Stawell
Goldie Strikes Gold
Anthony
Morey, who works in the field of exploration with
the Stawell Gold Mine, struck gold himself in the
Ironbarks Forest last Saturday by winning the Barham
Insurance Handicap at only his third start with the
club.
Anthony, 32, hadn’t
lined up for the club since finishing in the middle
of the field in the 16 kilometre Charlie Jones Handicap
in June last year, but won the Barham 5k on a minimum
of training. He surprised himself as much as
his more seasoned opposition.
“I wasn’t
able to continue running in 2010 because I had to
have emergency surgery when my appendix became severely
inflamed,” he said. “That put me
out of business for a very long time and I’ve
really only just started running again. By that I
mean I’ve been averaging 8k a week for the
past three weeks, so 24k in total isn’t much
to build a season on.”
It was enough, however,
to dash over the distance in an impressive 20 minutes
and 45 seconds to defeat the in-form Col Barnett.
Horsham runner Glenn Ryan, a newcomer to the club,
posted his first podium finish in coming third.
The
much decorated Col recorded the fastest time of 19.06
minutes, but when handicaps were applied
failed to beat Anthony by 19 seconds.
Anthony describes
himself as someone who “just
runs for fun,” and comes
from the ranks of fun runners, having taken on Puffing
Billy “a few times.” He clearly has natural
ability, and should be capable of winning a second
race before the end of the season, once the benefits
of regular competition and increased training kicks
in.
In the junior divisions of
the Barham Handicap it was a big weekend for the
O’Flynns,
with Luca O’Flynn
proving just too strong for Paris Panozzo over the
2 kilometre course. Lily O’Flynn won
the sub-juniors from Layla Atherton.
By Keith Lofthouse
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