BARWICK WINS ELUSIVE RACE
Few races on the 19-race Stawell and Ararat Cross Country Club calendar had eluded veteran Chris Barwick in his 359 starts but the Thompson Family Handicap was one of them until he won the 20th running of the race at Ararat last Sunday.
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Barwick, who turned 60 in May, had started in 15 of those previous Thompsons but remarkably had finished no closer than third in 2008.
But he really made up for lost time this time, jumping fellow backmarkers Peter Gibson and Jack Trounson at the start and racing like a man possessed to have all of the field covered by the halfway mark in the eight kilometre event.
“There are some days when you are in the zone, you start well, you feel OK and you just go out and have a crack,” said Barwick who had missed all of last season with thigh and other issues.
“I’ve been a bit embarrassed about getting slower and slower and that was a bit of a motivator. I haven’t been able to train as hard as I would like. The thigh is still a niggling problem and I just haven’t had the time for more than a couple of runs a week.”
The freshen up, however, hasn’t done Barwick much harm because he ran a sparkling 37.47 minutes on a muddy and sometimes slippery McDonald Park track to finish with a stunning two minute margin over Gibson with Keith Lofthouse just two seconds behind in third place.
To put the ease of Barwick’s win into perspective, the winning margin equates to around 500 metres, but he’ll be stung by the handicapper when the club regroups for the 10 kilometre Logan Memorial Handicap at Stawell on Sunday. Start time is 9.45 am and fun runners are welcome.
BAKER IN BACK TO BACK WINS
Luke Baker played a lot of football in his youth but injuries, niggling, nagging and serious led him to give the game away in his mid-20s when, like many a lapsed footballer before him, his weight soared to 100 kilograms.
“I knew I had to do something about it, but nothing happened until I moved from Murtoa to Halls Gap a few years ago and did a lot of hiking to prepare myself to start running again.”
Since joining the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club last year, his weight has plummeted to 78 kg and after notching his maiden win with the club at Concongella four weeks ago he backed that up with a win at his next start in the Axis Employment Handicap at Stawell last Saturday.
“That was the quickest five kilometres I’ve ever run,” Baker said after the race, pleased with his time of 24.42 on a puddled cross country course, but somewhat nonplussed by back to back wins.
“I can’t believe I’ve turned twenty years of inactivity into this,” the forty-four-year-old said.
“With all the injuries I’ve had, a knee reconstruction, shin splints, plantar facia (heel soreness), achilles and stress fractures , I now suffer from treatment fatigue. I think it was all caused by being stuck in an office all day and doing nothing to keep the body in good running order.”
As part of his preparation for the Axis, Baker ran 18 giddying kilometres around North Park (Stawell), checking for proper body alignment and balance.
“It was all part of a plan to run on a flat, smooth surface to make sure that my body is in symmetry and that my foot strike is consistent,” he said, as if fearful of further injury ahead.
He ran with swollen feet on Saturday, but with the confidence of a win and race fitness under his belt, Baker had almost half-a-minute to spare from David Hunter with the consistent Terry Jenkins a close third.
In the Sub Juniors race, Olivia Hunter turned the tables on last start winner Jerome Baker with Chloe Hunter third.
The club meets at Stawell’s Rifle Range Road this Saturday for the ten kilometre Run for Ray (Scott).
Fun runners are invited to register for a 10am start.
