15.09.2009

Birmingham, Willis in action in London, gold to Vernon in Taipei

Australians Collis Birmingham and Benita Willis have turned on podium performances at the Great Capital Run in London at the weekend, each finishing second in two closely-fought races to the line.

Flame representative Birmingham was pipped at the line by fellow world championships contender Andy Baddeley (GBR), who stopped the clock at 13:45 to complete the 5km course just one second ahead of Birmingham in 13:46.

Birmingham was joined on the course by Australians Shawn Forrest in fifth (14:08), Peter Norwill in eighth (14:26), Mitch Kealey in 11th (14:35) and young gun Harry Summers in 12th (14:41).

Forrest and Norwill's top 10 finishes in London round out a successful seven days for the pair after their third (Forrest) and 13th (Norwill) places in last week's 10km Great Yorkshire Run.  

In the women’s field Benita Willis was the highest-placed of the Australians, finishing second (15:46) to local hope Freya Murray (15:42) for the second time in a week after the Australian was beaten home by just one second at the Yorkshire event.

Also in action on the women’s 5km course were Nikki Chapple in fourth (16:03), Lara Tamsett in fifth (16:16) and Eloise Wellings in eighth (16:28).

The results follow Chapple’s third place and Wellings’ 11th place in the Great Yorkshire Run.

In other results, Sydney City to Surf winner Melinda Vernon has added a second gold medal to her Deaflympic Games collection after taking out the women’s 5000m and completing her domination of the distance events at the international meet.
 
Vernon, who won gold in the 10,000m last Monday night, produced another emphatic victory to break the 5000m world record held by Deaflympic legend and fellow Australian Joanne Lambert by almost 45 seconds, crossing the line in 16:23.
 
In a similar fashion to her 10,000m win Vernon went out hard to open up a commanding early lead in the hot and humid conditions and was never headed, finishing almost one minute ahead of silver medallist Olga Yakubovskaya (RUS).  
 
The victory was a gutsy win by Vernon, who struggled with illness following her energy-sapping performance in extreme heat and humidity in the 10,000m that caused her to pull out of the 1500m on Wednesday and focus on recovering for the 5000m. 
 
"Winning tonight caps off a great few weeks at the Deaflympics and I am so happy to finish off strongly tonight. The 10,000m earlier in the week took a lot out of me so it’s a big relief that I was able to perform well,” Vernon said. 
 
"The Deaflympics has been a fantastic learning experience for me and I am very proud to win two gold medals for Australia. I would like to thank everyone here in Taipei with the Australian team and everyone back in Australia for their support.”

Vernon now joins the list of Australian greats who have won multiple gold medals at a Deaflympic Games. 
 
There is little time to rest for the New South Wales talent, who will return to Australia for just a few days before heading to a road event in Los Angeles as part of her prize for winning the City to Surf in August.