Peter Armistead's 2002 Mt Buller Report
From AURA
Back to Mansfield to Mt Buller
The 12th running of the Mansfield to Mt Buller 50km classic saw another lot of creditable performances.
Tim Sloan stamped his class on the event with an all the way victory in a new race record. Tim powered up the mountain 18km from the 30km point and charged back the last 2km from the summit to take 2 minutes off Carl Barker's time that has stood since the 1st staging of the run.
Almost impressive was Ross Shilston's sprint from the leading car up to the summit to stay in front of Tim and then get back in time to record the time at the finish. Ross is still recovering!
The great Yiannis Kouros put in a good run to come in second in 4:03:50. It was a privilege for all involved to see the great man in action. Kelvin Marshall came in 3rd with another gutsy run in his 100th ultra. The previous 100th was a miscalculation. Well done Kelvin!
Dawn Parris continued to inspire with another great effort to take the women's trophy.
Brian Gawne finished 12 out of 12 runs whilst his Shepparton offsiders Brian O'Farrell with 8 finishes and Steven Trevaskis in his first ultra showed true grit.
15 finishers out of 16 starters was a great success rate.
The other highlights of the day were:
- Firstly, in the absence of Dot & Colin Browne and Geoff Hook the quality of the sandwiches improved markedly with the injection of beetroot being the outstanding feature.
- Secondly, but no less impressive was George Christodoulou's guitar recital at the 30km drink stop. George and his guitar could go a long way.
- Many thanks to the support teams and Clive Davies, Ross Shilston, Robin Anderson, Sandra Stewart and Kevin Cassidy.
Look forward to seeing you all for the 2003 run.
Race Founder, Organiser & Director. Peter Armistead.
