race reports & photos

The Lake Gwelup Run was held on Sept 18th and for the first time "cracked the ton" with 101 entrants.  This was only one of the records broken for this event with just Nathalie Goffroy's ladies 5km mark remaining intact.    For the second consecutive year we were lucky with the weather and runners enjoyed near perfect conditions with the rain holding off and no restrictive wind present.   This undoubtedly assisted with the improved times recorded on the day. 

Jeremy Drake was the overall 10km winner clocking a respectable 34min 30sec  followed home by Nathan Jessup (35min 21sec)and Kyle Eager (36min 23sec).   All three times being inside the last record of 36min 43 sec.    Budding triathlete Jenny Tibbets set a new record in the ladies 10km with 40min 26sec.      It is worth mentioning it is perhaps unfortunate that none of these four runners at the time of the event were members of the WAMC even though it is always a positive sign  when new blood attends the various runs. Sally O'Dea (44min 37 sec) and Robin King (44min 52 sec) secured the minor placings.

Dave Manning set a new benchmark in the event's  5km with 16min 40 sec. Not far behind was Mathew Richards in 16min 50 sec and the previous record holder Aaron Patterson finishing third in 17 min 09 sec.

Erica Lori was the first lady home in the 5km clocking 19min 39 sec with Sarah Fearnley finishing second in 21min 25 sec beating her sister Ashley who came in at 23min 12 sec.   All three of these runners are 16 or under and definitely enjoyed family support on the day with the presence of additional Loris and Fearnleys evident.  

It was encouraging to see our numbers boosted by the addition of a lot of new junior runners who certainly displayed entusiasm on the day.   However more regular WAMC runners would have been a welcome sight and members might take heed in noting that on a reasonable day this course offers the prospect of PBs with just two short hills present around the 3km and 8 km marks. lt is a pleasant run and with many variations and no long slogs.

My thanks again to all the marshalls and time keepers and the usual hard core members assisting with setting up and dismantling of equipment who made my task so much easier and made for an enjoyable day.

76 runners turned up for the run which is about the same as the last two years the run has been going. This was my inaugural race as Director and thankfully no one fell in the lake or strayed from the leafy wooded paths which surely make this event one of the more aesthetic runs on the calendar.

We were fortunate in that the light rain had stopped just leaving a brisk prevailing Southerly as the sole adverse token of Mother Nature which probably accounted for times being slower than usual. However Chris Maher put in a gutsy 36.58 to take out the Men's 10 km ahead of Chris Frampton and Peter Sullivan. Joanna Lloyd led the ladies home in 46.50 a minute slower than her winning time of last year followed by Jill Valli and Fiona Longden.

Ricky Billiness was first of the one-lappers in 18.44 with non member Russell West and Alan Gower not far behind. Alan's better half Karen took out the honours for the fairer sex with Terese Jefferson and Jan Billiness winning the minor placings.

We were graced with the presence of some members of a visiting South African Rugby team including journalist Adnan Mohamed who was eager to bring home a memento. A veteran of the Comrades Ultra in South Africa he was so overawed either by his surroundings which is the home of the rare Long Necked Western Swamp Tortoise and Speckled Thigh Three Toe Wader or he had wind of the spot draw prizes of entries to the forthcoming $18 million Lotto Jackpot which makes the lucky Lake Gwelup run potentially the richest run in the world that he insisted in having his photo taken.

After settling for just the 5km with consideration that the steps of the Bell Tower were still to be negotiated he cornered the hapless Graham Jackman who had hitherto been commendably vociferous in exhorting the weary runners with the solace that the end of their ordeal was nigh as well as providing refreshing elixirs of the local spring water. Presenting his Pentax and beaming countenance for posterity he incurred the wrath of a lady entrant who shall remain nameless but suffice it to say she was a lassie from north of the border and the sort you don't mess with. Adnan was duly admonished with the observation that the procurement of race marshals for the benefit of holiday snaps might well be fraught with hazards if it posed a risk to a certain little black duck gleaning urgent information as to the quickest way home.

Hopefully the WAMC wasn't subsequently blacklisted in the Durban Courier Mail.

A special word of thanks to Jim Shaw (what a valuable addition to the club he has been) , Bob Frost, Steve Barrie and Steve Lewis and all the Marshalls including emergencies Graham Jackman and Kevin Shugg who made the day an enjoyable and dare I say, apart from a near break down in diplomatic relations, a successful one for me.

John Hickey

WAMC PANCAKE RUN, KINGS PARK – 12th September, 2004

RACE REPORT

Although a little nippy to start with (around 4 deg), the clear skies and with a hint of
spring in the air, everything was set for something special for the 24th running of the
Kings Park Pancake Run. Jan Billinness masterfully got proceeding under way with the
Pikelets Run around the grassed finish area for the younguns.

The something special was Kylie Colum. She is going through a real purple patch being
the second female and the first WA female in a time of 44.44 in the Perth City to Surf
(although not recognised as she did not have a timing chip), followed a week later by
becoming the 2004 WA State Half Marathon Champion with a time of 1.20.00 in the
Perth Half Marathon and a further week on, capping it off by taking out the women’s 15k
Pancake Run in an event record time of 56.42 (record previously held by Sue Turner
with a time of 57.52 in 1990) - further more, she was second overall !

Matthew Riches (55.46) took line honours for the 15k, followed by Kylie, Scott Rumbold
(57.27) and Colin Francis (58.05). Janet Coote (1.05.19) was second in the women’s
division with Deborah Gardener (1.08.14) third.

It’s great to see a couple of our more talented runners, Raf Baugh and Sean O’Neill,
working with their individual group of junior runners to help them reach their potential.
Both led by example, with Raf running the second fastest time ever for the 5k in a time
of 15.54, narrowly missing the 5k event record (15.49) set by Todd Ingraham in 2000,
and Sean coming in second (17.30). Ricky Billinness (from good stock in Jan and John
Billinness) filled third position in a time of17.50. The first eight women in the women’s
division were all under 16, headed by Erika Lori (19.34), Alanna Doig (19.47) and Alyce
Le Juge de Segrais (19.55).

Dave, Stella and Justine Henderson again excelled themselves on the social side, ably
assisted by pancake chefs extraordinaire Julie and Michelle McGrath, Victoria Stoddart
and Sandra Cronin. The course configuration, resulting in fourteen road crossings for
the 15k, necessitates significantly more course marshals than for most events, a total of
24. Add this to the ten drink station personnel, the four recorders and two finish area
bodies and we have a total of 47 people helping to put this event together. A job well
done by all and my thanks to all.

Bob Braid.

This just in from one of the intrepid Alice Spring trekkers:

Magic Marathon Madness

32 Marathon Club members from Perth travelled 46 hrs each way to the red centre, Alice Springs.

Left Perth 1900 hrs Wed 11-8-04 on a grouse 45 seat Coach with 2 brilliant drivers. The Coach’s only hiccup was shutting its left eye after a kangaroo dived into the left headlight. 

Magic moment was the intense freeze as the dawn broke 0700, one hour into the marathon, passing through the dramatic Honeymoon Gap in the McDonnell Ranges.

Part of the 8,200 kilometre journey was a 5 hour each way tripsy to Australia’s massive moody heart, Uluru.  9.3 Km in circumference, the wavy windy run around had dramatically beautiful detours into the sacred pools of men’s area & women’s area. The climb up was challengingly steep -- and not all chain supported. More than two thirds is below ground.

The multiplicity of hues, shapes and artefacts (presumably mostly from wind and rain erosion, and possibly from origin of Great Spirit creation) makes it a spectacular artwork, many times more so than I had anticipated.

Magic moment was taking the time to view the (Nullarbor) Bunda Cliffs - situated just to the south of the Eyre Highway, with perpendicular limestone cliffs dropping 90 metres or so into the Southern Ocean. 50 Southern Right Whales with 30 Calves were there in their winter nursery grounds – they were invisible on our midday stop. Brad the Coach Captain urged us to avoid approaching cliff edges as these limestone cliffs are prone to crumbling into the ocean below. If we went closer than 5 metres from the edge he was all set to drive off without us! We enjoyed some truly stunning cliff top scenery – I believe 300 km of cliffs and it seemed as if we saw 100 km.

Unmissable. Returned Perth 0900 hrs Thurs 19-8-04.

(Thanks John Bell for the above sent in an email and forwarded to the web)

Burswood Water Sports Centre
Postal Address: PO Box 104 Burswood WA 6100
Telephone  9472 4833 Fax  9472 4855
E-Mail  wamc@iinet.net.au