Gleeson misses Toronto win

It would not be a real holiday for Tom Gleeson unless he found a Fun Run to compete in. Tom has just returned from America and Canada where he visited seven major cities in the Southern States. He had plans of competing in the Ontario Marathon but decided the extensive travelling and late arrival would not be conducive to running a good marathon. Instead he found a fun run in Toronto which he entered and finished fourth outright, also winning his age division. “The run was over 5 kilometres and I finished one minute behind the winner, in 17 minutes” said Gleeson. “The start was an absolute nightmare, there were kids running everywhere, all wanting to get on the front line at the start. Our runs are much better organised” he said. The run was on flat ground and the weather was perfect, according to Tom, so it all made for a perfect thing to do. Tom was acknowledged as he crossed the finish line. He has competed all over the world, so I guess he is becoming well known wherever he travels. To make Tom’s trip even more memorable he missed his plane in Los Angeles due to a car break down and spent the next three days in the airport terminal. Tom returned to Elephant Park on Wednesday to run the 3 k in 9minutes 54seconds. Well done Tom.

Elephant Park Relay
On a day when most people were thinking about the Melbourne Cup draw, ORC members were concentrating on drawing a well credentialed member in the Annual Melbourne Cup relay at Elephant Park. In the two person relay, runners and walkers were paired on a draw from the hat basis, making for some interesting combinations. Each competitor completed alternate laps in a six kilometre sprint event, with their regular handicaps recorded against their finishing time. Speed machine Amber Rich paired with Frank Ostini to take line honours in a time of 21:16. Second were Brad Simmonds and Stewart Vidler in 21:44, and Joel Kitto and Laura Wolfson clocking 22:49 to finish third. Handicap honours went to regular walker Ian Reed and junior runner Kelsey Grey in 34:41, starting off a handicap of 40 seconds, from Abby Dean and mother Estelle in 34:36 off 3:34.
The once a year handicap relay was well received, and many personal best lap times were recorded on the day. The run was followed by a BBQ, which was kindly hosted by the Fahy Family, and Melbourne Cup Sweep. Although caught by the handicapper in the run, this old boy did clean up in the cup sweep.
Good Luck to all those members heading off to Sydney for the 10km Run for Fun, which concludes at Homebush Stadium.
Wednesday’s winner was Tom Stinson, while PB’s were recorded by Katie Hennessy 3 minutes, Logan Whiteley 33 seconds, John Bowmer 10 sec, Oliver Hopkins 10 sec, and Simon Lun 1 second.

Tomorrows run is set down for a 10:00am start at Berrilee Road off Cadia Road.