Snowy Conditions At Lilydale

By Brian Marantelli 4 July 2012

Ashley Snowden overcame the bitterly cold conditions at Lillydale Lake on Sunday to win the Yvonne Callaghan 5km Handicap from Mark Howard and Tony Rendina. Ashley placed in the previous two Lilydale events and looked likely to again be relegated to a placing when Mark Howard, after being passed with less than a kilometre to travel, issued another challenge in the final stages. However Snowden was able to maintain a break to win by a margin of fifteen seconds and record his second win with the Victorian Cross Country League. Ashley’s form this season has been first class with a series of minor placing before Sunday’s win. Mark Howard, racing sparingly this season, battled on well for his second place and a win in a future short course event is close at hand. Tony Rendina, out of the prize money over the last few seasons, is thriving on his recent run of placings and goes to Murchison as a pronounced favourite. The run of the day must go to Jonny Souter, a seventeen year old having his first run with the club who finished an excellent sixth off his tight handicap. His time of 17.45 was a great run under the conditions and Jonny looks to have a bright future in athletics. Greg Whitecross produced his best run with the VCCL to sneak into the top ten and with further racing over the longer distances looks a likely winner before the season closes. Others to finish in the top ten, Tony Parsons, Marcus Boxall, Irene James, David Haigh and Craig Harris are all enjoying a consistent year and wins would not surprise. The fastest times went to Luke Searle (16:33) from David Haigh (17:18) with Corina Kapusta the fastest female (18:36). The novice award went to Marty Johnson with a solid run of 19:25.

The race was named in honour of Yvonne Callaghan who along with many others has been a tremendous worker for the VCCL over many years. The Victorian Cross Country League would fail to function without the assistance of people like “Evie” who donate their time so that the club can run smoothly and efficiently.

This week is the 39^th running of the Doug Tuhan Murchison 10km with a start time of 12 noon. Lyn McKenzie has organised a mini bus, so those wishing to go to Murchison on the bus should have been in contact with Lyn by mid week.

The week after (15^th July) is a rest week before the running of the main event for the year, the 47^th Norm Charles 10km classic at Lysterfield, start time 10am.

Over the next few weeks Janine McKerron and Dennis Hughes will be passing out tickets for the $1000 draw, decided on presentation night. The draw is the major fund raiser for the year and hopefully everyone will be involved.

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