Twilight run 2011

Brisbane Twilight Running Festival 2011. (20 March) 10 km run.

The University of Queensland was established in 1909 but eventually founded in this site in St Lucia in 1946. The name comes from the island of St Lucia in the West Indies. The UQ's St Lucia campus is considered by many to be the most attractive in Australia. It sits on a sprawling 114-hectare site in a bend of the Brisbane River, just seven kilometres from the CBD.

But I come not to praise what I see sir. I come to bear him. Him that tells tall tales. Yes friends lend me your spectacles.

Parts of St Lucia like many suburbs along the Brisbane river, went underwater during the flood disaster in January this year.

But come hell or high water, as indeed the latter came, and flooded or not, life and running must go on. Sunday the 20th of March was the date of the Twilight running festival held at the Queensland Uni.

Flooding did necessitate the moving of the race muster areas including the start and finish lines. The floodwaters have receded and the ovals reseeded but the athletic track was still under, undergoing repairs.

The number of runners has increased from last year’s race tally.
In the 10km run the number of finishers went up to just under 1600. In 2010 the finishers were less than 1300. The drizzly weather notwithstanding, almost every man and his dog (as the photo shows) and wife and kids and baby were there.

It had been raining continuously during the previous 48 hours, and it seemed that it will keep raining on the day. Like many people, I was hoping for the f-word weather. The day was not quite fine, but at least the rain petered out to intermittent drizzles.

They said the race was at twilight, as the sun sets over the Brisbane river. But Sol was still up, hiding behind the clouds in the middle of the afternoon. That lucky old star got nothin' to do, but roll around the sky all day. The day just happened to be overcast. Indeed there were thousands of volunteers willing to pound the pavements and fix up some of the cracks that the floods may have caused.

At the start, everyone was cheery and smiling and chatty and obviously looking forward to the first race event in the running season of 2011.
Summer had gone or so the calendar says. But deep in the race, the humidity took toll and soon the smiles evaporated along with liters of sweat (at least in my case). Facial expressions had assumed smirks which turned into frowns and then grimaces, or is it just me?
The racecourse features beautiful tree-lined routes alongside the Brisbane River on the western bank (UQ St Lucia) and eastern bank (suburb of Dutton Park). Linking the two sides is the 390m Green Bridge (Eleanor Schonell Bridge). This 20m wide bridge is about 18m above the river and is the first bridge in Australia designed exclusively for buses, cyclists and pedestrians only.
I did not have time to admire the bridge or try out some of its viewdecks. It was very tempting to stop and rest on the inviting shaded seats in the cool breeze.

Being an optimist, my strategy for this year's run was to be positive. Many believe that positive thinking and attitude will lead to success.
And how my positive thinking worked! The results were positively positive all around.
I increased my time, did a positive split, and also finished in the high hundreds (600s) as against the low hundreds (300s) last year in the placings numbers.
This totally negates the concept of positive thinking. My results prove that positive thinking does not lead to improvement. QED.

Levity aside, last year the 10km and half-marathon runs started together at twilight (5pm). This year however the 10 km run started at 3:30pm - an afternoon run. I did finish in the twilight just before the start of the half-marathon at 5pm.



Photo courtesy of sporting images.com.au

I was totally spent after running a gruelling 10km that I wonder how anyone can run half-marathons and marathons, not to mention ultra-marathons. This mere mortal just shook his head and cheered on the half-marathoners.

Many other Martins took part in the race. I am the slowest of them all. It took me almost twice as long as the winner.

Twilight Quest 10km Run - OFFICIAL RESULTS (Overall)

Place Name Bib Number Time
1 Jason Geraghty 3855 32:21.0
2 Daniel Yates 4001 33:16.0
3 Adam Fitzakerley 2546 33:32.0
4 Bior Arok 2050 35:07.7
5 Gerard Balnaves 2070 36:44.0
54 d Martin 3012 43:00.3
362 R Martin O 3206 53:05.6
520 Martin Dean 4171 56:02.8
536 Martin H 2694 56:17.8
579 Martin N 3171 57:09.1
662 r Martin 3014 58:35.6
665 Martin Polichay 362 58:38.6

Oh well, as Ned said, such is life. I think I peaked in my mid 30s, and I wasn’t even running then.

I did get a medal, no matter that every finisher did. I even got my name and race time engraved on it. And one day I’ll tell my grandkids about the time i ran the ‘twilight run’ one afternoon in 2011.



And the winners are:

Twilight Quest 10km Run AGE GROUP RESULTS

March 20, 2011
Overall Female Open Winners
Place Name Overall Chip Time Bib Number Pace
1 Tammy Egstorf 23 40:32.0 4021 4:03/M
2 maree stephenson 27 41:16.0 3537 4:07/M
3 Sarah Schroeder 33 41:34.6 3453 4:09/M

Female U15
1 Ainslie Bakker 65 43:47.5 2066 4:23/M
2 Madeline McGuire 133 47:33.9 3060 4:45/M
3 Chelsea Meyrick 437 54:32.7 3098 5:27/M

Female 15 to 17
1 Laura Daly 74 44:47.4 2413 4:29/M
2 Amy Hillier 123 47:02.7 2723 4:42/M
3 Hannah Jannusch 163 48:24.7 2789 4:50/M

Female 18 to 29
1 Emma Coman-Jeffries 34 41:34.8 2335 4:09/M
2 Jacqui Waters 43 42:22.8 3724 4:14/M
3 Adelaida Blaxley 68 44:03.8 2159 4:24/M

Female 30 to 39
1 Julie Stapleton 48 42:41.1 3530 4:16/M
2 Kelly DONOVAN 57 43:10.0 3847 4:19/M
3 TRINA DENNER 75 44:54.8 2447 4:29/M

Female 40 to 49
1 Carmel Monaghan 72 44:37.9 3131 4:28/M
2 Fiona Jacoby 113 46:43.6 2785 4:40/M
3 Leisha Callaghan 130 47:23.6 2581 4:44/M

Female 50 to 59
1 Dagmar Ryan 170 48:34.9 3416 4:51/M
2 Sylvia Prinsloo 306 51:55.8 3308 5:12/M
3 Liz Jordan 312 52:05.0 2826 5:13/M

Female 60 and over
1 Lucy Miles 493 55:38.0 3105 5:34/M
2 Helen Banks 796 1:01:06.9 2305 6:07/M
3 Cynthia Croft 885 1:02:27.2 2377 6:15/M

Overall Male Open Winners
Place Name Overall Chip Time Bib Number Pace
1 Jason Geraghty 1 32:21.0 3855 3:14/M
2 Daniel Yates 2 33:16.0 4001 3:20/M
3 Adam Fitzakerley 3 33:32.0 2546 3:21/M

Male U15
1 Jack Barnsley 14 38:39.0 2082 3:52/M
2 Hamish Hamilton 28 41:19.7 2653 4:08/M
3 Tom Robson 112 46:40.6 3392 4:40/M

Male 15 to 17
1 nicholas scarponi 6 36:53.4 3446 3:41/M
2 Kieran Storch 9 38:03.0 3557 3:48/M
3 Francois Mienie 22 40:25.9 3103 4:03/M

Male 18-29
1 Bior Arok 4 35:07.7 2050 3:31/M
2 Gerard Balnaves 5 36:44.0 2070 3:40/M
3 Jay Gartner 7 37:21.0 2593 3:44/M

Male 30-39
1 Peter Ross 8 37:34.1 3405 3:45/M
2 oliver schweizer 10 38:23.0 3457 3:50/M
3 SHAUN ROBINSON 15 38:51.0 3390 3:53/M

Male 40-49
1 Michael Thompson 11 38:23.9 3612 3:50/M
2 Greg Webster 13 38:29.0 3732 3:51/M
3 Nigel Waddington 18 40:10.0 3687 4:01/M

Male 50-59
1 Clyde Dorman 50 42:43.4 2466 4:16/M
2 Peter Davoren 84 45:23.3 2425 4:32/M
3 Cees DeBruine 91 45:47.3 4012 4:35/M

Male 60 and over
1 Michael Walsh 83 45:22.7 3709 4:32/M
2 Michael Briggs 85 45:24.7 2212 4:32/M

Congratulations all winners finishers and runners. Well done all supporters volunteers marshalls, etal.