Report by Stuart Cooper, AUS
After weeks of La Nina-driven wintry weather in which all local walkers had trained leading up to this meet, a two-day window of blast-furnace summer heat arrived at Fawkner Park – right on cue to dash any hopes of qualifying times for upcoming international meets – before the return of faux-winter the very next day.
If Spielberg had written it as a freshman screenplay assignment he’d have got an ‘F’. As has been heard often over the past twelve months, you couldn’t make this stuff up. (At least on this occasion, politicians weren’t to blame.)
35 Kilometers Australian championships
Under the circumstances, getting four finishers home from the 9 starters in the 35km was pretty good. It was hardly surprising that, of those four, two were 50km men and one a triathlete with experience at enduring in a range of weathers and environments.
Rhydian Cowley defended his national title with solid result of 2:37.30, measuring his output over the 17.5 laps to ensure a strong finish. Bec Henderson – having been helped with a fast start by Jemima Montag – ground through the tough final 10km with sound technique and gritty determination against the lactic tide, to win the Women’s title in 3:01:38 – a time that would have been substantially below 3 hours had conditions been better.
Henderson had an added incentive over those last tortuous kilometres, in the form of Hong Kong visitor Siu Nga Ching.
Siu (known also as Jessica) walked a determined race in an effort to reel Bec in towards the end. She adjusted well to the conditions and her time of 3:02:20 was an impressive result. Final finisher was SA Masters walker Kim Mottrom, the Swiss Army knife of Australian walking (there’s a Centurion badge waiting up ahead, surely), who made his second 35km national podium in 12 months with a gutsy walk to record 3:12:08, showing a sound, economical technique throughout.
A combination of the heat and Covid recovery conspired to prevent others from finishing, and with Budapest on the horizon it’s hoped other opportunities will soon be forthcoming as the quest for qualifying times continues.
20 Kilometers Australian championships
The heat was as pitiless for the 14 competitors here as for those in the 35km, with personal goals shrivelling as the race turned into one simply to get through. There were, however, several notable results.
Olivia Sandery and Katie Hayward provided the best contest with a mere 23secs separating them at the finish, Olivia winning in 1:36:35 to cap off a wonderful year. Allanah Pitcher handled the conditions admirably in her first 20kms for third in 1:42:36, while perhaps the biggest surprise came from Sam Findlay whose 1:44:10 was a 3:09 PB … an astonishing result ‘against the tide’.
Will Thompson wasn’t about to let a broken arm stop his participation and, while naturally fighting pain, he still stamped his authority upon the men’s field to win by over three minutes in 1:32:46 from Dylan Richardson.
10 Kilometers U20
No surprises here with Marcus Wakim and Lizzie McMillen dominating, albeit with slower than usual times.