Tuesday 13 March 2007

Golden Geese, Gaggle and Gosling

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 with
Quote of the day: "Grow old with me! The best is yet to be." - Robert Browning

The Weston Creek Half Marathon results are available.

We speedy geese did brilliantly. I ran with Richard for the first 6km at 4:05 pace; he continued on at that pace all the way and was first M45.

I slowed somewhat and still finished with a time way better than I expected. I was second M55.

David Webster showed what a good runner he is despite only recently resuming training, and was third M55.

Bob Harlow has run little recently and still ran well. As always.

Helen was our stand out runner, a huge pb, not afraid to push the pace, she maintained very even splits to the very end. Helen won the W45s and just keeps improving.

Emma has been training with us for a short time and will improve. Her time is an excellent one for the distance and should inspire her to run more half marathons; I predict five minutes or more improvement next time she runs a half.

Maria won the W50 section and was just six minutes faster than the M50 winner. Coming as it did after training for 800m on the track, it was brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Mick ran easy, and was being careful not to damage for track races yet to come. He could have been up with Richard, maybe, had he thrown caution to the winds. But he is smarter than that.

Charlie had a good run to take second in the W40s, her marathon training seems to be going well. She always looks so relaxed, a good way to look when long distance racing. She would easily run under 3:30 in the marathon if she cares to try.

David Baussmann had a great run and should easily break 100 minutes on the other Canberra half marathon courses.

Our golden gosling Thea had a remarkable run on an accurate and difficult course; but she likes hills and a challenge. The previous day she couldn't walk, with a swollen ankle, and didn't look like starting.

With the help of music and all the consistent training she has been doing, Ruth ran a twenty second pb and won the W55s.

Peter Hogan has had a remarkable recovery from illness and has worked his way back into running, over the last few months, so much so he finished the half marathon. Amazing!

And in my writeup the other day I overlooked Michael; how could I do that. This guy is incredible; down and out from being collected by a bicycle one day a few weeks ago, after a cleanup and a whole lot of stitches he bounces back the next and is running as well as ever. He won the M75s of course and was the second-oldest finisher, but his time of 2:08 put him faster than 24 other, much younger, finishers.

The race within the race was the gaggle v speedy coach challenge.
As timed by the gaggle:
at 7k Amanda Walker 30:50 (4.24) v SC 29:00 (4:08)
at 14k Katie Forestier 29:57 (4:16) v SC 29:34 (4:14)
at 21.09k Ken White 30:01 (4:13) v SC 31:00 (4:25)
Gaggle 1.30:49 (4:18) v SC 1.29:35 (4:14)
Oh, and the gaggle were easy winners of the relay team section.

Speedy geese in the Weston Creek half marathon
26. Richard Faulks ACT 47 M45 1:26:33 4:06/km first M45
37. Geoff Moore ACT 58 M55 1:29:35 4:14/km second M55
54. David Webster ACT 55 M55 1:33:39 4:26/km third M55
55. Bob Harlow ACT 59 M55 1:33:51 4:26/km
58. Helen Larmour F ACT 47 W45 1:34:16 4:28/km first W45
76. Emma Adams F ACT 38 1:37:04 4:36/km
82. Maria O'Reilly F ACT 52 W50 1:38:02 4:38/km first W50
86. Mick Horan ACT 47 M45 1:39:13 4:42/km
102. Charlie McCormack F NSW 42 W40 1:41:39 4:49/km second W40
109. David Baussmann ACT 56 M55 1:42:49 4:52/km
136. Thea Zimpel F ACT 24 1:46:59 5:04/km
157. Ruth Baussmann F ACT 56 W55 1:53:20 5:22/km first W55
168. Peter Hogan ACT 59 M55 1:55:05 5:27/km
210. Michael Freer ACT 77 M75 2:08:09 6:04/km first M75

234 finishers in the individual section.

speedy geese in the relay section
1. SPEEDY GAGGLE FFM 1:30:49 4:18
17. GEOFFS SENIORS FF 1:58:52 5:38

38 teams, each with two or three runners, finished.
As an exercise for the reader (!) I will leave you to find out who "Geoff's Seniors" are. Hint - they are not necessarily my senior in age.
Good iffort, Geiff's Seniors.

Last night we had an easy recovery interval session; well, you could run as hard as you liked. Five intervals of about 370m on five minutes, jogging continuously in between.

So, a tremendous result everybody in the half marathon. It will be a very good year.