Steven Asson’s running career was put on hold more than two years ago due to recurrent back pains. However, he made a return to the sport on Saturday by winning the Ceres Juices 10k Series finale.
For the women, just two days before her 13th birthday, Tallulah Kinkead took her division with a time of 48:25 minutes.
Mr. Asson, who won the race in November 2011 in 39 minutes and 53 seconds, had a winning time of 41:21 minutes on Saturday.
He out ran Julius Farley, who was second in 42:56 minutes, and Curwin Andrews, who placed third in 43:26 minutes.
“This is two and a half years I haven’t won a race,” Mr. Asson said. “I was not able to run, only just to take a little jog sometimes, and the way I felt — I quit. Then, I made up my mind to start back again. But in this run today, in my mind, I didn’t come to race. I just came to run. The rhythm and the pace I had — I kept it and was successful.”
Mr. Asson passed Mr. Andrews just before the Ellis Thomas Downs and overhauled Mr. Farley about 600 metres later. He said looking at Mr. Farley’s leg turnover and the way he heard him breathing coupled with the way he was feeling, he knew he could possibly win.
“I didn’t surge anywhere,” Mr. Asson said. “I just held the rhythm and ran smoothly.”
Despite the loss, Mr. Farley was the overall men’s champion in the series.
“Today wasn’t my day and I have to congratulate Steven,” Mr. Farley said, who had stitches from the start, which intensified as the race went on. “That kind of slowed me down a bit. Steven and Andrews kept a good pace and I tried to compete with Steven, but I just couldn’t make it. I had to give up and settle for second.”
Ms. Kinkead was happy with her win, but added that things could have been different if there were other competitors on the course.
“I felt good, but Kat (Katrina Crumpler) wasn’t here so that’s why I won,” she said. “The races are really fun. I like the people who do them.”
Race director Kay Reddy said the series has got better and better each year.
“This is one of the best supported (events) we had — almost 70 for the first race and we’ve had a lot of people complete three races and we’ve had a lot of people getting personal bests,” Ms. Reddy said. “It was fast and furious at the front. We’ve had some changes and new faces on the block. Ceres put in a lot of effort and new products. It has just been a smashing series all around.”
Final Results
Men: 1. Steven Asson, 41 minutes and 21 seconds. 2. Julius Farley, 42:56. 3. Curwin Andrews, 43:26. 4. Ravindra Sukhu, 43:31. 5. Simon Cook, 44:27. 6. Adam DeMonte, 45:10. 7. Ciaran O’Shaughnessy, 46:19. 8. Paul Hubbard, 46:24. 9. Ian Montgomery, 47:11. 10. David Kinkead, 48:27. 11. Charles Kerins, 48:29. 12. Adrian Dale, 48:57. 13. Russell Crumpler, 49:31. 14. Daniel Mitchell, 49:45. 15. Shane Donovan, 50:56. 16. Gareth Watkins, 51:05. 17. Manuel Lamzas, 52:08. 18. Patrick Ormond, 57:07. 19. Graham Willis 57:18. 20. Howard Moore, 1:02:04. 21. Miguel Castellanos, 1:06:58. 22. Jim Cullimore, 1:09:51. 23. Stephen Beard, 1:10:41.
Women: 1. Tallulah Kinkead, 48:25. 2. Kay Reddy, 51:46. 3. Anna Kinkead, 53:02. 4. Rosmond Johnson, 55:13. 5. Claudia Ferrari, 56:21. 6. Darwn Peters, 57:13. 7. Natasha Ruscheinski, 58:36. 8. Sally Blackmore, 1:01:23. 9. Rhiannon Jones,1:02:32. 10. Barbara O’Neal, 1:03:08. 11. Ghislaine Hoogendijk, 1:04:12. 12. Clair Burke, 1:04:19. 13. Claudia Diaz, 1:10:59. 14. Jenny McConnell, 1:15:18.
Overall series results
Men: 1. Julius Farley. 2. Ian Montgomery. 3 Cirvin Andrews. Women: 1. Tallulah Kinkead. 2. Rosmond Johnson. 3. Clare-Louise Whiley.