Charlotte
Charges to Memorable Win
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| Charlotte
Hilbig |
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Stawell Secondary College
principal Peter Hilbig had only one piece of advice
for his daughter Charlotte when the two runners lined
up for the five kilometre Andrew Darnell Memorial
Handicap at Horsham last Saturday. “All I told
her was to keep going as hard as she could and don’t
look back,” Peter said.
Sixteen-year-old Charlotte
followed her dad's simple instructions to the letter
and, eyes fixed firmly on the finish line, charged
to a decisive win. Delighted with her first senior
win with the club, Charlotte thought that a hard
hit-out over three kilometres in the regional cross-country
championships at Dimboola during the week had toughened
her up for the riverbank run. “I came into
the race thinking I had a bit of a chance and the
out-and-back course suited me because I could see
how the faster runners were going.”
With a
favourable handicap, Charlotte never looked like
losing and admitted to having a bit in reserve at
the finish, as the 27 second winning margin would
indicate.
Continuing her consistent
form, Gaynor Radovic was the nearest chaser, while
Club President Gary Howden held on grimly for third
with only seconds separating him from the fast finishing
backmarkers Col Barnett and Nathaniel Warren. Peter
Hilbig finished ninth overall but had excuses. He
was so focused on Charlotte’s efforts that
he had forgotten about his own race.
Despite the
ease of Charlotte's win, there was a spectacular
finale, as Nathaniel and David McAllister, two of
the club’s
elite runners, fought for position. David seemed
to “camp” on Nathaniel's heels for much
of the race, but launched an attack within sight
of the boat shed and zoomed past his rival. Unfortunately
for David, he had misjudged the finish by about 500
metres, which ended beyond the boatshed and back
again, enabling Nathaniel to rally again and beat
the deflated challenger.
Fastest time for the race
was the 18 mins 56 seconds recorded by Nhill flyer
Peter Cutler off his tough mark.
Numbers for the
race were boosted by an influx of enthusiastic Horsham
runners who ran on invitation and relished the challenge
on home turf.
By Keith Lofthouse
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