Athletics SA 10km Road Championships

A perfect Adelaide winter morning greeted competitors at the start line of the 2021 South Australian Road Running Championships held at West Beach. After a string of bad luck with the weather, the well represented RunAsOne team were ready to put their recent training to the test in some more favourable conditions. RunAsOne runners competed in both the 5km and 10km distances that were on offer, and it was great to see their efforts well supported by a number of their team mates who were sidelined this week in preparation for their own races on the Gold Coast next week. The morning was highlighted by some podium finishes, but also a host of personal bests being recorded on what was a flat and fast course!

The first race of the morning was the 5km event which saw competitors negotiate one lap of the course. In this race, RunAsOne was represented by Luca Wagner and Georgia Van Der Jeugd. Home in just 18 mins and 36 secs, Luca enjoyed the opportunity to test himself against the best juniors in South Australia! Continuing his trend of personal best performances every time he toes the start line, Luca managed to shave another 21 secs off of his previous best time at the distance. Similarly, Georgia made it 2 from 2 with a 38 second personal best, as she crossed the line in 23:43. Remarkably, Georgia had a personal best time of 25:10 for this distance less than a month ago! On the theme of fast 5km runs, it’s also more than worth mentioning here that RunAsOne had another fantastic presence at a variety of park runs over the weekend. Special congratulations must go to Sarah Schubert for a an equal PB of 27:11 at Pakapakanthi! Similarly, coach Dylan Trennery polished off his Gold Coast Marathon Preparations with a personal best 18:21, in what was a less than maximum effort for him just a week out from the main event!

Later that morning, a large contingent of the RunAsOne team shared the fate of 2 laps of the West Beach course! Kicking the 10km races off was the women’s state championships for the Open, U/20, and veteran ladies! After 1 lap, Issie Hume lead the open race and looked super strong in doing so! Not far behind her, Margo Muir had started quickly and held a clear 3rd position in the race behind Issie and regular South Australian podium finisher Brooke Hines. However, it was the second lap that the strength of the team really started to shine through! While Issie held a top 2 place, Ash Shepheard and Sophie Hlipala had stormed through the field to now hold down 3rd and 4th position as they approached the final left hand turn off of Tapleys Hill Road and down towards the finish line. In the end, RunAsOne claimed 2 of the 3 podium positions with Issie claiming 2nd place in a PB of 36:54, and Sophie receiving the bonus of a bronze medal for the state championships despite being just out lasted by her teammate Ash who is not registered with an Athletics SA club. Finishing within 5 secs of one another, both Ash and Sophie recorded big personal bests of 38:35 and 38:40 respectively! With both of these girls very new to running, we’re certainly excited about what they can achieve with more training and experience! Not far behind them, a brave Margo held on for a respectable 39:06 and a valuable experience that she will no doubt benefit from for future races. Behind her, Lucy Hinton claimed line honours for biggest PB of the day shaving an outstanding 5 mins from her previous best with a time of 40:54! Also joining the Personal Best party were Olivia Buchanan (41:12), Alison Sorrell (43:43), and Issy Tucker (47:45) in that order! Close to her personal best, Alicia Stephens also had a strong run finishing in 47:09.

Approximately 30 minutes after the women had finished, and with the weather still cooperating, it was the men’s turn to receive the starters commands before setting off on their own 2 lap, 10km journey. At the completion of the first lap, the crowd were able to see how the race was beginning to take shape at the halfway point. Tom Lancaster had the leaders in sight and was looking to capitalize on some recent breakthroughs in training. Behind him, Justin McDonald was backing up from an ultra trail race last weekend, and looked remarkably comfortable in doing so! Following Justin in to the half way point, it was great to see Matt Di Monte carrying a group of his team mates through on personal best pace. In that group Matt Ormsby, Matty Warner, Nick Edwards, and Tony Jarrett made the most of the wind block! After that big group had passed, it wasn’t long before we were also able to send Andrew Heathershaw, Atsushi Ogai, and Liam McInerney on their way for their second lap. Coming down the finish straight, the RunAsOne supporters first caught sight of Tom Lancaster who didn’t have the day he had hoped for, but was still strong enough to hold on for a respectable 33:09 performance and first RAO runner home. Justin was incredible finishing in a massive PB of 34:12 bringing in to question the benefits of an ultra marathon over a taper week?! He was also 2nd in the O/35 category. Matt Di Monte held off his pack to record a time of 36:35 which was very close to his PB. Behind Matt, fellow Matts also had a great day! Matty Warner ran a PB of 36:40, and Matt Ormsby broke 37 minutes for the first time finishing in 36:55! Behind them Nick Edwards claimed a 40 second PB in 37:25, and Tony Jarrett chased him hard down the home straight to claim what we’re calling a “2nd career” PB of 37:27, and a podium place in the O/50’s category. We next caught sight of Andrew Heathershaw in the new RAO white singlet! He broke 40 minutes for the first time in emphatic fashion with a 38:27 performance! Atsushi was next in 43:24; a great effort after only recently getting back in to training after UTA. Atsushi was just ahead of Liam who ran a massive PB of 44:25!

Overall, it was another great event hosted by Athletics SA. Each RunAsOne runner continues to inspire their team mate and coaches with their unwavering commitment to being better than they were last time. We look forward to the next ASA winter series races, but before that a large group are headed to the warmer climate of the Gold Coast for a chance at more PB’s on what is promised to be a fast weekend on a flat course! We look forward to bringing you those results in the next review!