The 30 runners who lined up for the 8km Lindsay Kent Memorial Handicap at Stawell last Sunday were lulled into a false sense of security when Anthony Mellors presented for his first competitive race in nine months.
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Mellors won the event in 2009 and 2015 but – having missed the first seven races of the season – the 46-year old was thought to be “underdone” for a race that saps the strength with a 3km uphill climb to the finish.
However, Mellors gave spirited chase to young tearaways Tom Walker and Simon Gallagher who, under the handicap conditions, had to give Mellors more than three minutes’ start.
Walker and Gallagher finished in the ruck as Mellors seized his advantage, turning hills into speed humps to finish with 0.46 minutes to spare from Keith Lofthouse and Nathan Bendell.
The Lindsay Kent is really two races in one, with the Stawell and Ararat Cross Country Club and the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club combining, and each club producing a different result. Mellors represented the Ararat club, but Lofthouse – who runs for both – earned consolation by winning the amateur division by more than a minute, denying veteran Terry Jenkins a hat-trick.
With Tom Walker recording a scintillating fastest time, the Stawell Amateurs finally snatched the Telstra Shop Shield from the Ararat club, which had dominated the event the past five years.
The clubs split this weekend for home runs, with the 5km Stan and Karen Watson Handicap in Stawell on Saturday and the 8km Simon and Tiffany Gallagher Handicap at Ararat on Sunday.