David
and Goliath Battle out Championship
2009 Club
Champion Nathaniel Warren is hopeful that the successful
game plan he carried into last Saturday’s three
kilometres dash will secure him back
to back championships for 2010. The race was held
through the Ironbark forest near Stawell.
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| Nathaniel Warren |
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The talented cross
country runner surprised
the flying David McAllister
when he took charge at the start of the race and
set up a commanding lead over his arch rival, who
looked a real threat of stripping Nathaniel of the
championship sash this year.
“I knew I had
to jump David at the start because he’s been
able to sit on my tail and smash me at the end of
races a couple of times this season,” a happy
Nathaniel said. “I thought
he would try and do the same again and I ran scared
- make that terrified - because I always imagined
that Dave was on my shoulder, just waiting to pounce.”
Like
a rabbit chasing a hare, David was always struggling
to catch the tearaway whose lead had stretched to
a dominant 43 seconds by the end of the race. Nathaniel’s
win reversed the trend of recent longer races in
which ironman McAllister had proved superior by as
much as one minute and 15 seconds over 16km and 33
seconds over 10km.
Nathaniel ran a blistering
personal best of 9 minutes 48 seconds on the Ironbarks
course and established a comfortable three point
lead over David in the Championship with just one
race in that series to go. It seems only injury could
prevent Nathaniel from achieving his double.
Third
to finish in Saturday’s race was 2003 and 2006
Club Champion Col Barnett, who after an absence of
a couple of years, is enjoying the thrill of the
chase again. Nathaniel was not only first across
the line, but was declared the winner on adjusted
handicaps over front-markers Bob Freeland and Keith
Lofthouse, who were placed for the first time this
season.
The junior division of the
race was handsomely won by Paris Panozzo from Tobias
Blair while her sister Mia took the sub-junior event
from Lily O’Flynn.
By Keith Lofthouse
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