Lofthouse
Lifts in Big Hill Finale
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| Keith
Lofthouse |
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Skipping races in Stawell
to venture to Melbourne for two events sharpened
up veteran campaigner Keith Lofthouse, who went
on to take out the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club’s
season finale at Big Hill last Saturday.
Lofthouse finished
a creditable sixth in the 16 kilometre George Perdon
Memorial Handicap at Keilor on August 30 but then
struggled to back up in the five kilometre Westgate
Bridge Memorial at Port Melbourne.
“After the
16k I had nothing left to give at Westgate, but the
two races being so close together toughened me up
for Big Hill,” Lofthouse said.
With the temperature
rising and the wind howling, Lofthouse relished the
fast downhill start of the five kilometre handicap,
sponsored by former club president Lois Trimble,
and made good ground on the front markers before
commencing the first of two grueling
uphill climbs.
After hauling in Axel
Meumann, Gary Saunders and a fighting Sharon Howden,
Lofthouse was feeling the heat and “ran scared” for
the 500 metres climb to the finish, expecting the
back markers to overwhelm him.
“It’s the
first time I’ve
ever won a race up a decent-sized hill,” said
Lofthouse, who had also triumphed earlier in the
season on a flat and fast track at Rupanyup.
Ray Scott,
a superior uphill runner, and Horsham’s Gary
Howden, a downhill dynamo, had a gentlemanly battle,
exchanging places more than once during the race.
At one time Howden actually apologised to Scott
as he swept past him on the decline.
Once the going got tough,
however, Scott rallied, and powered past the gallant
Susie Ellis and Sharon Howden late in the race to
finish second, with club champion Nathaniel Warren
charging into third place after another ding-dong
duel with talented rookie, David McAllister.
Warren,
who won the Keith Haymes club aggregate in 2007,
recorded fastest time to put an official seal on
the aggregate again in 2009.
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