FOUNDERS HANDICAP 2015
The Founders Hcp was a traditional race held annually by EMH (East Melbourne Harriers), continued by Essendon-EMH after the merger in 1978. The photo is an old EMH logo.
Saturday 23rd May saw thirteen competitors brave a cold morning to compete in the Founders Handicap. With seniors doing two laps of the river circuit (8.2km) and juniors doing one lap (4.1km) it was an interesting staggered start.
Veteran Matthew Goodger was the frontmarker for the event with Mel Hardiman and Natalie Morgan starting not far behind him. Asmelash Tesema was the last of the 8.2km competitors to start, with Hayelom Dawit and Muse Tesema starting some time later to do one lap.
Mel Hardiman made the first significant move, quickly making up the 66 seconds on Matthew Goodger. Justin McLaren and Natalie Roberts also made up the 15 seconds to John Cooper fairly quickly.
After a lap was completed, Hayelom Dawit set off at a rapid pace, while Muse Tesema had it all in front of him to catch the entire field. It was a very difficult task, but he almost achieved it, going from 13th to second, with only Mel Hardiman able to hold him off. Mel finished 4 seconds ahead of Muse, with Hayelom coming in for third place, just ahead of Asmelash and Justin.
Thank you to Barbara Augustin and Don McLaren for timekeeping. Of the 13 athletes, 5 of them were coached by Barbara, a great percentage of participation for one of the smaller training groups at the club.
Full results
Name Start Finish Actual
Mel Hardiman 1:25 43:54 42:29
Muse Tesema (4.1k) 30:14 43:58 13:44
Hayelom Dawit (4.1k) 29:26 44:05 14:39
Asmelash Tesema 14:41 23:37 29:34
Justin McLaren 7:15 44:42 37:27
Natalie Roberts 7:14 44:45 37:31
Brian Anderson 10:43 45:10 35:27
Natalie Morgan 2:14 45:31 43:17
Danny Hawksworth 14:02 45:44 31:42
Tom Hayes 11:53 46:03 34:10
Matthew Goodger 0:19 46:12 45:53
David Jones 6:11 47:34 41:23
John Cooper 7:01 48:18 41:17
