Horsham mother-of-three Brydie Scollary etched her name into Stawell Amateur Athletic Club history when she, Meggy Boan, and Gaynor Radovic, completed the club’s first ever all-girl trifecta in the five kilometer Barham Insurance Handicap, held near Stawell last Saturday.
Clocking two minutes faster than her previous best for the distance, Brydie ran the race of her life to notch up her maiden win with the club from only a handful of starts and cited a more intense training regimen for her rapid improvement.
“I’m training now with the Horsham triathlon group and while I’m still only running about 30 kilometres a week I’ve added 100kms on the bike and two-and-a-half ks swimming and that’s made all the difference.”
Always in command of the race on the winding course through the Ironbarks Forest, Brydie reveled in the warm conditions and was too slick for Rupanyup nursery woman Meggy Boan, who improved sharply on her début effort the previous week, but was still 24 seconds in arrears.
Brydie said she was the fittest she has been for some years and for that reason is enjoying the competition. “And apart from all that, the beauty of this club is that the whole family can be involved. Daryl (her husband) also ran in the race and daughter Armani impressively won the Sub-Juniors race.
Like Horsham compatriot Tim Harris, who won the season opener and is targeting a half-marathon in Canberra later in the year, Brydie has her sights set on the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon in mid-May and eventually, a full marathon.
The “family friendly” club also brought success for the Boans; Jessica finished fast to win the Junior section of the race over two kilometers and Alex Boan was second to Armani in the Sub-Juniors.
By Keith Lofthouse