23 January 2011

Queensland Open 3000m Championship 2011

Sat 8.30pm Qld Open 3000m Champs. 2nd Heat 4th 9m19.33
Fri 6.45pm Roo 5.70km 24m25  (4m16 K's)
Thurs 5.00am Roo+Lake 10.68km 47m51 (4m28 K's)


At 7.00am Sat I looked outside and saw we had beautiful conditions; No wind,and 24 O C. However, I had decided to race with the kids in the Queensland 3000m Open Champs. By 9.00am the wind was up and gusting very strong and I thought 'bollocks I've made the wrong choice!' 
The Q'land Champs were due to take place at 7.30pm , I had seen the pre entry numbers and thought there was a very good chance that they would need to split the race. 
They were going to split the field into three races but in the end they made it two mens races and as I had seeded myself with my seasons best 9m18. I was in the second heat following the Mens A and Womens A.
It was really good to see the Championship race. 
Nick Toohey who ran 3m40sec for 1500m (waving and cavorting at the finish!!) at the Zatopecks a month ago was the standout competitor. 
After a slow start 70secs and 3mins for the first K , Nick kicked and decimated the field gaining an 80m lead in the next K. He looked strong confident and unbeatable. 
Of course you can guess what happened!
He died and two lads Jayden Russ and Daniel Bulmer caught him and these two had an almighty battle over the last lap (someone said a 53 !!), the winner (Bulmer)crossing the line in 8m24;49. Now forgive me for blowing my own trumpet in a way but as a 17 year old I ran 8m23. It seems inconceivable today that had I raced at my best  I might have ever been up there with them.
After the Womens race the second heat of the Mens Open started an hour later than the scheduled start time!
The 20 strong field went flying from the gun. The kids went though 200m in 31/32 me at 33 thinking 'this is too  fast but I got to stay with these kids!'
Inevitably there was a slow down as matters sorted themselves out . 
Do I run first lane or second lane? 
Do I overtake or do I run their pace? 
These questions don't normally arise at Masters as after 100m I'm in the lead and pulling away. So the first few laps was quite competitive real racing, at one stage I overtook a lad and  he overtook me on the next lap and then I had to overtake him again within 200m! A group of 3 kids had broken away and I was next in 4th chasing. We were soon lapping the real kids. 
I had the impression from the times I heard at the finish line that I was running OK . 
I thought I got to the bell in 7m58 which I thought meant I might run 9m10, however, as I crossed the line I thought I heard the call 9m18. 
Don't get me wrong 9m18 is OK -  it equals my best for 2010, however, I thought I could run sub 9m10. It turns out I ran 9m19;33. I nearly caught 3rd place on the line.
My Garmin had again buggered up (battery read 0% charge when it should have been 100%) so I did not clock my own time.
The Results are below and yes they put the age that your going to turn this year down as your age ! I'm not 50 yet! See what I mean about racing the kids?;



Men 3000 Meter Run QLD CHAMPS
================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                    Finals
================================================================
Section  1
  1   508 Bulmer, Daniel      21 GCV                    8:24.49
  2  1114 Russ, Jayden        26 QE2                    8:24.51
  3   646 Crook, Daryl        23 ASR                    8:31.19
  4   106 Toohey, Nicholas    23 PAC                    8:34.36
  5   876 Crew, Andrew        31 MAR                    8:37.81
  6   335 Nispel, Patrick     31 UNQ                    8:42.84
  7   875 Bock, Peter         29 MAR                    8:45.40
  8   333 Nankivell, Dylan    16 GLD                    8:47.82
  9   110 Twist, Jay          23 UNQ                    8:48.91
 10   222 Chambers, Charles   18 GCV                    8:49.43
 11  2312 Carlsson, Matt      20 UNQ                    8:55.67
 12   379 Thomas, Jordan      19 QE2                    8:58.10
 13   767 Schofield, Sam      19 UNQ                    9:04.70
 14   202 Barton, David       20 QE2                    9:12.27
 15   397 Watkins, Julian     17 JIM                    9:15.93
Section  2
  1   975 Gebre, Mesele       16 QE2                    9:09.19
  2   925 Hagan, Patrick      18 QE2                    9:09.71
  3  1076 Fox, Loughlin       17 UNQ                    9:18.91
  4  1015 Sweeney, David      50 UNQ                    9:19.33
  5   803 Bruce, Jack         17 UNQ                    9:27.12
  6  1101 Kianga, Skene       24 QE2                    9:35.58
  7   223 Tucker, John        32 UNQ                    9:38.00
  8   194 Allen, Max          15 GCV                    9:52.62
  9   496 Healy, Matthew      21 RNB                    9:58.21
 10   354 Saleh, Osman        19 ASR                   10:04.72
 11   526 Stanbrook, Mitchel  15 GCV                   10:08.02

Men 3000 Meter Run QLD CHAMPS....
 12   829 Hong, Seunggil      32 INT                   10:29.23
 13   846 Litfin, Tony        48 RNB                   10:36.04
 14   962 Cossettini, Thomas  15 QE2                   10:41.68
 15   805 Cook, Hugo          15 UNQ                   10:43.63
 16   797 Gallagher, John     14 QE2                   10:50.49
 17   995 Waldron, Jayden     14 DEC                   11:18.97
 18   499 Healy, Michael      16 RNB                   12:01.80
 19   970 Early, Michael      21 QE2                   12:02.11
 20   215 Purcell, John       43 ASR                   12:04.05



3 comments:

Samurai Running said...

Terrific stuff David!

You pretty much reflect what the textbooks say that if you train smart and consistently you will not lose too much speed right up to your sixties but these young fellas should be faster!

I don't know what it is exactly but until the larger society values running more and they run more often together with past champions, they won't get faster.

Anonymous said...

C'mon Dave stop being in denial about your age....50 eh?
When's the big party ? Let us all know so the HuRTS team can come and help you celebrate the occasion :)
Tim

David said...

Thanks for your comments Guys.
Scott ain't that the truth!
Timothy Sept 28th and your all welcome!!!