Well, I had a great race in Bergen. I finished 23rd out of 140 starters - my best result yet! The race went exactly according to plan. I went out conservatively, probably around 80th for the first flattish 2km. Then I slowly moved through the field, catching Paul Crake and about 30 others in the next 3kms, then another 20 or so through the middle section, and finally another half dozen in the closing kms including Daniel Green. Both Greeny and Crakey had disappointing races, finishing 40th and ~54th respectively. Greeny was with the leaders for the first few kms, but started feeling ordinary soon after. Ben Rattray and Gareth Candy finished 89th and 113th respectively. We finished 11th of 22 teams.
Jonathon Wyatt won the men's race pretty comfortably, with a 2 minute gap to 2nd. He won in a bit under 48 minutes. I ran 52.48 to be just behind two Kiwis, Aaron Strong and Simon Mauder. It is certainly the closest in terms of time that I have been to the top three.
The course was fantastic. A nice wide fire trail for the opening
kms, then some beautiful steep single track up to midway, a bit more fire
trail before the final very steep and rocky section which contained lots
of steps. I felt pretty good the whole race, and was thinking I should
have been able to catch a few more people in the closing kms (which is
pretty much where my overtaking days stopped), but when I reached the finish
I felt really tired, so perhaps I did a good job of blocking out the pain
during the race. The view at the top was incredible. Snow capped
mountains in the distance, green valleys way down beneath us, and some
rocky peaks in between. Definitely the most scenic finish I've ever
seen.
Having spent June and July 2000 in Kenya on consultancy work for the International Monetary Fund, I thought it might be interesting to give club members some of my observations on the athletics scene in that country, famous for producing some of the world's best middle and long distance runners. While I was there, I had the opportunity to witness first hand the Kenyan national athletics championships and Olympic selection trials. These were held over three days in late July at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi.
The Centre is a large stadium named after the current president and situated on the northern outskirts of Nairobi. This capital city of over 2 million is situated in a central highland region some 5500 feet (about 1800 metres) above sea level, which may go some way to explaining why Kenyan athletes perform so well at low altitude. Kenyans take great pride in the success of their athletes, and the last day of the trials was attended by President Moi (Prime Minister, where are you?) together with 20,000 cheering spectators.
The lineup in many events read like a who's who of world-class distance running. However, the trials also represented something of a changing of the guard, at least in some major events. Unfortunately, I had to rely on newspaper reports to get final results, as I could not locate a program listing competitors' names, announcements over the stadium's loud speaker system were almost inaudible (even though they were generally in English) and names were not shown on the large electronic scoreboard (although they did manage to have some less important announcements come up, after years when apparently the scoreboard did not function at all!).
In the men's 5000 metres, for example, relatively-unknown Julius Gitahi beat home a number of more fancied rivals including 1998 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Richard Limo, five times world cross-country champion Paul Tergat, Sammy Kipketer, 1999 world silver medallist Benjamin Limo and 1997 world champion Daniel Komen (who failed to finish). In the 10000 metres, John Korir led home a strong field in the smart time of 27m49s, followed by David Chelule, Wilberforce Talel and Paul Kosgei.
Noah Ng'eny, who has lived and trained in Australia for the past three years, won the men's 1500 metres in 3m38.3s from Bernard Langat and Laban Rotich. He declared afterwards that he would be gunning for Algeria's El Geurrouj in Sydney.
The women's 10000 metres was won by world marathon record holder Tegla Loroupe in the time of 32m13.5s.
As was to be expected, a class field started in the men's 3000 steeplechase, won by Rueben Kosgei in 8m17.6s followed closely by Bernard Barmasai and Wilson Boit. Some well-fancied marathoners, such as Boston marathon winners Elijah Lagat and Moses Tanui, missed selection for Sydney. Chosen ahead of them were Rotterdam marathon champion Kenneth Cheruiyot, Atlanta bronze medallist Eric Wainaina and former Chicago marathon winner Ondoro Osoro. As happens more widely in Kenya, tribalism and politics, including within the Kenya Amateur Athletics Association, play a part in the selection process for athletes.
Some of the sprinters, especially in the 200 and 400 metres, were disadvantaged
by a breakdown in the electronic timing equipment part way through the
meet, resulting in hand timing of all events, which does not satisfy IAAF
rules in qualifying for international competitions. A number of their
athletes therefore had to seek qualifying times on the European circuit.
Eveready Batteries of Kenya has offered a bonus of 200,000 Kenya shillings
(about $A4400) to each Kenyan athlete who achieved a gold medal in Sydney.
While this may not sound much for Australians, it represents a small fortune
for Kenyans.
Criteria
The R.W.Clarke Foundation may be used to assist young athletes (preferably under 23) to obtain competition at major domestic meets, ie: Grand Prix events, National Cross Country Championships and international Espoirs competitions, and to participate in appropriate training camps, if considered essential.
Preference will be given to (but not restricted to) those athletes not already receiving support under the Olympic Athlete Program (OAP), Australian Commonwealth Games Association's Junior Grants Program, or Institute/Academy Scholarships.
Athletes are instructed to apply personally by hand writing their application
and mailing it to Athletics Australia (faxed applications are not acceptable).
Applications will be determined by the R.W.Clarke Foundation Selection
Panel, consisting of Ron Clarke (Chairman), Athletics Australia's High
Performance Manager and Athletics Australia's Chairman of Selectors.
Mail applications to:
R.W.Clarke Foundation
Athletics Australia
Fawkner Towers
Suite 22, 431 St Kilda Road
MELBOURNE VIC 3004
Tel: (03) 9820 3511
Kathy Southgate was third ACT competitor home in the open women's event in a time of 32:16.9 and contributed to the ACT's 3rd place in the teams event. Eloise Kelly came home 29th in the U20 event in a time of 26:34.5 with Ruth Kennedy not far behind in 26:56.7 in 32nd place. In the U18 event, Marnie Ponton was the second ACT runner home, coming 16th in a time of 15:22.8 and helped the ACT to third in the teams event. Holly Smith came 39th in the U16 girls race in a time of 16:40.2 with Katira Davis in 49th position with a time of 17:46.8.
The All Schools cross country championships were held in conjunction with the Athletics Australia championships, and North Canberra had a number of members competing in the Primary School categories. Luke Davis came 10th in the 10yrs boys race in a time of 7:23.5 while sister Hillory Davis was 13th in the 12yr girls race in a time of 11:51.6. Anne Southgate was 16th in the 11yrs girls race in a time of 12:22.0.
Well done to all competitors.
At the Australian half marathon championships, held at Noosa in Queensland on 27 August, Trent Harlow came in 9th in a time of 1:08.29.
Prior to the Olympics, a couple of North Canberra members enjoyed the opportunity to compete at Stadium Australia in the International Selection Meet. Erwin McRae competed in the 1500m, coming 11th in the second heat in a time of 3:50.88. Scott McTaggart had a strong race in the 3000m steeplechase, coming 5th in a time of 8:56.91. Shaun Creighton gained two third placings - the 5000m in a time of 13:36.09 and the 10000m in a time of 28:31.88.
Then of course there were the Olympics. We hope to be hearing more from Shaun and Susan in the Olympics issue of Norths News, but just for the record:
Shaun Creighton finished 14th in the first heat of the 10000m in a
time of 28:52.71. Susan Hobson battled injury to come in 35th in
the marathon in a time of 2:38.44.
