New Australian 50km Champion Sets Personal Bests
From CoolRunning Australia
19 April 2007
Back to Canberra Marathon
David Criniti had dual goals in Sunday’s Canberra Marathon and it looked as though breaking the 2.30 barrier for the first time was his highest priority.
Criniti was never amongst the lead pack, which numbered eight in the early stages, but he doggedly worked through the field to finish third in a personal best time of 2.28.38. Magnus Michelsson had earlier won the race in 2.20.55 and Criniti had assumed that Michelsson would have continued after completing the 42.195km marathon journey and set his sights on also winning the Canberra 50km Ultra Marathon.
No runner had ever won both the marathon and the optional 50km ultra but many thought Michelsson might change that this year. But pressure throughout the latter stages of the marathon from debut runner Anthony Haber convinced Michelsson that Sunday was not the day to reach for this challenge.
Criniti also stopped at the end of his marathon to absorb the euphoria of breaking 2.30 but then was told that Michelsson had also stopped at the end of the marathon. With this knowledge, Criniti changed his mind and started running again, this time as the leader of the 50km. The Canberra race incorporates the Australian 50km Road Championships which also added to Criniti’s incentive. He successfully completed the final 7.805km to clock 3.00.12 to easily win the Championship from Tim Cochrane (NSW) and Bert Pelgrim (VIC). Criniti’s time was amongst the best in Canberra with only two previous winners breaking 3 hours for the 50km distance. Pelgrim broke the Australian M50 record for 50km, his time of 3.15.33 eclipsing Trevor Jacobs’s previous record of 3.18.56.
June Petrie joined her mother Lavinia as a winner of the Canberra 50km. Lavinia was successful in the 1994 Canberra 50km in a time of 3.41.57. Her daughter June couldn’t match her mother’s time but her 2.46.13 finish time gave her a comfortable win, and an Australian 50km Road Championship, over fellow Victorians Deanne Nobbs and Tina Torpy.
Torpy provided some of the highlights of the race. Over the marathon distance she broke the Canberra race record for the W60 division, finishing in 3.30.19 to take nine seconds off the previous record, set back in 1993 by Marie O’Donovan. And over the 50km distance she lowered her own Australian W60 record by eight minutes to leave that mark at 4.13.32.
The latter mark is thought to be a new world W60 record and race organisers are waiting for confirmation from both the IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) and WMA (World Masters Athletics).
Trevor Jacobs, the founder of the 50km event in Canberra, and Laurie Hennessey, of NSW, were also record breakers. Jacobs took 16 minutes off Bruce Renwick’s previous Australian record in the M55 division to leave the new mark at 3.27.04. Hennessey improved the Australian M65 record to 4.19.13. This time was over 13 minutes faster than Peter Lahiff’s record set in Canberra in 2005.
A record 95 marathon participants opted to continue after the marathon and completed the 50km. When this race was inaugurated in 1993, only 17 runners opted to go “beyond the marathon”.
Dave Cundy
RACE DIRECTOR
19 April 2007
