Hagenauer Reserve at Box Hill was already a highly regarded venue – ‘the home of the PB’ – and now boasts Australia’s first set of pacing lights, thanks to the ingenuity of Box Hill Athletics Club.
The lights, which provide a metronomic set pace for athletes, were constructed by Box Hill AC member Peter Stefanos through his company Pennywise Peripherals and provided to the club at the cost of the parts. They debuted at the Box Hill Burn, which featured 1000m and 5000m races.
The highlight of the meet were Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran taking out the 1000m from Stewart McSweyn in 2:19.36 to 2:20.32.
In the women’s race USA’s Brooke Feldmeier was the victor off a slow pace before an explosive final 200m to win in 2:51.82.
In the 5000m Seth O’Donnell broke away from the field but tired in the final laps, almost being caught down the home straight by Adrian Potter before doggedly rallying for a tenth-of-a-second victory in 14:04.78.
In the women’s race 13-year-old Sophie Hall followed the pace lights throughout the race to stop the clock in a sensational 16:28.26. The performance bettered the qualifying standard for this year’s World Under 20 Championships but Hall is ineligible to compete as she is too young – as a minimum athletes must turn 16 in the year of the event.
Photo Gallery
A gallery of over 100 photos from the Box Hill Burn is available here. Download the photos using the code you receive when you subscribe to our newsletter.
