CRITCHLOW DELIVERS LONG-AWAITED 5km WIN: MAYOR LESTER CONSIDERING STREET PARADE
Will Critchlow doing the finish that he should have done in the first place
Will Critchlow may have surprised himself but the crowd went wild when he picked up
fastest time in tonight’s 5km race.
Pulling off a win was
always a goal but it may have come earlier than anticipated.
The time of 17.37 is not his best but the very
warm conditions and the absence of a sufficient cooling breeze may possibly
have had some influence on times. That said there seemed to be plenty of persnal bests across the field.
Apart
from joining the ranks of race victors, Will also picks up a point in the
Critchlow/Thompson Challenge by trouncing Brendon Thompson who at one stage looked like
a no-show, but ended up finishing 6th.
Second in the men’s race in a time of 18.17 was Adam Steinmetz
an 800m track specialist but tonight doing his job as the 18.00 pacer.
Stopping the clock at 18.21 was newcomer Martis Bengenet who
picked up 3rd place in the men's race.
In the women's race Sarah Fountain came in 1st with a time of 21.01. Second was Lucy Lawlor in 21.10 - her best ever placing in her waterfront races. Bex Hutchinson clocked up a personal best to finish in 21.46 and third place.
Also in the race was sight-impaired Maria Williams and guide Melissa Moon. Melissa has been Maria's running partner/guide for a number of years now and I can only presume that their participation tonight means there is a big race coming up.
As an incentive to Ben Twyman who is looking to break 16.00, Melissa's best 5km (track) time is only 1 second slower than Ben's winning time from last week.
My final observation is whether pacer Niam Macdonald is losing his
touch slightly by finishing in 22.26, 4 whole seconds off his pace time of 22.30. This may require
further observation.
