It was a sign of winter approaching as the 86 starters in the Portarlington Bakehouse 8 km handicap lined up with a biting wind and intermittent drizzle. Alan Jenkins started off five seconds ahead of Glenn Wrest who soon made up his handicap. Wrest was able to hold off Jenkins on the return leg to win by 90 metres with the fast finishing Mark Humphrey third. Wrest has been thriving on the training for his first marathon, constantly running personal bests at the Eastern Gardens park run. In the battle for fastest times, Rachael Thompson was a narrow winner in the female division whilst in the males Alex Romaniw was comfortably the fastest.
Top 10 Placings
G. Wrest, 36:22; A. Jenkins, 36:55; M. Humphrey, 35:06; J. Larrson, 40:44; D. Churchovich, 37:51; D. Burns, 30:33; R. Thompson, 33:54; B. O’Brien, 33:31; A. McGrillen, 32:55; D. Wright, 30:28.
Fastest Times
- Under 20 Male: T. Anderson 35.04.
- Under 20 Female: H. Peart 47.51.
- Under 40 Male: A. Romaniw 29.20, M. Minney 30.27.
- Under 40 Female: R. Thompson 33.54, S. Livingston 34.04.
- Veteran Male: D. Wright 30.28, L. Haines 30.48.
- Veteran Female: S. Andrews 38.46, B. Szymczak 40.01.
- Masters Male: M. Clayton 31.53, Z. Krstevski 34.40.
- Masters Female: N. Angus 42.58, K. Hammond 43.54.
- Legends Male: K. Walker 33.31, D. Elward 34.04.
- Legends Female: P. Galvin 41.31, J. Morton 49.14.
- Supervets Male: F. Engelsman 49.22, J. Willigen 53.41.
- Supervets Female: F. Barnett 56.07.
- Magic Money: L. Rowan 36.21.
