22.10.2007

Dent, Weightman lead record numbers

On a day that saw perfect conditions and last year’s participation record broken, World Cross Country representatives Martin Dent and Lisa-Jane Weightman took the honours in Sunday's Skilled Burnie Ten.

In a total field of 3836 entrants, Dent (29:13) won from 2006 champion Collis Birmingham (29:21) as the top five men finished inside the 30-minute mark.

There were no surprises within the high-calibre starters, with Ben St. Lawrence (29:26), David Ruschena (29:48), Erwin McRae (29:56) and Mark Tucker (30:48) all expected to run well.

Dent, who missed last year’s race due to his World Road Running Championships commitments, was very pleased with his victory.

“It was great to get a win up,” he said. “I’d been coming second and third in a few races over the winter and it was nice to win and beat some of the guys who are running well at the moment.

“It’s usually blowing pretty hard from one direction (at the Burnie Ten). It was pretty perfect and it suited me; I wasn’t penalised too much for running at the front.”

The 28 year-old will now turn his focus to the Noosa 5km Bolt, in two weeks’ time, as well as the start of the summer track season with 10km at the Zatopek Classic in Melbourne in December - the Olympic Selection Trials for the distance.

Weightman’s win in 33:22 came just one week after competing at the World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy - an admirable effort.

Arriving in Melbourne mid-week, the race was on for the Victorian to get her body right for the Burnie Ten - intensified by her status as favourite following the withdrawal of Victoria Mitchell through injury.

“I got home on Wednesday night,” she confirmed. “It was a bit of a journey back via London and the train ride. The race was a couple of hours north of Venice so we took a train back down to Rome and then about another 32 hours of transit by the time we got home.

“I wasn’t feeling very good on Thursday when I tried to do a bit of a run around the Tan, but subsequently after that - after a bit of sleep and back into routine - I started to feel quite good by the time I hit the race on Sunday.”

Second was Sarah Lofts (34:08) with Eliza Stewart third (34:30), Lucinda Chapman fourth (34:45) and Lauren Shelley fifth (34:51); the finishes not quite as snug as the men’s.

Weightman led strongly throughout and always felt in control.

“I didn’t actually take any notice of my watch,” she said. “I obviously had no idea as to how my legs or body were going to feel after the travel and the race last weekend. And I got quite bad blisters in the race in Italy so they were still a bit tender.

“So I just set out. The boys didn’t go out as quickly as I expected so I was still quite close to them. I thought ‘have I gone out quick today or are they just running a bit slower?’ Because I wasn’t watching the watch I just let it all happen, set out with a bunch of about five boys and sat in there for a couple of k and I could feel the pace dropping a bit so I pushed on and took the lead of that pack to try and make them work a bit harder. They responded and so we sort of ran together for the next five or so k in that sort of motion.

“I think I ran pretty even across the race. When I was coming up to the finish, I was running up the hill and saw the clock up the top. I was nearly on PB pace so I was pretty excited to run through feeling quite good and almost running a PB, because it’s not an easy run at Burnie.”

With short-term plans to compete over 5km at the Ron Clarke Classic in December, Weightman - like Dent - will run at Zatopek before a new focus for the new year.

“A bit of a longer-term goal is to run my debut marathon next year and at the moment I’m targeting London in April,” she said.

And the 28 year-old also has a plan for Sunday’s $3500 prize-money kitty.

“I’m actually getting married next year so that will pay for a wedding dress and some other wedding expenses,” she said. “It’s definitely going to be put to good use!”

View the full results here