2024 Castlemaine 120m Mens Gift

Relying on Norm this week for a bit of a spiel

I already see a lot of tips coming for Watson after his impressive run at Keilor. However, My pick is Kumara, given he has fully recovered from his injury. Halfway down the St Albans track, he was going to beat Sherman, which now in hindsight, would’ve been a big scalp.

If he’s close to the St Albans shape, he wins this easily.
Sammut, Britain, Watson, Martin, DeBruin and Loughnan will be fighting it out for the minors. In guessing Rosen will be close to a final too as he always runs well here.

Agree with you Norm

Laughnan
Debruin
Kamara (1st)
Martin
Watson (3rd)
Griffin
Camille
Britain (2nd)

Debruin couldn’t fight his way out of a brown paper bag. Will need well more than 5.25 to final let alone challenge.

No one has mentioned two of the biggest chances who will go head to head off the same mark. Condello V Sharma - this could be the race that stops the nation. I'm backing the enforcer!

oldandslow wrote:No one has mentioned two of the biggest chances who will go head to head off the same mark.  Condello V Sharma - this could be the race that stops the nation. I'm backing the enforcer!

Condello beats sharma.
Powerhouse vs motormouth

Woodchopper wrote:

oldandslow wrote:No one has mentioned two of the biggest chances who will go head to head off the same mark.  Condello V Sharma - this could be the race that stops the nation. I'm backing the enforcer!

Condello beats sharma.
Powerhouse vs motormouth

Obviously Woodchooper is Kristerfer Kardakovski, you always had a bone to pick with both Lugo's. As for comparison with Dom all due respect, my best rpm for season is .1230, not far off it at Geelong. Doms around .1300 which still is good for age and circumstances.

As long as everyone's enjoying their running, these comparisons shouldn't matter. Taking the piss behind anonymity is weak and cowardly, that applies to the above posts. Taking the piss out of veteran runners, you really can't stoop much lower.

@V. Sharma - As you said, your best RPM is .1230 at Geelong. With Castlemaine considered a lot faster track I'd say you should (on a good day) be able to manage a 12.4x and sneak into the final, or have i got this completely wrong? So I think you have confused a bit of 'masters banter' with 'taking the piss'.

Woodchoopper can explain his own comments, so don't bundle the two togther; mine was clearly harmless. Good luck on Sunday, I'm interstate so won't be able to cheer you on.

oldandslow wrote:@V. Sharma - As you said, your best RPM is .1230 at Geelong. With Castlemaine considered a lot faster track I'd say you should (on a good day) be able to manage a 12.4x and sneak into the final, or have i got this completely wrong? So I think you have confused a bit of 'masters banter' with 'taking the piss'.  

Woodchoopper can explain his own comments, so don't bundle the two togther; mine was clearly harmless.  Good luck on Sunday, I'm interstate so won't be able to cheer you on.

No problems.

Rosen 11.8 into a headwind last night. Only run 104m tomorrow. Thats 12.2. No one will risk going faster he wins off stupid mark

Other regular VAL ran too but wont do anythin at castle

Powerhouse (e) 1 v motormouth (s) 0

KK out of hibernation to take poor me in the last stride , no Krumbling today

Bang Bang wrote:KK out of hibernation to take poor me in the last stride , no Krumbling today

I think KK might’ve given himself too big of a day on the track yesterday.
Hard for a 30+ powerful short distance sprinter to roll out in the first heat of the 70m and keep the body ticking over for 7 hours.

But the split weekend program at Bendigo, could suit him perfectly in a couple of weeks.

Keen to see the report from Castlemaine! There were some very dubious efforts, some VERY interesting inconsistencies (I'm looking at the invitational...) and some interesting times (waiting to see if there will be/what is the adjustment for the track this year was it as hard and fast as usual?)

Invitational was a great race! Maybe it was only a great race because one of the athletes ran significantly better in the invitational than the gift heat.
12.97 —>12.47. Yes got a 2m lift, but that doesn’t account for the 0.5 second improvement

Are 120m invitationals supposed to be for athletes entered and competing in the 120m on the day? (might need to check the regulations) The novelty of having a distance runner, vet and both genders is great…. but the most credentialed Gift runner improving at least 3 metres from their actual heat run was taking the pi$$

Easier Said Than Run wrote:Are 120m invitationals supposed to be for athletes entered and competing in the 120m on the day? (might need to check the regulations) The novelty of having a distance runner, vet and both genders is great…. but the most credentialed Gift runner improving at least 3 metres from their actual heat run was taking the pi$$

I agree, I won’t name names, because I don’t do that. But I know which athlete you are talking about

Don't let this run in the invitation fool you, it is all a smoke screen to take the attention off a squad mate.

Shepparton - runs 12.66 and makes the final
Ballarat - runs 12.64 in the heat and scratches from the semi with injury
Keilor - runs 12.88.
Castlemaine - gets a 0.25m lift and runs 13.13 on a downhill track.

If an athlete is not fully fit and can't run to their recent form, do not run.
Why was the 14-day suspension not enforced? This used to be 28 days, or 14 with a certificate, and it was enforced.
Now only 0.75m from a mark that made the Stawell final. Run dead for the rest of the year to get some lifts, and take a win early next year. That is the formal and it is taking the pi$$.

OnlyAQuarter wrote:Don't let this run in the invitation fool you, it is all a smoke screen to take the attention off a squad mate.

Shepparton - runs 12.66 and makes the final
Ballarat - runs 12.64 in the heat and scratches from the semi with injury
Keilor - runs 12.88.
Castlemaine - gets a 0.25m lift and runs 13.13 on a downhill track.

If an athlete is not fully fit and can't run to their recent form, do not run.
Why was the 14-day suspension not enforced? This used to be 28 days, or 14 with a certificate, and it was enforced.
Now only 0.75m from a mark that made the Stawell final. Run dead for the rest of the year to get some lifts, and take a win early next year. That is the formal and it is taking the pi$$.

He may run dead for the rest of the year. And win one early next year. But there would be 100 runners doing this in the VAL on any given week.
Rather see a backmarker win one that some bloke around for 2 years and starting up near the finish line.

Injury is hard to manage/police. Cramping and pulling up doesn’t require a full 2 week suspension. And a tear could be 5-8 weeks.
I’m guilty of running while injured.
But not for the purpose of cheating. Just because if I’m not 100%, but still fall within the acceptable range, I’m not going to find myself 0.5m worse off when I come back to full recovery.
Injuring yourself is already a big enough set back.  And you’re only injuring yourself if you’re trying.
As an honest runner, if you take too long on the side lines, you may as well write off your season.

NAPs still apply for injured runners who aren’t of a satisfactory standard.

OnlyAQuarter wrote:Don't let this run in the invitation fool you, it is all a smoke screen to take the attention off a squad mate.

Shepparton - runs 12.66 and makes the final
Ballarat - runs 12.64 in the heat and scratches from the semi with injury
Keilor - runs 12.88.
Castlemaine - gets a 0.25m lift and runs 13.13 on a downhill track.

If an athlete is not fully fit and can't run to their recent form, do not run.
Why was the 14-day suspension not enforced? This used to be 28 days, or 14 with a certificate, and it was enforced.
Now only 0.75m from a mark that made the Stawell final. Run dead for the rest of the year to get some lifts, and take a win early next year. That is the formal and it is taking the pi$$.

I will have to defend Tom here. I understand last season he had gluteal tendinopathy, and he wasn't able to run. It is likely throughout the season that he has flared up tendon pain and led to inconsistent performances. There are different criteria used to define what fully recovered from tendinopathy is, but generally speaking 12 months pain free is a high bar but the best in my view and many experts. Under this definition athletes will never recovery as full recovery requires 12 months for the tendinopathic tendons to remodel back to normal morphology. Athletes are all too eager to get back to the sport, so generally speaking they will have to manage pain & performances and never fully recover.

The problem regarding inconsistent performances will be that some will play the game and take advantage of the rules. Moving forward the solution is to have stewards review results post events and pick up trends. Given that most are volunteers or paid a small amount it is likely they are not willing to go to those lengths. In my opinion it is the current culture is different from the past. It is intense commitment, work ethic and dedication to values which will fix current issues. Rules are in place, but you need to do the work to enforce them.

Regards to Tom, Stewards need to work closely with coach and athlete and issue what is acceptable or not, and from that baseline apply rules.