The 2014 VMA 10 km Road Championship (Eric Greaves memorial) was held at Braeside Park on Sunday 20 July in conjunction with the Victorian Cross Country League and was the 16th running of the combined event. Conditions were cool but conducive to good running. There were 12 venues represented as well as Trevor Kelly all the way from Bendigo. It was also pleasing to see a representative from Casey, our newest venue.

The fastest time of the males was Shane Draper (M40 – 36.52) followed by Phillip Bowes (M55 – 37.20) and Trevor Kelly (M55 – 37.25). It was a great battle between Phillip and Trevor in their age group and with age graded percentages of 87.86% and 85.48% respectively they were the best performed males. Both Phillip and Trevor beat the previous record in their age group, previously held by Andrew Edwards. Phillip won the Most Outstanding Performance trophy in 2006. Other top runs were from Gary Stewart with 83.98%, Ewen Wilson with 82.25% and Andrew Edwards with 80.61%. And two runners from the Springvale venue, Howard Rees and Lou Buccieri have now completed all 16 Eric Greaves memorials. Who will be the last man standing?

Of the ladies Bronwen Cardy (F60 – 43.28) led the field home comfortably followed by the evergreen Lavinia Petrie (F70 – 45.49) and Helen Stanley (F55 – 47.31). Bronwen was a regular competitor in this event until a serious injury put her out of action for a long period. It is pleasing to see her back and running well with an age graded percentage of 92.79%. Helen also did well with 80.25% but the standout performer was Lavinia with 99.60%, making her a clear winner of the perpetual trophy for the third year in a row and five times overall putting her ahead of Theresia Baird who won it four times. Not surprisingly, in her first year in a new age group Lavinia eclipsed the previous record held by Shirley Young.

The results are here and on the Results web page.