2013 Hotfoot Competition - Race 7
Saturday, 21 December 2013
What the Area News didn't say:
Both the short and long course trophy contenders were separated by a single point for the final race of the Griffith Joggers Hotfoot series on Scenic Hill on Saturday, and they all looked nervous at the start line where only the keenest runners attended, while many runners sensibly took the day off due to the heat.
In the long course of 6.1km, Gary Signor and Tony Gullo were poised with Adam Johnson a long shot, and in the short course of 3.1km, Victoria McLeod and Aidan Peruzzi were locked together with Isabella Salmon and Jeremy Woodhouse the dangers.
This week though, the weather played the trump card as the unusually favourable running conditions of the past months suddenly took a fiery turn and hit the joggers like an open oven door.
Any question regarding the effects of heat on running performance need only scan this week's times – at least a minute slower then normal but more likely two, three or even ten minutes.
Keith Riley was less affected by the furnace than most and for a time looked set for line honours, and Gary Signor was coping well early on to defend his competition lead, but it soon became clear that Adam Johnson was out for glory as he quickly caught and spat out Rodney Savage, the only other runner who has been able to match Johnson's times this year.
As is normal in adverse conditions, it is the fittest runners who cope the best, and while Signor fought all the way to the line he was five minutes slower this week, compared to Johnson who was still a full minute off his best.
Johnson claimed first at the line for maximum points, Riley second and John Johns did well for an old bloke in the conditions for third, while Signor could not salvage enough places to save his trophy.
The short course race saw a close finish to the competition, as the young girls Victoria McLeod and Isabella Salmon played cautious in the conditions and placed further back, while Aidan Peruzzi threw caution to the hot wind, and the upstart Jeremy Woodhouse put in a huge challenge.
Woodhouse is revisiting his running days of decades ago, dragged to the hill by his kids but now going solo, and was the only runner this week to get within cooee of his previous times, just fifteen seconds slower this week.
Woodhouse finished first and then needed to count down until Peruzzi arrived at fifth and a minute slower than last week, but the final count goes to Peruzzi by a narrow margin.
Next week the Joggers begin the holiday series of runs, where starters are bunched into two minute groupings with the aim of staying together, chatting and being otherwise sociable, with promotion and relegation for the less sociable.
There will be the usual long and short options from 5:30pm from the water tower on the Hill, with distances dependant on the weather conditions