Roger Maximiw wins Victorian Track Titles.
At the Newborough Track on Sunday the 9 th of November 2003 Traralgon Harrier Roger Maximiw made it back to back Victorian Titles. Roger the current Australian 100km title holder beat a large field to win the 50km Victorian Track title for the second year in a row. Runner-Up to Roger in both events was Gosford's Bruce Renwick who set two new Australian 55-59y age group records for both events.
He then continued running to also add the 6-hour Victorian Track title to his resume. In ideal conditions 18 runners joined three relay teams to compete in this years event. Early in the race Collingwood's Jarrod Kanizay set the early pace giving Roger and Bruce Renwick who was aiming to break his age group Australian records something to chase. Richard Comber, Matthew Franke and Sandra Timmer-Arends also set a good early pace. At about the 6km mark Roger let Jarrod slip slightly away after running neck and neck with him for the first part. At about the 18km mark Roger started to catch Jarrod and when he when he got a break on him at about the 23km mark there was no stopping him. Although conditions were perfect there was a sudden retirement of several early pace setters as they passed the 30km mark.
With the retirement of Jarrod Kanizay, Matthew Franke and Sandra Timmer-Arends the race for the minor places opened up for several other runners. With Roger and Bruce continuing to run strongly Richard Comber was holding onto third place. Richard began to struggle after 40km and although he continued on bravely, Ian Twite and Kelvin Marshall soon passed him. Kelvin who wasn't feeling too well all day continued on to finish third in the 6-hour. Race walker Brian Glover managed to cover the 50km in 5:56:02 which is an extraordinary effort walking all the way. In the female section there were no finishers in the 50km event.
Cranbourne's Sandra Howorth won the 6-hour Victorian title from Traralgon's Sandra Timmer-Arends after completing 48.989km in the 6-hours. In the relay section team Kids (Adrian Masterman-Smith, Jade Masterman-Smith, Jay Masterman-Smith, David Embelton, Stephen Mann) missed the venue record by 80 meters for an under 18 team running 82.725km for the 6-hours. Second in the teams event were Blokes (Ken Lancaster, Derek Evans, Steve Reid, John Jervis, Mark Peek) 77.101km, third was Girls (Kim Essex, Denise Twite, Nicole Morrison, Lee Graham, Ros Nicholson) 73.043km. As with all events the success is dependent on a large group of helpers and Sunday saw a large group of helpers on hand to help. The club is grateful to all of you especially Rodney Le Lievere and Belinda Issell for their efforts with the timekeeping. Also female winner Sandra Howorth for organising the masseurs. Also the Moe little Athletic club conducted a meet the Olympians clinic featuring Kyle Vand Der Kyte at the same time as our event. The organisation and behaviour of the kids was excellent and the Traralgon Harriers would like to thank them for their Co-operation.
Results, Victorian 50km Track Championship- 1 st Roger Maximiw 3hrs 35mins 20 secs, 2 nd Bruce Renwick 3:45:16 (Australian Record 55-59y age group), 3 rd Ian Twite 4:11:56, 4 th Kelvin Marshall 4:20:24 , 5 th Richard Comber 4:29:14 , 6 th Robert Embelton 4:34:16 , 7 th Trevor Marsh 4:52:02 , 8 th Ernie Hartley 5:13:00 , 9 th David Jones 5:16:45 and 10 th Brian Glover 5:56:02 .
Victorian 6-Hour Track Championship- Males, 1 st Roger Maximiw 75.700km, 2 nd Bruce Renwick 73.793km (Australian Record 55-59y age group), 3 rd Kelvin Marshall 66.280km, 4 th Rob Embelton 60.938km, 5 th Trevor Marsh 58.532km, 6 th David Jones 57.115km, 7 th Ernie Hartley 56.348km, 8 th Ian Twite 50.8km, 9 th Brain Glover 50.518km, 10 th Richard Comber 50.4km, 11 th Stan Miskin 42.718km, 12 th Matthew Franke 34.4km, 13 th Barry Summersgill 32.8km, 14 th Jarrod Kanizay 32.8km, 15 th Fred Brooks 29.2km and 16 th Bruce Salisbury 17.6km.
Females, 1 st Sandra Howorth 48.989km and 2 nd Sandra Timmer-Arends 37.6km.