Tina stuns in maiden run

Halls Gap masseuse Tina Baker has completed six half marathons in her 20 years of recreational running but had never won a competitive foot race until she romped away with a five-kilometre Stan and Karen Watson Handicap at Stawell.

Baker was favourably handicapped in the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club event but stunned timekeepers when she chopped 7.28 minutes from her time posted when beaten out of sight over 5500-metres at Concongella a week previously.

There she finished almost five minutes behind the winner, Gary Saunders, but in the Watson she had acres of ground and 1.35 minutes to spare from impressive newcomer Sukhpreet Bal and ‘Turbo’ Tom Walker who recorded a scintillating best time of 17.07 minutes on the twisting and testing course.

Baker, who had finished no closer than 12th in her four previous runs with the club, seemed nonplussed after her win.

“This is the first trophy I’ve won since I was 14, playing netball,” she said.

“I only joined the club for the social aspects and to enjoy a good family activity. I never gave a thought to actually winning.”

The Bakers’ big day out began auspiciously when son Barney Baker clung to a seven-second margin to defeat siblings Jayde and Angus Lowe in a one-kilometre sub-juniors event.

The distance steps up to 6.5 kilometres in a handicap race at Stawell this Saturday. Fun runners are welcome and should meet at Stawell’s North Park clubrooms from 9.30am.

Trounson too tough

The ‘legend’ continued at Ararat’s Dunneworthy Common on Sunday when Jack Trounson, who turns 70 within the next fortnight, won his 33rd race at his 637th start with Stawell and Ararat Cross Country Club.

Experience triumphed over youth when Trounson caught 15-year-old tearaway Emma Mccready with a kilometre to run.

After urging her to dig deep to fight him off, he surged to a comfortable 0.47-minute win in the five-kilometre Ararat handicap.

Emma only managed to find another gear closer to the finish when challenged by her dad, Ian Mccready, who typically unwound a late dash to fail by just two seconds to catch the youngster on the line.

Trounson, with more than 95,000 kilometres of racing and training in his legs has the mind of a clock, and proved to be accurate on both counts, but with few exceptions most runners were slower on a course that seemed more user-friendly than Stawell over the same distance the previous week.

The distances start to lengthen on Sunday at Rhymney for the 6.5-kilometre Reynolds Family Handicap.