WARRNAMBOOL man Tom Hynes set a blistering pace in the OneFortyOne Plantations Blue Lake Fun Run winning the main event for the sixth consecutive year in record time on Sunday morning.
When the horn sounded at 8am sending the 10.4km runners on their way, it took Hynes just 33 minutes and 47 seconds to reach the finish line breaking his previous record by 28 seconds.
Hynes said he came to the competition in good condition and thought he would go close to beating the record time, which he set last year.
“I knew I was in pretty good shape, so I was hoping I would improve on last year, but you never know with the conditions,” he said.
While the moderate temperature created favourable running conditions, it was the wind that caused problems for some runners, but Hynes said he tried to use it to his advantage in the home stretch.
“It was pretty hard on the way up with the wind, but once I got around the back there was a tail-wind coming down the hill, so I picked up a bit of time,” he said.
“The whole run is a bit of a mental battle, the first two or three kilometres you feel pretty tired because the hills just keep going and then you start to realise you have only just started.”
Hynes was able to overcome those mental demons to finish four and half minutes ahead of the next person to cross the line, which was the 10.4km female winner Nikki Smart.
Smart completed the course in an impressive 38 minutes and six seconds to win the women’s event for the second straight year.
After winning the event last year in good time, Smart said she expected to run even faster this year due to a biological factor no longer holding her back.
“I knew I would be fitter than last year because I was still breastfeeding eight month old twins when I ran last year and fortunately now they are a year older,” Smart said.
“It made it pretty special to do it with them here and I am lucky to have my mother look after them while I run.”
Smart spoke highly of the whole community event and said it is one she looked forward coming back to and running in.
“I used to do running competitively, but now I do not and there is not a lot of good community running events like this around, so the organisers do a fantastic job,” she said.
“I love the whole atmosphere running around the lake with a band playing and live music up the top, then running back and seeing all the families out watching it is just great.”
Second home in the men’s 10.4km event was Justin McDonald (38.13) who finished just a short time after Smart and Dan Whitehead (38.57) finished in third.
“Justin was actually pushing me the whole way and I think he also got a personal best time, so it was great for him,” Smart said.
Anna Mitchell (45.34) and Kate McDonald (45.39) both ran great races in the women’s 10.4km event, finishing second and third respectively.
A large group of runners took off in 6.8km event at 8.15am with Stephen McKenzie and Caitlyn Dyer the first two runners home taking out the men’s and the women’s events respectively.
The 3.2km event was the last to hear the horn, starting a 8.30am and it was an event dominated by the Collins family.
In the women’s section Rosie (14.40) and daughter Maggie (15.17) ran first and second, while Jonty (13.32) was placed third in the men’s competition.
The men’s winner of the 3.2km event was Dylan Morton finishing the run in a time of 12.37.
