Parnaby
Hangs on for Narrow Win
Grampians cycling supremo
Meg Parnaby showed rare versatility when she capped
off a successful season on two wheels with a surprising
victory on foot in the eight kilometre David O. Jones
Mitre 10 Handicap. The race was held in the Ironbarks
Forest, near Stawell, last Saturday.
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| Meg
Parnaby |
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Meg, who had
failed to finish on the podium and had been placed
tenth or worse in five of her eight starts for the
club this season, turned all that poor form around
to defy Steve Baird,
who has now been runner-up at his past three starts
for the club. Meg just held on to win from the fast
finishing Baird, who pushed her to the limit for
the last few hundred metres.
Third to finish was the consistent
Gaynor (“I’m no good on the hills”)
Radovic who leads the club aggregate with four seconds
and three thirds - hills and all - in her 11 starts
for the year.
Meg, who was greeted at the
finished by husband Peter, filling-in for an ailing
John Collins as timekeeper for the day, was as surprised
as anyone by the win as her training had been somewhat
curtailed by having to visit the couples’ sick
parents in hospital during the previous few weeks.
The club wish John and the Parnabys speedy recoveries
from their illnesses.
Meg explained: “I was
only able to have the one run this week, but I won
this same race last year, so it seems that the course
suits me. I certainly seem to run well on it.”
Meg
and Peter, our ever-reliable club photographer and
webmaster, share their winter weekends either riding
or running and have won five races, of up to 60 kilometres
distance, with the Grampians Veterans cycling group
this season.
Fastest time for the Mitre
10 Handicap was recorded by David McAllister, who
stormed to the line in a blistering 29 minutes, 26
seconds…the
first to smash through the 30 minute barrier in three
8km races this year. Club champion Nathaniel Warren
also went under the half-hour mark, but was 23 seconds
behind his arch rival.
Gaynor, Nathaniel and Charlotte
Hilbig used the race as a warm-up for the Adelaide
Marathon this weekend where they will be joined by
fellow club members, Kim Baker and Kylie Murtagh.
By Keith Lofthouse
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