Sports Weekend - Saturday

Last weekend was a weekend to remember for intercollege sports. On Saturday we had Road Relay, an 18km relay race involving 4 x 1.5 km legs and 4 x 3km legs. A team I have coached for the last three years, traditionally Fenner comes last in this event, although we once got fourth when the team arrived hungover after one of our major balls. This year I am helped out in the coaching by first year Phillip Byron. Can his input help an ailing team?

On your marks. Get set. GO! Shanna (Canadian import - far right) leads the way on the first leg (female 1500m)

This year our team seemed stronger, but no one had trained so I wasn't sure how we would go. None of the runners seemed super strong- I was the running the last leg (and I still maintain I shouldn't be in the team) - but we had a sort of consistent average ability within the group.

Jay (Singaporean import) finishes the 2nd leg. After 3 km we're still in last place.

The event started slowly, well to be honest we started slowly. After the first three legs (female 1.5, male 1.5, female 3) we were sixth (read last). Substantially last. I was losing faith and saw another year of abject failure, which means that next year it would be difficult to find interested runners. the handover was made to Phillip Byron, the other 3km male runner. We are pretty much the same over 3km, I chose to go last because a friend of mine named Tim, a state 3km in high school, was running the same leg for his college and I wanted to run against him if possible. Byron had to do well as he was up against the weaker runners. If he did badly things were not going to fare well for the rest of the team.

Phillip (Coach) Byron's strong 3km leg paves the way for a Fenner comeback. At the end of 9 km we're now 4th!

10mins 28secs later in runs Phillip, in fourth place. Our surprised team barely got the next runner out in time. Two more 1.5 km legs (leg 5 and 6) and we were still in fourth, a long way behind third, but a handy lead on fifth and sixth. I jokingly said to the Tani, the 3km gun female runner who was to hand to me, "get me within 30 secs of Ursies (and Tim). I'll chase him down."

The end of leg 5 and the start of leg 6. Lousia (dark green shirt) builds a big lead on fifth (Bruce hall) and last (Burgmann). James (Californian Import - light green shirt) takes off. Can he catch Ursuala hall in third?

The next 12 minutes or so were a nerve racking wait. I'd already spent an hour organising the team, and I was already drained of energy.

James passes to Tani nearly 30 seconds behind Ursula Hall (3rd). Tani - our final female 3km runner - is our secret weapon against all things Daly Road. But not even she will be able to me close enough Ursula.

The to my incalcuable surprise, Tani mounts the last rise in 3rd place. A few metres behind come fourth and fifth, with Ursies thirty seconds behind everyone. First and second were well and truly ahead. This was a fight for the bronze position.

My big mouth had got me in trouble. I can't outrun Tim - he was the man who trained me. Losing would be terrible after the team worked so hard to move us from last to third.

The torch passes in the 8th and final leg. Am I able to transfer my marathon fitness into a short distance race against the best runners Daly Road has to offer? Or will this be another disappointing end to Road Relay. Fenner Pride weighs heavily on my shoulders. Burgmann and Bruce can be seen on the pedestrian crossing, waiting for their tag.

I took the tag and left at a near sprint, using my 6 seconds of my ATP-PC (chemical energy) system, before slipping to aerobic energy. I had to convince the others I was too good for them to try and catch me.

At the halfway point I was met by cheering fans, however unbeknownst to me fourth and fifth were chewing at my heels. Tim was twenty metres behind.

Halfway point, Bruce Hall (Blue) and Burgmann (Yellow) are too close. Ben Williams (FRC President) runs beside telling me the situation. (Open the picture and have a look at my expression - its funny)

With five hundred metres to go I rounded the last straight, and in a road relay first, after nearly 18 km and seven legs, I was not alone. It is unusual for two runners to come in together but we had a line of three - all jostling for position, vying for 3rd place. Burgmann College makes a move to the front, but Bruce Hall and myself keep up. Next I have a shot, increasing the pace again, but the others dog my trail. With two hundred metres to go Bruce Hall ups the ante with a huge finishing pace. Burgmann falls behind, and for a brief second I don't think I can keep up, but with all the spectators watching that wasn't an option. I shrug off the weakness push a bit harder, only slightly behind the blue shirt in front of me. Inexorably I creep up beside my rival, screaming collegiates pushing us on as we take a slight bend to the finish. Suddenly I am forced onto the median strip by the rude Bruce Hall runner, completely disrupting my rhythm with 50 metres to go, and he shoots on ahead. Was he a strategic genius, was that his plan?

Fenner Hall streams over the finish line. After 8 runners and 18 km Fenner finished...

It turned out to be his tactical nightmare. With my steady pacing rhythm destroyed I was able to turn my small trip into a body of flailing arms and legs. Holding my breath I churned uncoordinated limbs in a fit of motion. I heard cries from the Bruce hall spectators choke in their throats. High pitched squeals of the Fenner crowd hit a cresendo as the world blurred around me, the finish just ahead. Bruce Hall (Eamon, a fellow div 1 IB navigator) fell behind as I stumbled through a sprint finish to bring Fenner home in third place - our highest ever placing in this event. It was a day to remember, and a team never to be forgotten.

James, stoked with a 3rd place finish.

Tomorrow, the girl's softball team coached by myself and Toby take on B&G in the Grand final. This is Fenner's fourth appearance in the GF, can we finally take home that trophy

Fenner's 2008 Road Relay Team: (Left to Right) - Michelle, Louisa, Jay, Tani, Myself(capt.), Phillip Byron(Coach), Shanna, and James .