN    DNS
    Luke, Peter           WEN    DNS
    Blood, Andrew         BYC    DNS

Victorian Country Open Women 10km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Rothwell, Jessica     EAG      44:19
2.  Ruddick, Kelly        BHA      50:34
3.  Carr, Heather         EAG      57:35
4.  Bryant, Barbara       EAG      58:39
5.  Brennan, Sarah        BYC      58:50
6.  Major, Annette        EAG    1:03:12
    Lenehan, Deborah      EKA    DNS
    Irshad, Kylie         SCA    DNS

Victorian Country championships were held for U20, U18, U16 and U14 age groups with results as shown below. The U16 and U14 3km girls events produced a very exciting finish with the first three girls crossing the line locked together in 15:39. The finishing judges managed to split them with Stephanie George, who took gold in the U14 event, the first to finish, just ahead of Ebony Whiley and Amanda Heard who took gold and silver in the U16 event.

Victorian Country U20 Women 5km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Palfreyman, Jessie    EAG    28:08
2.  Payne, Emily          COR    28:39

Victorian Country U18 Girls 5km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Tallent, Rachel       BYC    25:31

Victorian Country U16 Boys 3km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Clark, Lewis          CHI    15:00
2.  Curtis, Peter         SBE    20:52

Victorian Country U16 Girls 3km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Whiley, Ebony         EAG    15:39
2.  Heard, Amanda         EAG    15:39
3.  Raselli, Cassie       SCA    16:06
4.  Tallent, Ebony        BYC    16:49
5.  Jones, Ebony-Jade     EAG    20:43
    Campbell, Grace       EAG    DNS
    Hockley-Samon, Jmara  CHI    DNS
    Jones, Madison        BYC    DNS

Victorian Country U14 Boys 3km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Jones, Jeremiah       EAG    16:29
2.  Taylor, Lucas         SCA    17:10
    Maskell, Ben          EAG    DNS

Victorian Country U14 Girls 3km Roadwalking Championship
1.  George, Stephanie     SCA    15:39
2.  Stadus, Lauren *      KNA    16:39 (invitation)
3.  Irshad, Jasmine       SCA    17:35 (2nd Country)
4.  Wilson, Jessey        EAG    17:36 (3rd Country)
5.  Ohlsen, Shae          EKA    21:44
6.  Luke, Sarah           WEN    25:10

Our youngest walkers had their own championships compliments of Racewalking Victoria and seven U12 and U10 walkers contested 2km and 1km events respectively. 

Racewalking Victoria U12 2km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Heiden, Dane         Bendigo    10:48

1.  Edlin, Grace         Bendigo    10:40

Racewalking Victoria U10 Girls 1km Roadwalking Championship
1.  Edlin, Charlotte     Bendigo    05:33
2.  Heiden, Bree         Bendigo    06:21
3.  Taylor, Lee          VRWC       06:35
4.  Biggin, Rhianna      Ballarat   07:53
5.  Currie, Shelby       Ballarat   08:32

Thanks to championship organizer Paul Rance who, along with officials from the Bendigo Race Walking Club and the Athletics Victoria Bendigo Region, ensured that the carnival ran smoothly and to time.

VRWC EVENTS, ALBERT PARK SATURDAY 23 MAY 2009

Saturday delivered yet another big day of racing at Albert Park. Even though we were missing some regulars with the Country championships to be held in Bendigo on Sunday, we still saw 87 walkers in action in near perfect conditions – mild and sunny with a refreshing breeze. We are still coping with our short 1km lap so we sent the 10km walkers off 1 minute ahead of the rest of the field and we moved our U9 and U12 walkers to a 500m loop north of our start/finish line. This enabled us to minimize the crush. Special thanks to Gavin Burren for taking our photos this week.

Our senior walkers had a choice of 10km, 5km and 3km with the numbers fairly evenly split. There were plenty of good performances but just to single out a few that struck my eye – Bernie Keirl 56:20, Robyn Shaw 31:37, Bob Gardiner 29:25 (not bad for an M70!), Karen Wynen 17:57 and James Seid-Christmass 15:25.

10km Open                            Handicap Place
1.  Tindal, Pam             55:54    3
2.  McIntyre, Gayle         57:20    1
3.  Feldman, Liz            62:53    2
4.  Beaumont, Margaret      79:06    4

1.  McDonough, Aaron        55:53    3
2.  Keirl, Bernie           56:20    2
3.  Cooper, Stuart          67:47    4
4.  Skrucany, Rudolf        71:37    5
5.  Beaumont, Ian           78:55    1
    Dickinson, Murray       DNF     
    Wood, Robin             DNF     
    Cowley, Rhydian         DQ

5km Open                             Handicap Place
1.  Laurie, Natalie         27:57    3
2.  Burren, Amy             28:53    7
3.  Gourlay, Marlene        29:33
4.  Steed, Gwen             30:47    5
5.  Campbell, Caitlin       30:48    4
6.  Elms, Donna             30:54    2
7.  Shaw, Robyn             31:37    1
8.  McNicol-Davidson, Chloe 34:29    6
9.  Shaw, Kirstin           37:05    8

1.  Donahoo, Mark           25:21    2
2.  Erickson, Tim           27:25    6
3.  O'Mahony, Michael       28:24    4
4.  Gardiner, Bob           29:25    1
5.  Elms, Jason             30:24    7
6.  McShanag, Connor        30:44    10
7.  Barrow, Geoff           31:55    8
8.  Doran, Anthony          32:43    5
9.  Conboy, Bruce           35:48    3
10. Wicks, Barrie           36:22    9
    Dickenson, Russ         DNF     

3km Open                             Handicap Place
1.  Carr, Heather           15:33    2
2.  Wynen, Karen            17:57    3
3.  Hammond, Nardene        18:42    6
4.  Morrey, Jan             20:11    4
5.  Baker, Alison           20:42    8
6.  Stanway, Marlaine       21:46    5
7.  Box, Justine            24:32    7
8.  Mews, Pam               29:55    1

1.  Seid-Christmass, James  15:25    1
2.  Elms, Damien            19:35    3
3.  Harrison, Lindsay       21:21    2
4.  Onley, Gordon           24:31    4

The Under 15s were in fine form Amelia Finnegan, Ashley Albert and Jmara Hockley-Samon all well under 16 minutes and Aaron Gardner walking a big PB to take first place ahead of a rapidly improving Jared Walker.

3km Under 15                         Handicap Place
1.  Finnegan, Amelia        15:20    3
2.  Albert, Ashley          15:34    1
3.  Hockley Samon, Jmara    15:38    4
4.  Mason, Ella             17:14    5
5.  Attard, Bianca          17:31    8
6.  Sanders, Jade           18:41    7
7.  Campbell, Rebecca       18:55    5
8.  Gelov, Lauren           20:28    9
9.  Gatens, Georgia         21:21    2
             
1.  Gardner, Aaron          16:11    1
2.  Walker, Jared           16:23    3
3.  Tam, Aaron              18:20    4
4.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody  19:54    2

The U12 and U9 walks saw 30 competitors (wow, that must be a record!). In the Under 12 division, Sarah Burren lead early but Billy Allamby gradually hauled her back and finished a little ahead, 10:25 to 10:30. Reese Walmsley and Kyle Swan had a great battle the whole way with Reese winning the final sprint 10:42 to 10:49. Handicap winners were Bronte Segota (big PB) and Billy Allamby. The U9 division was just as competitive with James Burren, having his first walk with the club, finishing only 6 seconds behind Georgia Bertrand, 5:48 as against 5:42. Handicap winners were Tara Xuereb and Ethan McShanag. Who will win next week's handicaps in our prizes day (see info later in the newsletter).

2km Under 12                         Handicap Place
1.  Burren, Sarah           10:30    12
2.  Walker, Megan           11:41    11
3.  Barbour, Beth           11:51    6
4.  De Lisen, Paige         12:01    4
5.  Hamilton, Emily         12:08    10
6.  Bertrand, Carly         12:10    13
7.  Ventura, Amy            12:54    9
8.  McCann, Tessa           13:12    4
9.  Henderson, Keely        13:16    7
10. Segota, Bronte          13:22    1
11. Cullen, Larissa         13:26    3
12. McLaren, Stacey         13:27    8
13. Harrison, Annalise      14:36    2
             
1.  Allamby, Billy          10:25    1
2.  Walmsley, Reese         10:42    3
3.  Swan, Kyle              10:49    2
4.  Owen, Cooper            12:42    5
5.  Tremigliozzi, Paul      14:35    4
    Allamby, Jack           DNF     

1km Under 9                          Handicap Place
1.  Burren, James           05:48   
2.  Candotti, Sam           06:49    2
3.  McShanag, Ethan         07:15    1
    Candotti, Noah          DQ     
    Hockley Samon, Harry    DQ     

1.  Bertrand, Georgia       05:42    2
2.  Lee, Georgia            06:00   
3.  Xuereb, Tara            06:20    1
4.  Harrison, Charlee       06:39    5
5.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea     07:03    3
6.  Box, Erin               07:30    4

As usual, thanks to our many hard working judges and officials who keep the show on the road.

Judges:    Peter Vysma (chief), Lloyd Nicholls, Michael Bodey, Frances Attard, Ralph Bennett     
Officials: Harry Summers, Ron Miller, Bob Gardiner, Ian Laurie, Alan Lucas, Marlaine Stanway, Don McLaren, Terry Swan, Mark Owen, Ray Smith
Canteen:   Joyce Summers, Kate Suich, Barb Gardiner     

VRWC AND VMA EVENTS, ALBERT PARK SATURDAY 16 MAY 2009

Although the forecast warned of bad weather, Saturday afternoon saw cool and overcast conditions with only a slight wind, pretty much ideal for fast walking. A total of 85 competitors meant another big day of racing as we hosted the Victorian Masters 10 km championships alongside our normal club races.

The 10 km walkers headed off first with Tom Barnes leading from the front, eventually finishing with a PB of 42:43. Tom heads off to Europe on Wednesday to prepare for the World University Games in early July (his second such Australian vest) and he is in great form leading into the big event. Behind him, Paul van Kopplen, Rhydian Cowley and Megan Szirom were all after fast times themselves and the final results showed Rhydian with a season PB of 46:06 just pipping Paul with 46:11 with Megan easily the fastest woman with 48:22. Pam Tindal was the other standout 10km walker with her PB time of 54:34 – she walked the whole way with Ralph Bennett who finished with the same time. Pam is quickly developing into one of our top Masters walkers. Club coach Mark Donahoo showed that he is getting back into racing shape with his 52:47 while Murray Dickinson's 57:40 is fantastic (as usual) for an M70 walker. Finally special mentions to Gayle McIntyre (56:40), to Lewis Clark (59:54) who walked his first ever 10km event and to Tamara Attard, another young walker who broke the hour with 59:54. It was great to see so many walkers attacking the 10km distance. Note that club members who raced in the VMA championship are also recorded in the club 10 km event for point scoring purposes.

VICTORIAN MASTERS 10 KM MEN CHAMPIONSHIP
1  Van Kopplen,, Paul  M40    46:11
1  Donahoo, Mark       M50    52:47
1  Riddoch, Clyde      M55    63:43
2  Cooper, Stuart      M55    67:22
1  Dickenson, Russ     M60    58:53
2  Lucas, Alan         M60    60:41
   Barrow, Geoff       M60    DQ
   Jamieson, Andrew    M60    DQ
1  Bennett, Ralph      M65    54:34
2  Morrison, John      M65    72:46
3  Wicks, Barrie       M65    75:12
1  Dickinson, Murray   M70    57:40
   Beaumont, Ian       M70    DQ

VICTORIAN MASTERS 10 KM WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIP
1  McIntyre, Gayle     W40    56:40
1  Tindal, Pam         W45    54:34
2  Elms, Donna         W45    64:30
1  Carr, Heather       W55    57:40
2  Thompson, Alison    W55    58:54
   Gourlay, Marlene    W55    DQ
1  Feldman, Liz        W60    61:31
1  Steed, Gwen         W65    65:54
1  Beaumont, Margaret  W70    77:23
   Stanway, Marlaine   W70    DNF

VRWC OPEN 10 KM                       Handicap Place
1.  Barnes, Tom              42:47    5
2.  Cowley, Rhydian          46:06    4
3.  Van Kopplen, Paul        46:11
4.  Mirarchi, Nicholas       52:02    7
5.  Donahoo, Mark            52:47    2
6.  Bennett, Ralph           54:34    6
7.  Dickinson, Murray        57:40    1
8.  Knox, Duncan             58:21    3
9.  Dickenson, Russ          58:53    8
10. Clark, Lewis             59:34
11. Lucas, Alan              60:41    9
12. Riddoch, Clyde           63:43    10
13. Cooper, Stuart           67:22
14. Morrison, John           72:46
    Wood, Robin              DQ
    Wicks, Barrie            DQ
    Beaumont, Ian            DQ
    Elms, Jason              DQ
    Barrow, Geoff            DQ
    Jamieson, Andrew         DQ

1.  Szirom, Megan            48:22    8
2.  Tindal, Pam              54:34    3
3.  McIntyre, Gayle          56:40    12
4.  Carr, Heather            57:40    10
5.  Thompson, Alison         58:54    4
6.  Attard, Tamara           59:54    1
7.  Feldman, Liz             61:31    6
8.  Shaw, Kirsten            61:36    5
9.  Elms, Donna              64:30    2
10. Steed, Gwen              65:54    11
11. Shaw, Robyn              66:08    7
12. Beaumont, Margaret       77:23    9
    Stanway, Marlaine        DNF
 
We had our usual spread of talent walking the shorter 5km and 3km distances. Beth Alexander was back on deck after a bit of a break post-summer and she and Brad Simpson were the fastest 5km walkers with 25:39 and 25:42 respectively while James Seid and Natalie Laurie were pretty evenly matched in the 3km, finishing with 15:37 and 15:47 respectively.

VRWC OPEN 5 KM                        Handicap Place
1.  Simpson, Bradley         25:42    2
2.  Erickson, Tim            27:31    3
3.  O'Mahony, Michael        28:47    1
4.  Gardiner, Robert         31:17    4
 
1.  Alexander, Beth          25:39    4
2.  Adamcewicz, Erin         27:08    1
3.  Brazel, Hilary           27:37    2
4.  Payne, Emily             29:22    3
5.  Peachey, Anika           38:13    5

VRWC OPEN 3 KM                        Handicap Place
1.  Seid-Christmass, James   15:37    1
2.  Harrison, Lindsay        21:50    2
    Elms, Damien             DQ     
    Onley, Gordon            DQ     

1.  Laurie, Natalie          15:47    1
2.  Mews, Pam                30:31    2

A big field of Under 15 walkers contested the 3km distance and Matthew Felton and Amelia Finnegan were fastest with 14:54 and 15:12. Jmara Hockley-Samon was in action after her win in the Little Athletics Australian Championship last month and she was the handicap winner in the girls' event with 15:58. Another walker having a great season is young Lauren Stadus who recorded 16:47.

VRWC UNDER 15 3 KM                    Handicap Place
1.  Felton, Matthew          14:54    1
2.  Antidormi, Ryan          15:38    2
3.  Walker, Jared            16:37    3
4.  Gardner, Aaron           18:03    4
 
1.  Finnegan, Amelia         15:12    5
2.  Hockley-Samon, Jmara     15:58    1
3.  Stadus, Lauren           16:47    4
4.  Attard, Bianca           17:12    11
5.  Mason, Ella              17:20    6
6.  Hallett, Nicole          17:42    12
7.  Barbour, Beth            18:19    9
8.  Gelov, Lauren            18:48    2
9.  Gerlich, Annemaree       19:06    7
10. Campbell, Rebecca        19:07    10
11. Gatens, Georgia          21:28    3
12. Harrison, Annalise       23:23    8
 
The Under 12 and Under 9 walkers went a bit further than usual this week with 2.5km and 1.5km races and they seemed to handle the challenge admirably. Kyle Swan and Reese Walmsley were well out in front and both broke 14 minutes after a spirited race. The best of the U12 girls was Jasmine Irshad who not only took fastest time of 14:04 but also won the handicap. The U9 event was an all girl affair with Georgia Bertrand fastest once again in 9:03. I was very pleased to see our youngest walk, Livinia Mason, win the U9 handicap with her time of 12:50. Only half the size of some of the other walkers in the event, she walked excellently.

VRWC UNDER 12 2.5 KM                  Handicap Place
1.  Swan, Kyle               13:30    1
2.  Walmsley, Reese          13:47    3
3.  Garganis, Adam           15:28    5
4.  Owen, Cooper             14:38    2
5.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       18:08    4
 
1.  Irshad, Jasmine          14:04    1
2.  Walker, Megan            14:32    4
3.  Hamilton, Emily          14:58    3
4.  De Lisen, Paige          15:27    5
5.  Ventura, Amy             16:31    9
6.  McCann, Tessa            17:15    5
7.  Henderson, Keely         17:16    10
8.  McLaren, Stacey          17:24    7
9.  Crea, Gabriella          17:25    8
10. Segota, Bronte           17:26    2
 
VRWC UNDER 9 1.5 KM                   Handicap Place
1.  Bertrand, Georgia         9:03    2
2.  Lillie, Jessica           9:24    5
3.  Harrison, Charlee        10:20    4
4.  Lillie, Brianna          10:20    3
5.  Mason, Livinia           12:50    1

As usual, thanks to all our officials and judges and thanks also to the ladies in the canteen. As it was a championship day, we needed a full panel of judges and everyone turned up. Apologies if I have missed any names.

Judges:    Peter Vysma (Chief), Shane Bertrand, Kathleen Marsh, Michael Bodey, Frances Attard, Brenda Felton, Elke Raselli
Officials: Tim Erickson, Bob Gardiner, Harry Summers, Ron Miller, Mark Donahoo, Lou Mirarchi, Ian Laurie, Paul Kozaris, Don McLaren, Ray Smith
Canteen:   Joyce Summers, Barb Gardiner

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SATURDAY 9 MAY 2009 It was another big day of racing at Albert Park with 84 competitors making the most of cool, overcast and still conditions. We had to use a 1km course because of pending repairs to the golf driving range fence. Hopefully we will be back on our 2km course soon.
 
8 km Open
The 8km event was dominated by Tom Barnes who stormed through to an excellent 34:26. Club coach Mark Donahoo, fresh from his club coaching talk, was next in with 42:23, just over 30 secs ahead of the top woman, Pam Tindal, who recorded 42:55. And a special mention to Erin Adamcewicz and Paul Nunn who travelled down from Ballarat and who both raced well.             
1.  Barnes, Tom             34:26     
2.  Donahoo, Mark           42:23     
3.  McDonjough, Aaron       43:58     
4.  Keirl, Bernie           44:32     
5.  Nunn, Paul              45:21     
6.  Dickinson, Murray       46:39     
7.  O'Neill, Terry          47:04     
8.  Gardiner, Bob           48:27     
9.  Barrow, Geoff           51:43     
10. Skrucany, Rudolf        54:56     
11. Thillaisundaram, Anand  55:44     
12. Wood, Robin             56:46     
13. Wicks, Barrie           59:33     
   Bennett, Ralph           3km in 16:06     
 
1.  Tindal, Pam             42:55     
2.  Adamcewicz, Erin        43:54     
3.  McIntyre, Gayle         44:32     
4.  Carr, Heather           45:01     
5.  Brazel, Hilary          46:35     
6.  Thompson, Alison        47:39     
7.  Campbell, Caitlin       49:31     
8.  Shaw, Kirsten           50:53     
9.  Shaw, Robyn             50:54     
 
4 km Open
The 4km event saw club secretary Tim Erickson walk a solo effort later in the program and surprise himself and others with a good 21:34 to put him fastest, ahead of James Seid-Christmass. Natalie Laurie continues to keep fit during her Year 12 studies and she was the fastest woman with 23:53.
             
1.  Erickson, Tim           21:34     
2.  Seid-Christmass, James  21:49     
3.  Elms , Jason            24:10     
4.  Morrison, John          26:53     
5.  Elms , Damien           27:27     
6.  Kozica, Jason           27:43     
7.  Conboy, Bruce           28:49     
8.  Harrison, Lindsay       28:54     
    Onley, Gordon           DQ     
 
1.  Laurie, Natalie         23:53     
2.  Wynen, Karen            24:20     
3.  Elms , Donna            24:27     
4.  O'Neill, Karyn          27:53     
5.  Peachey, Anika          28:52     
6.  Stanway, Marlaine       29:03     
7.  Box, Justine            32:21     
8.  Mews, Pam               43:54     
    Irshad, Amna            3km in 34:51     
 
4 km Under 15
Amelia Finnegan and Aaron Gardner were the top two Under 15 walkers, recording 22:13 and 22:21 (a big PB) respectively. New club member Jared Walker also walked excellently for 22:36.
             
1.  Gardner, Aaron          22:21     
2.  Walker, Jared           22:36     
3.  McShanag, Connor        24:11     
4.  Tam, Aaron              24:16     
 
1.  Finnegan, Amelia        22:13     
2.  Stadus, Lauren          23:02     
3.  Mason, Ella             24:06     
4.  Barbour, Beth           24:45     
5.  Campbell, Rebecca       25:51     
6.  McNicol-Davidson, Chloe 26:01     
7.  Gelov, Lauren           27:27     
8.  Gatens, Georgia         29:48     
9.  Harrison, Annalise      32:13     
 
2 km Under 12
The Under 12 boys is a very strong division with Billy Allamby, Reese Walmsley, Adam Garganis and Kyle Swan all recording 11:30 or better. Jade Sanders and Megan Walker were the fastest girls with 11:41 and 11:50 respectively. Quite a few of these young walkers have come up from U9 this year (Kyle Swan, Paige DeLisen, etc) and they are proving very competitive.
             
1.  Allamby, Billy          11:02     
2.  Walmsley, Reese         11:21     
3.  Garganis, Adam          11:28     
4.  Swan, Kyle              11:30     
5.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody  13:17     
6.  Cooper, Owen            13:26     
    Allamby, Jack           DNF     
 
1.  Sanders, Jade           11:41     
2.  Walker, Megan           11:50     
3.  DeLisen, Paige          12:03     
4.  Hamilton, Emily         12:05     
5.  Bertrand, Carly         12:29     
6.  Ventura, Amy            12:57     
7.  Crea, Gabriella         13:00     
8.  Henderson, Keely        13:00     
9.  Cullen, Larissa         13:13     
10. Harrison, Charlee       13:59     
11. McLaren, Stacey         14:40     
 
1 km Under 9
And finally to our Under 9 walkers who are walking very enthusiastically. Georgia Bertrand, Sam Candotti and Jessica Lillie were our fastest walkers.
             
1.  Candotti, Sam            6:15     
2.  McShanag, Ethan          7:02     
3.  Cullen, Luke             7:29     
4.  Sanders, Jack           11:08     
 
1.  Bertrand, Georgia        5:34     
2.  Lillie, Jessica          6:03    
3.  Lillie, Brianna          6:26     
4.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea      6:57     
5.  Hodges, Mikhala          6:58     
6.  Box, Erin                7:21     
7.  Hodges, Anaya            7:35     
8.  Mason, Livinia           8:24     

Finally, thanks to all those who help out every week. Apologies to anyone I have missed.

Judges:     Peter Vysma (chief), Kathleen Marsh, Michael Bodey, Gordon Loughnan
Officials:  Harry Summers, Bob Gardiner, Tim Erickson, Ron Miller, Paul Kozaris, Michael Brazel, Ian Laurie,
            Russ Dickenson, Don McLaren, Ray Smith, David Campbell
Canteen:    Joyce Summers, Barb Gardiner

VRWC CHAMPIONSHIPS, ALBERT PARK SUNDAY 3 MAY 2009

Our main winter season club championships were held on Sunday with medals on offer in Open, U20, U16, U14, U12 and U9 divisions. A total of 79 walkers contested the various events in perfect conditions – sunny, windless and a temperature in the low to mid teens.

OPEN 35 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP – RAY SMITH TROPHY
The longest race on our winter calendar was contested today – 35 km – and two hardy souls lined up. Tom Barnes won the Ray Smith Trophy for the third time in a PB time of 2:46:50. To put that into perspective, Tom was well on the way towards a sub 4 hour 50 km. He is preparing for to represent Australia at the World University Games later this year and is in hard training. Behind Tom, Andrew Jamieson broke his own M60 30 km World Record of 2:29:46, set in 2008 , on the way through to his final time of 3:00:55. Andrew holds the M60 Masters World Records for all walk distances and was the 2007 World Masters Athlete of the Year as voted by the IAAF. So I couldn't think of a better two walkers to kick proceedings off.

1.  Barnes, Tom             49:45  1:37:21  2:23:27  2:46:50
2.  Jamieson, Andrew        49:49  1:39:02  2:28:55  3:00:55
 
OPEN WOMEN 15 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP – ELSIE JACOBSON TROPHY
The Open women were competing for another one of our perpetual trophies – the Elsie Jacobson Trophy. This year, Kylie Irshad won it (she also won it in 2004), ahead of Pam Tindal and Liz Feldman and was only 1 minute slower than her 2004 winning time. That's consistency!
 
1.  Irshad, Kylie           54:26  1:23:59
2.  Tindal, Pam             57:16  1:28:30
3.  Feldman, Liz            64:09  1:37:33
4.  Elms, Donna             67:38  1:41:26
 
UNDER 20 15 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Our Under 20 walkers had a tough outing with a 15 km club championship on offer. Rhydian Cowley, who represented Australia in the 2008 World Cup, was fastest overall with an excellent 1:10:02 and was our sole male entrant. In the female division, the three girls walked their first ever 15 km and all completed the course with flying colours. Rachel Tallent was first with a great 1:20:39 ahead of Kirsten Shaw and 13 year old Bianca Attard who was third.
 
1.  Cowley, Rhydian         47:04  1:10:02
 
1.  Tallent, Rachael        52:39  1:20:39
2.  Shaw, Kirsten           62:22  1:35:30
3.  Attard, Bianca          67:15  1:38:57
 
UNDER 16 5 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Under 16 walkers contested the 5 km distance with Aaron Gardner and Hilary Brazel winning their respective club championships. Michael O'Mahony was having his first walk with the club and got a silver medal for his efforts. Sarah Burren and Ebony Tallent took the minor medals in the girls event.
 
1.  Gardner, Aaron          28:45     
2.  O'Mahony, Michael       29:52     
 
1.  Brazel, Hilary          27:07     
2.  Burren, Sarah           29:01     
3.  Tallent, Ebony          29:06     
4.  George, Stephanie       31:22     
 
UNDER 14 3 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
The lower down in the age groups you go, the more competitors we see and the tougher the competition becomes and this was the case with the Under 14 walkers who contested the 3 km distance. Matthew Felton and Ashley Albert became our two new club champions. Special mentions to new club member Jared Walker who took silver in the boys event with a very good sub 16 walk and to Billy Allamby took the bronze in the boys event after winning the gold in the Under 12 1 km event a little earlier. The minor medallists in the girls were Lauren Stadus and Beth Barbour who both did good PBs. .

1.  Felton, Matthew         15:22     
2.  Walker, Jared           15:57     
3.  Allamby, Billy          16:24     
4.  McShanag, Connor        17:07     
 
1.  Albert, Ashley          16:33     
2.  Stadus, Lauren          17:41     
3.  Barbour, Beth           18:32     
4.  Gelov, Lauren           18:39     
5.  Campbell, Rebecca       19:41     
6.  McLaren, Stacey         21:50     
    Irshad, Jasmine         DNF     
 
UNDER 12 1 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Under 12 and Under 9 walkers both contested 1 km events (the first of 3 club championships for them over the winter). It is not often that U12 walkers get the chance to race over such a short distance and I think they all enjoyed the opportunity. Billy Allamby (5:07) and Jade Sanders (5:12) were the two winners and there were a lot of really fast times as you can see below.
 
1.  Allamby, Billy           5:07     
2.  Swan, Kyle               5:30     
3.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       6:31     
4.  Allamby, Jack            8:33     
 
1.  Sanders, Jade            5:12     
2.  Bertrand, Carly          5:16     
3.  Walker, Megan            5:17     
4.  Collins, Cindy           5:33     
5.  Hamilton, Emily          5:46     
6.  Ventura, Amy             5:53     
7.  McLaren, Stacey          6:01     
8.  Vasiljevic, Taylor       6:04     
9.  Henderson, Keely         6:05     
10. McCann, Tessa            6:12     
11. Cullen, Larissa          6:33     
12. Segota, Bronte           6:40     
13. Harrison, Charlee        6:46     
 
UNDER 9 1 KM CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Under 9 walkers also contested the 1 km distance alongside the Under 12s and it gave them a chance to be part of a big field and chase the older walkers. The first 3 girls were all under 6 minutes with Georgia Bertrand (5:43) taking the honours ahead of Hayley George and Gabriella Crea. Ryan Box was our sole boy so he won gold for his efforts. Well done Ryan!

1.  Box, Ryan                8:19     
 
1.  Bertrand, Georgia        5:43     
2.  George, Hayley           5:51     
3.  Crea , Gabriella         5:53     
4.  Collins, Kristina        6:25     
5.  Xuereb, Tara             6:40     
6.  Box, Erin                7:24     
 
We also had non-championship events on offer for those club members who just wanted a walk – and there were plenty of them. Mark Donahoo completed the Open 10 km and then, a few minutes later, lined up for and won the Open 5 km. Now that is a good day's work by any standard.

OPEN 20 KM 
    Reid, Ross              DNF (12 km in 1:08:14)

OPEN 10 KM
1.  Mirarchi, Nicholas      54:08     
2.  Bennett, Ralph          54:14     
3.  McDonough, Aaron        55:34     
4.  Donahoo ,Mark           56:48     
5.  Erickson, Tim           56:51     
6.  Dickenson, Russ         56:55     
7.  Knox, Duncan            60:36     
8.  Elms, Jason             62:15     
9.  Steed , Gwen            65:07     
10. Shaw, Robyn             66:28     
11. Wood, Robin             73:53     
    Campbell, Caitlin       DNF      
    Raselli, Cassandra      DNF 
 
OPEN 5 KM
1.  Donahoo, Mark           28:06     
2.  Laurie, Natalie         28:16     
3.  Seid-Christmass, James  29:02     
4.  Wynen, Karen            31:37     
5.  Baker, Alison           34:07     
6.  Thillaisundaram, Anand  34:10     
7.  Wicks, Barrie           35:01     
8.  Stanway, Marlaine       36:38     
9.  Peachey, Anika          37:28     
10. Beaumont, Margaret      38:01     
11. Beaumont, Ian           38:40     
12. Harrison, Lindsay       39:50     
13. Box, Justine            40:23     
    Onley, Gordon           DNF     3 km in 0:27:03

It takes a lot of people to run such a big day's racing. Apologies if I have missed anyone. Big thanks to ….

Judges: Peter Vysma (Chief), Lloyd Nicholls, Judy Mason, Gordon Onley
Officials: Ralph Bennett, Harry Summers, Tim Erickson, Ian Laurie, Celia Johnson, Don McLaren, Adrianna Crea, Justin McLaren, Marlaine Stanway, Ray Smith, Stuart Cooper
Canteen: Joyce Summers, Kate Suich

VRWC RACES, SATURDAY 25 APRIL 2009

It was a very busy Opening Season racing day with 87 walkers (including 27 new walkers walking their first VRWC races) in action. Very strong winds made it hard going for everyone but we were at least using a more protected 1 km circuit rather than our normal 2 km loop. Our top walkers were in action and 2009 World University Games rep Tom Barnes led from the front with a superb 35:13 for the 8 km event. 2008 World Cup rep Rhydian Cowley was next in with 37:47, followed by Daniel Payne and Stuart Kollmorgen who were all well under the 40 minute mark. Pam Tindal easily won the women's 8 km walk with a good 43:49.
            
OPEN 8 KM            
1.  Tindal, Pam              43:49
2.  Shaw, Kirsten            48:06
3.  Thompson, Alison         49:34
4.  Feldman, Liz             49:38
5.  Payne, Emily             51:32
6.  Steed, Gwen              51:58
7.  Shaw, Robyn              52:19
8.  Elms, Donna              52:37
            
1.  Barnes, Tom              35:13
2.  Cowley, Rhydian          37:47
3.  Payne, Daniel            38:38
4.  Kollmorgen, Stuart       38:55
5.  Mirarchi, Nicholas       42:22
6.  McDonough, Aaron         44:09
7.  Donahoo, Mark            44:46
8.  Keirl, Bernie            44:51
9.  Gardiner, Bob            49:01
10. Riddoch, Clyde           53:34
11. Skrucany, Rudolf         59:39
    Reid, Ross               DQ
    Elms, Jason              DQ

The 4 km Open event saw Kylie Irshad (20:24) and Bradley Simpson (20:14) take fastest time honours. Heather Carr did well with 23:09 considering her 6 Hour walk last weekend at Coburg.
            
OPEN 4 KM            
1.  Irshad, Kylie            20:24
2.  Carr, Heather            23:09
3.  Laurie, Natalie          23:20
4.  Hammond, Nardene         24:20
5.  Wynen, Karen             25:33
6.  Morrey, Jan              27:29
7.  Peachey, Anika           29:55
8.  Beaumont, Margaret       30:10
9.  Gatens, Georgia          31:37
10. Box, Justine             32:41
    Stanway, Marlaine        DNF
    Mews, Pam                DNF
            
1.  Simpson, Bradley         20:14
2.  Dickenson, Russ          22:07
3.  Doran, Anthony           26:22
4.  Thillaisundaram, Anand   27:24
5.  Morrison, John           27:49
6.  Wicks, Barrie            28:12
    Babinczy, Peter          DNF
    Elms, Damien             DQ
    Beaumont, Ian            DQ
    Onley, Gordon            DQ

In the Under 15 4 km division, we welcomed Nicole Hallett back after a couple of years away from Albert Park and she had Bianca Attard had a good battle with Bianca taking the honours with 23:25. In the boy's division, Matthew Felton recorded a very good 22:29 to take fastest time.
            
UNDER 15 4 KM            
1.  Attard, Bianca           23:25
2.  Hallett, Nicole          23:40
3.  Callaway, Jessica        24:00
4.  Guy, Rebecca             24:18
5.  Stadus, Lauren           24:26
6.  Campbell, Caitlin        25:49
7.  Gelov, Lauren            26:25
8.  Gerlich, Annemaree       26:54
    Babninczy, Stephanie     DNF
            
1.  Felton, Matthew          22:29
2.  Gardner, Aaron           23:19
3.  McShanag, Connor         23:40
4.  Tam, Aaron               25:09

Large fields of Under 12 and Under 9 walkers meant a very competitive race with Kyle Swan and Reese Walmsley leading a massed field. Unfortunately, Reese was blown sideways by a particularly big gust and was forced to retire after falling heavily. That left Kyle to surge home with 11:22. Jade Sanders and Megan Walker had a great battle in the girl's division with Jade (11:44) just getting home ahead of Megan (11:46). Paige DeLisen moved up from U9 but acquitted herself well, coming third in 12:03.
            
UNDER 12 2 KM            
1.  Sanders, Jade            11:44
2.  Walker, Megan            11:46
3.  DeLisen, Paige           12:03
4.  Barbour, Beth            12:18
5.  Campbell, Rebecca        12:29
6.  Guy, Rachael             12:45
7.  McNicol-Davidson, Chloe  12:50
8.  McLaren, Stacey          13:30
9.  McCann, Tessa            13:35
10. Cullen, Larissa          14:03
11. Henderson, Keely         14:14
12. Segota, Bronte           14:22
13. Harrison, Charlee        14:23
            
1.  Swan, Kyle               11:22
2.  Cooper, Owen             11:37
3.  Garganis, Adam           12:16
4.  McNicol-Davidson, Cody   13:20
5.  Tremigliozzi, Paul       14:33
    Walmsley, Reese          DNF
    Babinczy, Nicholas       DQ

The Under 9 event saw 11 first time walkers in action and everyone walked well. Jessica Lillie and Tara Xuereb had a great battle in the girl's event while Ryan Box was a clear winner in the boy's division.
            
UNDER 9 1 KM            
1.  Lillie, Jessica           6:21
2.  Xuereb, Tara              6:22
3.  Lillie, Brianna           6:55
4.  Owen-Smith, Chelsea       7:17
5.  Box, Erin                 7:30
6.  Babinczy, Christina       7:47
7.  Kollmorgen, Meagan        8:21
            
1.  Box, Ryan                 7:46
2.  Long, Isaak               8:04
3.  Sanders, Jack             8:45
4.  Babinczy, Ben             8:47

If you were trackside this weekend, you would have noticed the large number of people helping keep the show in the road. Hopefully we will be back on our normal 2km loop next Sunday. It is always hard to run such events over a short 1km lap so thanks to everyone who helped out, escpecially our judges.
 
Officials: Tim Erickson, Bob Gardiner, Harry Summers, Don McLaren, Bob Hallett, Alan Lucas, Ian Laurie, Lou Mirarchi, Ron Miller, Ralph Bennett        
Judges:    Peter Vysma (chief), Judy Mason, Gordon Loughnan, Michael Bodey, David Long, Frances Attard