<25.08.06> - Australian Cross Country Championships in Pontville - Open Mens Preview


04 Sep 2006

Media Release

Thursday 24 August 2006

 

Troop on the march in bid to re-claim crown.

 

After a period in the wilderness due to injuries, dual Olympic marathon representative Lee Troop is back in form and ready to re-claim a crown he last held six years ago.

The time of year has arrived where Australia’s best distance runners put aside their favoured events and go head to head over cross country at this weekend’s Telstra Australian Championships at Pontville, just north of Hobart.

The combination of rough terrain, hills and hay bails facing the competitor’s lining up for the 12km journey in the men’s race and the uncertainty of current form, make for what can only be described as a fascinating race.

This year’s race sees some of Australia’s athletes over many distances, from 1500m national finalists to recently crowned Australian marathon champion Lee Troop. 

“This race is very important to me, having not won a National cross country title since 2000,” said Troop, a five-time world cross country representative.

After an extended period where nothing seemed to go right for Troop, things are finally heading in the right direction for the dual Olympian.  “Everything is ticking along nicely, I plan on racing as much as possible, to build up my artillery.  The plan is to dominate the domestic scene in the coming months, and then I’ll choose an international marathon in March/April.”

Throw into the ring Queenslander Peter Nowill, the winner of five national 3000m Steeplechase titles, 2004 Zatopek 10,000 champion, David Ruschena (V), and the bronze medallist from these championships last year, Russell Dessiax-Chin (N), and the race is wide open.

Of course there will be Martin Dent (A), who seems to win more often than not over any domestic race and is the reigning champion.   The ACT will also be represented by 2006 Australian mountain running champion Scott McTaggart and runner-up at this year’s Sydney Half Marathon, Anthony Haber.

Adding an international flavour to the 79 man field are New Zealand athletes Angus Bell and Sam Dobson.  Bell was 3rd in this year’s New Zealand mountain running championships and Dobson was 2nd in the New Zealand 4km cross country championships.

Those in the know however, will be watching young Collis Birmingham (V).  After narrowly missing selection for this year’s Commonwealth Games, Collis went to the USA and lowered his 5000m pb to 13.38, then won the Victorian open 12km and 8km cross country titles, beating Lee Troop by 24 seconds in the later.

Having been taken under the wing of distance king Craig Mottram in recent times, Birmingham has had the confidence to display varying tactics to win races this winter.    However, ‘Simba’ as he is called by Mottram (with reference to the younger cub in ‘The Lion King’) will need to have only his own strengths in mind to take the 2006 title ahead of the stellar field.

Not only is the race on for individual glory, the team event is also wide open.  Strong teams are heading to the apple isle from New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, with any three capable of taking out the team title.  Or will three-time Australian representative and local captain Kim Gillard lead the strongest Tasmanian team recent memory to an upset victory.

More than 1000 athletes will converge on Tasmania this weekend for the School Sport Australia and Telstra Australian Cross Country Championships to be held at Pontville Equestrian Park and Sporting Complex in Brighton, on the outskirts of Hobart on Saturday.  The Telstra Australian Road Walking Championships and Junior Road Walking Championships will be held on Sunday at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart. 

Racing commences at 9.30am on Saturday, with the open men’s event timed to start at 3.05pm

Start lists and Event timetables available from the Athletics Australia website at:

http://www.athletics.org.au/events/meets/timetable.cfm?ObjectID=1044

 

For further information or to arrange athlete interviews, please contact:
Richard Welsh – Athletics Tasmania - (03) 6234 9551