No
Bar to Barham's Win
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| Peter
Barham |
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Most Stawell Amateur Athletic
Club race winners are thrilled with the joy of success,
but Peter Barham was somewhat sheepish after winning
the race he sponsors, the five kilometre Barham Insurance
Handicap at Stawell last Saturday.
It’s an
unwritten “rule” that club sponsors are
not supposed to win their own races, hence Barham’s
subdued response to well-wishers after the Ironbarks
event.
“It’s a bit embarrassing,
but I didn’t do the handicapping,” Barham
said philosophically. “I didn’t run in
the race expecting to win, but I have been working
hard, running 6k five days a week around the rifle
range (Stawell), so I’m pleased to be rewarded
for that."
Surging to the lead with
about 1200 metres to travel, Barham put his head
down and pushed hard, with no thought for the chasers,
led by Patrick Ellis. Ellis finished fast, failing
by just six seconds to overhaul the unsuspecting
winner.
The 2000-2001 club champion,
James Glisson, who is now based at Coleraine, returned
after a long absence to finish third. Like Nhill
runner Peter Cutler, who won the previous week, Glisson
has no qualms about making the 300 kilometre round
trip to Stawell, driven by the lure of competition.
Glisson, who introduced his son Chris to the club
on Saturday, said: “I drive 100k to work in
Portland during the week so a bit further is no problem
to me. You’ve
just got to come to Stawell to get a decent race,
otherwise it’s Ballarat.”
Chris himself
performed creditably on debut, closing rapidly on
Colin Barnett and Gaynor Radovic to finished sixth
in a smart time. Current club champion Nathaniel
Warren ran fastest time, a scintillating 18 minutes
and 30 seconds but, conceding up to ten minutes start
to the front-markers, could not squeeze into the
top ten.
Club stalwart Gary Saunders
was a rare absentee – but
with good cause. He was celebrating the one-hundredth
birthday of his mother, Gwen at the Stawell Town
Hall.
In the two kilometre junior
division of the race, Paris Panozzo surprised Liam
Scott and Reine Mackley, keeping them at bay all
the way to record an easy win.
By Keith Lofthouse
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