The unstoppable Meggy Boan continued to beat the odds when she stormed to her third win in her debut season with the club last Saturday.
Every time the Chinese expatriate steps out in a five kilometre race she improves so much that club handicapper cannot keep up with her progress.
Just as the grey-bearded Gary Saunders was hailed as the winner of the five kilometre Stephen Baird Handicap, Meggy gritted her teeth as she topped the last rise and gobbled up the ground to snatch victory from Gary by a mere 0.02 seconds.
Jackie Healy was almost out of sight coming home in third place, but thrilled with her first podium finish with the club.
Meggy dedicated the win to her mother who still lives in Qinzhou Guangxi, a medium size city and seaport in China near the Vietnam border.
“I didn’t expect to win but I wanted to do the best I could as it’s my mother’s 70th birthday today,” the Rupanyup nurserywoman said. “I don’t set out to win. I just want to keep challenging myself and to keep on improving.”
After running for the first time with the club in April, Meggy has ripped a staggering 6.24 minutes from her five kilometre times in just four races over the distance.
She has emulated Horsham’s Lindy Muller who won three races in 2006, a rare enough feat and one that perhaps has been achieved only a few times in the club’s 48 year history.
“I think the shorter races suit me because I am inclined to start very fast and that brings me undone in the longer races,” said Meggy, who is as slim as a pretzel and is all legs.
The best time in the race – a personal best in the Baird – was a scintillating 20.32, posted by the talented Owen Roper, who is not yet at peak fitness.
With nine races still to be run this season – four of those of five kilometres and two over three kilometres – Meggy might be a contender to win at least one more…but four wins in a season would be unprecedented!
In the Junior Division of the race, the promising Nathan Stoate ran a blinding 21.28 to defeat a determined Jessica Boan and it was a double for the Stoates when Georgia took out the Sub-Juniors race from a battling Alex Boan.
By Keith Lofthouse