Just Reflect

As the 2016 year draws to a close its time to look back and reflect on the year that was in an effort to make 2017 the year that will be.

In Perth, the chance to run in the World Masters again hit home the fact that I really miss racing and being competitive. That being said, the opportunity to be a part of the the Guildford Grammar Cross Country Team as a coach and mentor means that I can help others achieve personal excellence. Further to this the fact that I can mentor Young Caulfield and Doigy still gives me a buzz.

Reading that Troopy has come out of retirement to run another marathon also brought a smile to my face.He was always exciting to watch when he raced and he never left you guessing as to whether he had anything left.

As you go into 2017, look back through your diaries and see what did and didn't work. Then set a few goals and draw on those successes and failures of the 2016 year to make your journey that much better.

Barrel on Wombats

Wesley V Guildford 30.04.16 PSA XC Home and Away

Our Captain (Liam Stacey) and Vice-Captain (Bailey Bartholomeus) were also announced this morning. As was the case last year, the selection of the leadership group is a tough one given the caliber of the lads in the team. Seb Boyd will take on the stretching leadership role, continuing on with the expectations that Jaz Bowie Jarvis set in place during his time in this role last year. The senior group will again set both the tone and expectations of the team through their examples. I know that they will do these positions justice.

And so the season beings   For our new squad members, particularly our year 7 squad today’s race was a chance to get a time on the board and set some goals for the season. It also provided an opportunity to get rid of some of the anxiety surrounds the fact that they are running in a first’s team.

The rules that underpin the squad’s culture are pretty simple:

• Finish what you start 
• Don’t leave the course wondering.

The boys can all be extremely proud of the fact that everyone achieved the first one. In relation to the second one, well, that really is up to each of the boys to reflect on themselves, however, from my perspective I feel pretty confident they can tick that box too given the number of personals bests achieved  by the squad as well as a couple of near misses.

Today’s win by Wesley was a solid effort by their squad. Like us they have continued to try and build a strong cross country culture and over the years we have continued to have a close rivalry, I would suggest that 2016 will be no different.  The run by Luke Burrows was impressive and only fell short of the course record set by Ben O’Connor back in 2013 of 17min26sec. Luke has only recently returned from the Australian   Junior Athletics Championships for Triathlons. He is training 6 days a week, across a number of disciplines, this helps explain why he looked so at ease up the front and moving so smoothly over the ground.  Boys this is something to aspire to Luke looked ‘comfortable being uncomfortable’ Luke moved from 100^th on our all comers 100 list to number 2 today.

Wesley beat us by 116 points today but within that defeat were a number of individual and significant victories. Ben Dewar, in his first run with the squad today run strongly to be the first Guildfordian over the line in 5^th place. This run also put Ben into the top 100 fastest times run over the course coming in as the 99^th fastest time. If he is able to continue to run in our competition , given his other passion rugby which he competes in the junior sports round,   I feel pretty sure that he will move up this list.

Three other boys placed in the top 10 today:

Nathan Kerman: 7^th 20:41

Liam Stacey: 8^th 20:55

Alex Jose: 9^th 21:03

Further to this, and not far off this group, Luke Govus (13^th), Aiden McLaughlin (14^th) and Jasper Sharp(15^th) were in the mix too. I feel confident that over the next few weeks as we build on our endurance base that these boys, along with a number of others, will move up the field and both improving their times and their standings.

Course personal bests:

The following boys ran particularly well today to record their fastest times over the Guildford course. This indicates that they have come into the squad off strong summer fitness, possibly in a lot of cases rowing.

Aiden McLaughlin 17 second PB (21:54 against Aquinas last year in round 6; today 21:37)

Gabriel Boyd 3min34sec (27:06 against trinity in 2014; today 23:32)

Health Collins Equal person Best 22:09

Jack McClean 2min 19sec (25:43 against Trinity in round 1 last year: today 23:24)

Jack Spark 1min 55sec (24:04 against Hale in round 4 last year; today 22:09)

Willian Van Den Bake 5min 3sec (31:20 against Trinity in round 1 last year: today 26:17)

The amount of places that you lads picked up in the last 1km of the race is something that should be celebrated too. This indicated that they had not simply settled into a rut, but continued to chase the singlets in front of them.  This is important because it’s the places that count , and as I have stated to the boys a number of times, they may never know  when there place point could make the difference between a win and a loss regardless of whether they are at the front or rear of the field.

Finally I wish to thank the leadership team and in fact the entire team for the level of encouragement that you gave to the guys at the rear of the field. To see the vice-captain and another senior runners come back and run with some of the boys , is what makes us stand out as a team. It demonstrates , clearly that each and every one’s performance is a reflection of our overall effort and helps to not only remind us that no one steps off the course until they have crossed the line , but to signal that their finishing result is important to the team.     

ROUND 6				Pace
AT GUILDFORD
GUILDFORD V AC  06.06.15
Place	Sch	Time	Name
1	W	0:17:33	L.Burrows	3:30
5	G	0:20:21	B.Dewar	3:59
7	G	0:20:41	N.Kerman	4:03
8	G	0:20:55	L.Stacey	4:06
9	G	0:21:03	A. Jose	4:08
13	G	0:21:35	L.Govus	4:14
14	G	0:21:37	A.McLaughlin	4:14
15	G	0:21:38	J.Sharp	4:15
23	G	0:22:09	H.Collins	4:21
24	G	0:22:09	J.Spark	4:21
26	G	0:22:33	J.Peters	4:25
28	G	0:23:24	J.McClean	4:35
29	G	0:23:29	J.Connor	4:36
30	G	0:23:32	G.Boyd	4:37
33	G	0:23:49	L.Gerrans	4:40
34	G	0:23:50	B.Bartholomeusz	4:40
35	G	0:23:51	C.Miles	4:41
39	G	0:24:12	J.Manolini	4:45
40	G	0:25:01	J.Choong	4:54
41	G	0:25:13	J.Pollock	4:45
45	G	0:26:32	M.Headland	5:12
47	G	0:27:15	S.Boyd	5:21
48	G	0:28:02	M.Ameduri	5:30
49	G	0:28:54	T.Alievski	5:40
50	G	0:29:25	C.Alexander	5:46
51	G	0:29:31	W.Ngo	5:47
53	G	0:29:53	M.Heffernan	5:52
54	G	0:32:27	T.Schoenauer	6:22
56	G	0:26:17	W.VAN DEN BAKE	7:07
57	G	0:36:31	C.McAtee	7:10
58	G	0:38:05	D.Brecich	7:28
59	G	0:38:51	N.Leek	7:37