A Great Turnout at Botanic Gardens

A good turnout greeted the starter for Sunday’s Botanic Gardens run and with it some very good times recorded over the 1 to 5 lap event. Following the rigours of the Running Festival the week prior a number would be thankful for the shorter distances and a break from all the training over the past few months.

Not the case for Brett Sammut who still hits the road daily for just another 30km run or so, that includes running to the top of Mt. Canobolas so he isn’t doing it east. Brett has entered and heading off to Canberra in three weeks time to not only run the marathon over 42km, but intends going further and finishing the 50km ultra marathon event. He will no doubt give it his best shot and with much Orange support from a large group hitting the nation’s capital for two days of short and long distance events.

Sunday also said goodbye to Orange Runners’ for the 2010 runner of the year Melissa Watson who will be going north to Brisbane in a couple of weeks time. Our loss is Queensland’s gain as Melissa is a very strong runner and had some outstanding results throughout NSW in 2010 up to half marathon level. On Sunday she bowed out with an impressive personal best over the undulations of the Gardens, her 8km time was 33m50s, just over 4 minutes for each km; she was the first female home over the longer course. E say farewell to Melissa, however she can be contacted by anyone going up for the Gold Coast events in early July, through the Runners’ Club website, log in and click on ‘read more’ on the article ‘Melissa on the Move’.

News also in and another pair of members didn’t have enough with the local Half Marathon, they travelled to ACT and again ran the 21km course at Weston Creek. Great runs too with Peter Mueller finishing in 1hr 35m with Joel Kitto only 6 minutes behind. Both results were only a few minutes slower than their Orange times, not bad efforts after only 7 days rest, well done guys.

Sunday’s handicap winner was Kittihorn Kaskangam who ran the 3.2km distance in the company of sister Watinee; Watinee pipped her brother in the race to the line by 3 seconds in 23m26s.

Looking through the results I note that Josh Nagle is back with us after a bit of a lay off, much taller than when we last saw him but still has great speed in the legs. Josh covered the 4.8km track running almost dead on 4 minutes per km in a time of 20m46s. Good to see the young fellow back doing the hard yards and it looks as though he will be hard to catch over the middle distances, he was 1st male to finish on Sunday with a minute to spare over the very consistent Dave Craig.

With storm clouds threatening a large turnout of 95 turned out on Wednesday night for the 3km ‘sprint’ around Elephant Park, thankfully only a few who stayed on for a chat were caught in the torrential rain so most got home nice and dry. We have such a large group of walkers indicating that our club caters for those who just want to get out there and keep fit. A nice round of applause greeted Krissy ward as handicap winner on the night, first home and certainly not walking this week finishing in a great 16m52s. Same name but not related Blair Ward only finished 3 seconds behind Krissy so must be one to look out for in the near future.

Another host of personal best time again and Sally Kitto is becoming a regular name in this section, Sally took a further 4 seconds off her time finishing in 17m50s under the watchful eye and pacemaker husband Joel. PB’s were also recorded by Kinisha Roweth (8s) in 13m38s, Bradley Haig (59s) and a new best of 14m28s, Lauren Kerwick (34s) and hard to do when you finish in 11m22s, well done and Frehiwat Ward (25s) in 13m01s. Frehiwat has only been with the club a short time and my tip to be a class runner in the future, have a look at her style the next time we run.

Today and through the night into Sunday morning will see Waratah Sports Club under floodlights with over one thousand people participating in Relay For Life, we have no club run on Sunday. Orange Runners has a team entered and any further support will be much appreciated. By logging into Relay For Life Orange website, drill down to our entry and it is still possible to donate to any of the team entrants. Our club marquee will no doubt be easy to find so call in to support us.

The Annual General Meeting has been set down for Friday 1 April at Anson Street School with a 7pm start. The meeting will follow a short video of club events over the past 12 months. Please note that all positions become vacant and if you wish to be nominated or nominate a 3rd party, be there to put your vote in. It also gives us all the opportunity to voice any items for the betterment of Orange Runners’.

Sunday results:
3.2km female 1. Alice Bowmer 17.41 2. Kinisha Roweth 17.55 3. Bec Fairgrieve 18.09
3.2km male 1. Dan Daley 14.52 2.Martin Davis 15.28 3. Alistair (IT) Merrifield 15.53
4.8km female 1 Kimmy Jarvis 27.01 2= Sarah Trifogli and Pam Fullgrabe 27.50
4.8km male 1. Josh Nagle 20.46 2. David Craig 21.47 3.Connor Whiteley 24.12
8km female 1.Melissa Watson 33.50 2. Karen Neal 37.22 3. Penny Chandler 41.19
8km male 1.Tom Gleeson 30.03 2. Neil Williams 32.27 3. Jimmy Rich 38.40