Warren
and McAllister tie for Open Championship
Baker Wins Handicap
 |
| Kim
Baker |
| |
A ten second lapse in concentration
may have cost 2009 club champion Nathaniel Warren
outright back to back honours in the championship
titles, which were finalized in the Ironbarks last
Saturday.
Nathan had a handy points
margin over his only challenger, David McAllister,
as they lined up for the last race that counted,
the five kilometres Sports Power Handicap, that was
miraculously run in sunshine after torrential rain
for more than 24 hours.
The title holder worked hard
to open up what might have been a decisive 20 metres
gap over his rival with two kilometres to go, but
Nathan failed to notice the frantic urgings of course
marshal Ray Rickard, made a wrong turn and handed
that 20 metres lead to David.
“It was my own
stupid fault,” a
crestfallen Nathan lamented. “Psychologically,
when you make a mistake like that, you’re done
for. David skipped away, and mentally I was shot,
so there was no coming back. But that’s
racing at any level. If
you don’t stay on the course you usually don’t
win.”
Nathan’s error probably
cost him the solitary point which would have been
enough to secure the title, but the 34 point-tie
was a fitting result, given that the stoush between
the club’s
elite runners was mostly neck and neck in a highly
competitive season.
As the two speedsters wrestled
and fought for the lead, first season runner Kim
Baker quietly went about the business of sticking
to her race plan and broke through for her first
success on handicap. The Stawell teenager, the grand-daughter
of former club president William Baker, is only just
learning how to race and had made a conscious decision
during the week to “go out hard”.
“I’ve
been inclined to ease myself into things, but that
hasn’t worked out, so I had to get out of my
comfort zone and push myself early to see if it made
a difference." she said. "I’ve had
some trouble with tendonitis in both ankles, but
I felt good out there today, and I kept Rhonda Clark
and Keith Lofthouse, a couple of runners that normally
get well away from me, in my sights, so I knew I
had a winning chance."
Cross country running often
serves up some unexpected obstacles, especially after
rainfall, but never before had runners been forced
to hurdle a fortunate tortoise that occupied the
middle of a muddy track, looking every inch like
just another rock.
Tobias Blair scored a belated
victory in the junior division of the Sportspower
Handicap, but didn’t have the points to overhaul
Raine Mackley, Liam Scott and Luca Atherton who were
locked in a dramatic three-way tie for the title
of Junior Champions.
By Keith Lofthouse
|
