Another hot afternoon greeted the Road Runners on Friday evening. Fortunately, the temperature had dropped to a reasonable 24 or 25 and for some; the heat didn’t impair their running enthusiasm. This is always a hot course and not even the head wind as we ran along the river could offer any relief. It has been a few years since John Bond ran with us and it was nice to have him back. It didn’t take him long to get into the swing of things by picking the winner of this week’s round and walking away with a block of chocolate.
First to cross this week was Dimi. Only seconds behind him was Pete Khourey, Eva Moeller Duhme held on to take third and Scott Johnson makes up the four.
Once again, we should acknowledge our volunteer administrators who willingly turn up each week to time the run and stand around waiting for us to finish. Next week we are at Erowal Bay where once again we have the chance to chase the kangaroo’s in our endeavour to grab a chocolate.
STROMLO LIGHTENING RUN
The Stromlo Running Festival (Lightening Run) was held in the ACT on 16 November 2014. Three distances were on offer for this challenging course – 10km, 30km and 50km. MC for the day was none other than Rob DeCastella. Three NAC members signed up for the 50km and three signed up for the 10km. For most runners a good night’s sleep prior to a big race is preferable and it was no exception on this weekend. Things don’t always work out quite that way and as a big storm front rolled into the camping ground the tent accommodation was put to the test. Heavy rain and strong winds persisted throughout the night leading into a cold and wet start with little room for improvement.
Peter Khourey, Scott Johnson and Darren Morris stepped up to the line prepared to be cold and wet for the entire race. Not only was it miserable but they had a time limit to comply with. Scott started out quite strong and led the three for the first 40 odd kilometres. Peter and Darren ran steadily on and with only a couple of kilometres to go, Pete pulled away from Darren and slowly decreased the distance between himself and Scott. Pete made a well timed move at the 48 kilometre mark to finish 50 hard kilometres in a time of 4:47:29. Scott was just over a minute behind on 4:48:32 and Darren finished in a credible 4:56:05.
Well done boys to complete such an epic run in the worst possible conditions. Congratulations should also go to Zahra Wells who completed 10km in 1:00:57, Eric Moeller-Duhme in 57:18 and Darrin Smith placed 10th in 44:42.