O O O’Brien Cracks it for a Win

By Brian Marantelli 20 May 2014

Sixty two runners turned out in ideal conditions for the running of the Tony Moran Stable 5km sealed handicap at Karkarook Park on Sunday. The Moran Stable has been long time supporters of the Victorian Cross Country League and their generosity is greatly appreciated by the club and runners alike.

Phillip O’Brien ran the majority of the event out in front with fun runner Nick McGuire, increasing the margin over the rest of the field as the race progressed. Although McGuire finished with a twenty second break over O’Brien it was the latter that finished with the winner’s cheque. Phillip recorded his second win with the VCCL, his previous win being the Family Feud 5km at Birdsland in 2010. Phillip comes into the winter season after a successful summer with the Victorian Athletic League, winning the Albury 1600m and placing in the Stawell 3200m.

After the final handicap deductions were made for the sealed handicap the result was the closest race finish in memory. O’Brien’s winning margin was one second over Jay Wright with another second to Mark Andrews and still another second to Alan McCullen in fourth place. Greg Foran finished fifth but only seven seconds from the winner. Richie Polkinghorne, running his best race for a few years was in seventh place a split second to Joel Donnar and then came Colm Rothery, Sean Quilty and Gary Hall making up the top ten. Cameron Clayton, a recent Stawell 400 metres winner was the first novice home in twelfth place. The fastest times went to O’Brien (16:16) from first year athlete Shane Grund (16:43), with Corina Kapusta (19:09) the fastest female.

Next Sunday we travel to Warringal Park in Heidelberg for the 25th running of the Rendina Family 8km, our first “staggered start” for the season.

The VCCL social committee will be handing out the $1000 draw tickets in the next few weeks, a little earlier than usual. This is the club’s major fund raiser and it would greatly appreciated if everyone could sell a minimum of 3 tickets ($10 each ) to make the raffle a success.

Related

Race 2 Photos courtesy of Leanne Callaghan.

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