Race Reports 2019

A good-sized, competitive field started in race 17 of the season – the Raymond Spinks/Coastal Running Club twelve kilometres at Somerset. The hilly circuit course is a challenging one, commencing with a steady four kilometre climb up the Murchison Highway.

In a pleasing result for the handicapper, Pat McMahon, the top ten contained the first runner away (who finished), Dale Lancaster, the last away, Thomas Murton, with a good smattering of athletes from front, middle and back marks all close to the winner, Tim Dowling.

This was Dowling’s second win with the Club, the first being a five kilometre event at Penguin in 2016. He started one of the favourites after strong recent form brought about by some extra training. He knew the course well, as he lives close by and actually trains over part of it.

Michelle D’Monte showed a return to her best form with a powerful run into second place, just catching Lancaster before the line.

Simon Gates turned in another promising performance, while Natasha Mapley and Michael Bates indicated wins for them are close. Terry Watson, returning from injury, and Kelly Baxter also caught the eye.

Murton was the fastest male in a slick 42:20, finishing ninth, while Mapley was quickest of the women in a time of 50:22, which was the seventh fastest in the whole field.

The nominated time winners were Will van Rooyen, Brian Paine, Milla Price, Lucy van Rooyen and Maya Bramich.

Race17 Somerset12kmLinePosition

Race17 Somerset12kmFastest

Sunday’s race, the Fish Frenzy five kilometres utilised the Burnie parkrun course and despite the less than ideal weather, a good field competed. Competitors had to run into a strong head wind on the outward leg but enjoyed the tailwind on the return.

This year, the event, which also included the Club five kilometre championships, was conducted as a sealed handicap so all runners commenced together and the handicaps were applied after the race,.

It proved to be a great day for the Murton family, with Table Cape runner, David Murton taking out the handicapped race and his son, Thomas Murton first across the line to take out the male championship.

In addition, David’s daughter, Anna was both second in the handicapped race and third in the female championship.

The female championship was won by Lyn Saint-John with Amie Bramich in second while the placegetters in the male championship were Ewen Troughton and Andrew Rolls.

For David Murton, this was his second win, his first also being in a five kilometre event, five years ago. He has been in excellent form this year and started one of the favourites. Although he doesn’t run a lot of long training runs, Murton trains very consistently and was keen to get a win under his built before a trip to Europe in August.

Earlier the nominated time winners were Milla Price, Maya Bramich, Hannah Elphinstone and Paige Aitken. Of the four runners who did their nominated time in the 5km race, Will van Rooyen was closest.

From Russell: The format is different this week due to having a mass start. I have manually entered result into the software to record consistency and runs etc, however the reports generated give fast km rates due to gross time subtract handicap and a few other calculations

Race16 FishFrenzy5kmChampionship

Race16 FishFrenzy5kmFastest Championship

Race fifteen of the PCCCT season, the Burnie Trophy House/Troy Atkins Accounting twenty five kilometre “Ironman Classic” at Forth, was run in excellent conditions with a competitive field.

Somerset runner, Stuart Wilson, was a very happy man to finally get a victory in this event after recording two seconds and a third in previous runnings. His success showed his liking for longer events and he is also a previous Club marathon winner.

Starting of a front mark, Wilson recorded his fourth win with the Club, the last coming in 2012, in a career of about three hundred races.

Interestingly, he doesn’t do long training runs, with ten kilometres about his longest recently. He even had last weekend off, visiting family in Queensland.

Hayden Bishop was a great second, following up on his fourth last year and other strong recent results. John Saltmarsh recorded his best result for some time by finishing third from second backmarker, Brian Lyons and the first woman, Natasha Mapley.

Lyons, with a time of 1:25:39 and Mapley, 1:46:57 were the fastest male and female respectively.

Other runners to catch the eye with top efforts included Amie Bramich, Dale Lancaster and Vicky Knapman.

Evan Brett and Andrew Winkel rounded out the ten

Earlier the nominated time winners were Tom Winkel, Lucy van Rooyen, and Kasia Taylor.

Race15 Ironman25kmLinePosition

Race15 Ironman25kmFastest

The Paine Family Memorial ten kilometre handicap at Burnie is conducted over a tough, hilly circuit but is popular with runners.

So despite a biting, cold wind, a good field lined up for the 2019 edition and it proved to be a close and exciting contest. Race favourite, Penguin’s Judy Ray, had to dig deep in the sprint to the line to record a narrow victory over fast-closing backmarker, Keegan Powell by just two seconds.

Ray had been close to winning this race in the past with a couple of placings and was delighted to finally break through. It was her fourth win with the club since commencing in 2007 and her first since a foot operation two years ago to correct an injury which had been restricting her. Her other wins were all on similar hilly courses which suit her running style.

Frontmarker, David Murton, led for much of the final part of the event and held on for third ahead of Simon Gates and  the greatly improved Vicki Knapman.

Promising efforts were produced by Ewen Troughton, Josh Febey and Michael Bates, all finishing within the “top ten”.

Brad Taylor was fastest man. He ran 36:24 and finished ninth, while Lyn Saint-John was the fastest woman with a time of 40:55, the fifth fastest in the whole field.

The nominated time “Feature Race” winner was Lucy van Rooyen from Mackenzie and Dominic Troughton.

Race14 BurniePaine10kmLinePosition

Race14 BurniePaine10kmFastest

Race thirteen of the PCCCT season was the Wilkinson’s Pharmacy five kilometre handicap, a trail run which commenced at the pony club grounds at Fernglade and used paths in the area. The events the Club conducts on off-road courses are always popular and a large field lined up to enjoy the crisp, sunny conditions.

The race proved to be a close and exciting contest with sixteen runners finishing within a minute of the winner, so that at various stages during the running, many members looked the likely victor.

In the end, it was Stowport runner, Andrew Bates, who recorded a well-deserved win. Bates is one of a number of young talented members of the club who have come through the nominated time events and he was thrilled to break through after six years of competing in the handicapped races.

During those six years, Bates has run spasmodically due to football commitments on Saturdays. However, this year he unfortunately sustained a neck injury playing football and since recovering has concentrated on running, leading to Sunday’s result.

A mere six seconds behind was Judy Ray – her best result for some time – with Vicki Knapman, another young gun in the Club, finishing third after backing up from completing last week’s marathon.

The fastest time for the men was recorded by Tom Murton with Lyn Saint-John the fastest woman.

Earlier the nominated winners were Lucy Van Rooyen, Brian Paine, Kasia Taylor, Leykas Taylor and Indra Taylor.

Race13Fernglade6kmLinePosition

Race13Fernglade6kmFastest

Race eleven of the PCCCT season, the W T House Betta Home Living “Steve Hanson Memorial”, was conducted over an eight kilometre circuit course in Stanley.

The race, also known as “The Ace of the Green Hills” was well-attended and proved very competitive as members looked for a solid hit-out before next week’s marathon.

After seconds in the previous two races, Wynyard runner, Andrew Rolls, showed his love for the course winning this event for the second time, his previous victory coming in 2015. It was his third win overall with the Club. Although Rolls first ran with the Club in 1999, lower leg injuries have restricted him to less than a hundred Club starts in that time.

However, those injuries led to him doing a lot of bike-riding, which in turn led him into triathlons. Such has been his success in that sport that in August he’s heading to Lausanne, Switzerland, to compete in the world age-group championships.

Close behind, filling the placings, were frontmarkers, Karina Mason and Lorraine Shepherd while David Murton, Josh Febey and Amie Bramich continued their strong seasons, Bramich also running the fastest of the women (31:03).

Other eye-catching performances were recorded by Tim Dowling, Vicki Knapman and Anna Murton.

The fastest man was Thomas Murton, recording an excellent 25:39.

Earlier the nominated time winners were James Frankcombe, Robyn Luttrell, Mitchell Elphinstone, Maya Bramich and Chloe Bates.

Race11 Stanley8kmLinePosition

Race11 Stanley8kmFastest

Victory in the Physiotas/Meercroft Crew 10 km “City of Devonport” handicap is much sought after by members and a strongly competitive field faced the starter for the race on Sunday.

This year’s winner, Spreyton runner Roselyn Hendriks, had been close to breaking through for some time and was thrilled to do so in this race.

Commencing with the Club three years ago, Hendriks has made constant improvement to the extent that she won running a personal best time for 10 km.

While very pleased, she didn’t expect to win and, in fact, wore older, heavier running shoes that she wouldn’t mind getting dirty if the bush sections were muddy.

It made no difference, however, as she finished 71 seconds in front of race favourite Andrew Rolls with David Murton in third, followed by Karina Mason and Amie Bramich.

Other promising performances were handed in by Hayden Bishop, Josh Febey and Anna Murton, while Lorraine Shepheard rounded out “the ten”.

The Club 10 km championships were conducted based on fastest times in the race. For the women, Amie Bramich took it out from Natasha Mapley and Sarah-Jane Tregenza, while Thomas Murton, who finished seventh in the race, won the men’s championship from Brian Lyons and Brad Taylor.

Earlier the nominated time winners were Kasia Taylor, Indra Taylor, Mitchell Elphinstone, and Maya Bramich.

Members are reminded that here will be no race next week and the next event is at Stanley on June 9^th.

Full details at www.pccct.org.

Race10 Devonport10kmLinePosition

Race10 Devonport10kmFastest

Members headed to Wynyard for Sunday’s race – the Findex 8 kilometre handicap. The scenic course takes in tracks beside the Inglis River with a short, sharp climb to the lookout at Fossils Bluff.

This race is normally very popular with runners but this year with a couple of competing events, the number of starters was a little down. Nevertheless, strong backmarkers and many in-form runners meant it would still be very competitive.

John Purton led the field away off the front mark of 0:40 with Isaac Troughton, from his mark of 25:25 last to commence his run.

Two frontmarkers, in Ken Williams and Roselyn Hendriks, had taken the lead with a couple of kilometres to run and were looking very hard to catch.

Smithton veteran, Ken Williams managed to hold on by just four seconds from a fast-finishing Andrew Rolls with Hendriks a close third, eleven seconds further adrift.

Williams, who will be 80 later this year, is the oldest member still running after commencing with the Club in 1985. He is sixth on the Club’s run tally list having started in 730 races and this was his eleventh win.

Simon Gates, Josh Febey and Karina Mason were all close up, indicating wins for each of them are just around the corner.

Fastest male and female were Jono Price and Lyn Saint-John respectively.

Earlier, nominated time winners were: Kaleb Turner, James Frankcombe, Thomas Ward and Lucy van Rooyen.

Race09 Wynyard LinePosition 8km

Race09 Wynyard Fastest 8km

Warm sunny conditions greeted the forty-two starters in the longest and hardest race of the season to date – the High on Penguin, Burnie to Ridgley “Mountain Classic” 16.5 kilometre handicap.

This event is one of the longest running in the club’s annual programme and is highly sought after due to its prestige and also that it needs a fit determined runner to take it out due to the almost constant uphill course.

The race proved to be a triumph for Ulverstone runner, Kim Steven, who once again showed his liking for the most challenging events.

Steven is also a dual winner of the equally as tough, 25 kilometre Ironman Classic in the Forth Valley and is a regular competitor at the coastal trial run, Gone Nuts.

He had run third in this event two years ago and was thrilled to breakthrough, albeit for a narrow win over the extreme backmarker, Thomas Murton, who ran a wonderful race to pass every competitor but Steven and also take out the fastest time of 60:38.

The fastest woman was Amie Bramich, who also took out fifth place, continuing her great season

Andrew Rolls, was a strong third from a back mark, just in front of middle-marker Terry Watson who looked a likely winner at the half-way mark and should salute soon.

Other excellent performances were recorded by Hayden Bishop and Evan Brett, while Karina Mason showed her liking for longer events with a great run into ninth. The winner from two years ago, Ellen Elphinstone rounded out “the ten”.

Race08 MountainClassic16.5kmLinePosition

Race08 MountainClassic16.5kmFastest