Perth HM ; 8th in 1:15:37

Thrilled with the time, sustained my pace well today. I liked the new course – there were quite a few challenging little hills and turns, but they keep you honest, and certainly present a good test esp. in the latter stages.

I ran the first 7k or so side by side with Scott Thomson (who also took nearly two minutes of his PB ; scary what he'll be doing in a year's time), until he dropped back going back over the Narrows after the turnaround. I was by myself from there on which is my one disappointment with the day. Stephen Stockwell ran really well today – I was ten metres back until about 8k when I think he spotted Sam May ahead and cranked it up a notch – he ended up fifth in 1:14:35.

Felt pretty strong, and of course had to dig deeper and deeper to keep the pace going. The carrot of having Sam May about 40m ahead ( I felt he was fading) was good, it kept me focussed. Going past the club and hearing my name called out and a bit of support was great, it gave me a lift, but it wasn’t too long before I was past the club and on the lonely path out to East Perth. The bridge is always a bit of a test with it’s twists and turns, then around Claisebrook and up that little bastard of a hill to start the run for home.

I was closing on Sam (and his second, feeding him from the bike) on the Causeway now only 15m ahead. As I came off, to go down and under and up to the finish I saw Kim and Trish (her pacer) and they gave me a big cheer which really helped. Surged past Sam about a k to go, and then just tried to hang on.

5k: 17:43
10k: 35:45
15k: 53:48
20k: 1:11:55
HM: 1:15:37

Ecstatic with the result, sub-76 and top 10 was unthinkable a year ago.