ATTACK OF THE BACKMARKER AT BLUELAKE

2023 JOHN HERTZ HANDICAP at YELLOW GUM PARK on SATURDAY 3 JUNE 2023

Caden Murray has won the 2023 John Hertz Handicap from his position as backmarker in a field of 13 starters in the Open Handicap event at Yellow Gum Park. Starting off a Handicap of 18:57, Caden set off with a determination to catch as many of the field as possible. When he passed a group early in the race his motivation to keep on pushing was sharpened.

“I was able to maintain an even pacing throughout the four laps even though I felt I was slowing down each time I went up the hill. My lap splits for the 1.72km loops were 6:03, 6:04, 6:10 and 6:08,” Caden said.

“The hills were definitely tough, but it was the slippery and muddy road back to the start area that took some extra time to negotiate as you could easily loose your footing & fall, he added.

Caden’s last challenger to hoist the giant Hertz Handicap trophy was his training mate, Blake Barnes and from early in the third lap Caden was able move past Blake and take the lead. Caden’s time for the 4 lap, 7.88km event was 24:21. The record for the event is still held by Jack Itter who ran it in 23:37 in 2018. In that race, Jack also posted the fastest lap of the Lake in 5:35.

Caden is now looking forward to the next event on the AV Calendar, the 12km Cross Country race at Cruden Farm. “I enjoyed Cruden Farm last year and felt that I raced well”, added Caden.

Blake Barnes (27:27) and Mark Jarvis (31:44) took out second and third placings at Yellow Gum Park.

Jo Moxon (41:40) led the DVAC Women in over the line with Rosie Morgan (37:52) and Karen Quinn (45:06) filling the second and third placings. Jo also took out the Gold medal for the Masters women while Brett Maloney took the Masters award for the men.

Shania Murray still holds the fastest time for women over the four lap event with a time of 30:10 she posted in 2018.

In the Junior 3.44km (2 lap) race, the first over the line was Jack Daly. Off a handicap of 1:26, Jack ran even lap times of 7:18 and 7:38 to hold Dillon Vidanapathirana out by a mere 4 seconds with Joel Imbriano only another 11 seconds further behind.

The first three girls over the line in the 3.44km Handicap race were Erin Maloney, Lucy Johns and Heidi Kuppler. Heidi set a new course record for the Junior Girls over the 3.44km event with a time of 13:40. Heidi recorded splits of 6:40 and 7:00. The Boys record is still held by Brent Camilleri at 12:24 from 2016.

In all there were 13 competitors in the Open event and 13 in the Junior event making a total of 26 entrants. There were 11 women and 15 men racing at Bluelake.

Thanks go to Greg Luck for his Handicapping & timekeeping; David Armstrong and Lyn Davis for timekeeping; David Armstrong for providing the Tent & set-up; Max Balchin for course set up; Maryann Murray for Trophies; Karen Quinn for collecting the cones & flags; Rosie Morgan for assistance with the pack-up. Thanks to John Hertz for being present to present the awards for this year’s John Hertz Handicap.

2023 DVAC JOHN HERTZ HANDICAP

Yellow Gum Park

Saturday 4 June 2023

Results: