Women's 800

Great meeting at my town last week Tim and Narelle flew the flag for the frontman let's and the women's and open 400 were classics won by 2 superstars.moving ahead now it's a damn shame to see only 24 entered in the women's 800 after the spectacular Parkdale event.none of the quality ammos are there either and while I am aware it's week one of the Vic championships this weekend the 800 is on week 2 and most of the stars from Parkdale are not doing anything this week to my knowledge.looking at the field that is entered the overwhelming favourite must be Anna kasapis.after running 2.14 on Saturday at Lakeside somehow the handicapper has still given her 66 so she should run around 2.02 and win by around 7/8 seconds or 40 plus metres given the Stawell women's race was won last year with 2.08 in perfect conditions I hope the handicapper does a slightly better in 6 weeks time so we can see a competitive final come Easter.cheers

Hi Jim,

You have my attention and as it is distance I will put my 2 cents worth in.

I think Kasapis is great shape at the moment and for a Women of her age is running exceptional and deserves to win but I think she is handicapped to her best and there are a few others in this field who are not.

You start with the 5 girls here who made the final at Parkdale:

Ingrid Woodward ran 4th in 2.09.34 and has come back 2m to 2.10
Anna Kasapis ran 5th in 2.09.72 and has come back 2m to 2.10
Danielle McDowell ran 6th in 2.10.03 but actually ran 2.09.36 in her heat lifted 6m to 2.08
Natalie Densley ran 8th in 2.10.39 holds her mark so 2.10
Kylie Williams ran 10th in 2.12.52 but ran 2.11.03 in her heat holds her mark so 2.11

Based on this I think Woodward & McDowell have the most improvement in them and being that McDowell seems to have the benefit of the Handicappers lift here should be the one to beat out of these 5

Outside of these:
Meg Deane a 2.09 at Stawell last year off 58 out to 74 if fit should have these covered
Ruby Crisp did win 2018 in 2.03 of 100 now 76 and should be in her prime and more than capable of this if fit
Tamara Hamond ran a 2.02 last year off 126 off 100 she be well and truly in it
Celia Cosgriff did run a 1.58 of 128 just 2 years ago and getting fit off 100 well and truly in it
Alice Platten ran 2.10 twice at Stawell last year and lifted from 66m to 126m this has to be a winning mark
Sophie Stokes ran 2.10 in open last week off 140m has 140m this week but ran 2.04 last year off 150m

Ones to watch:
Crook the back marker a class runner but would need to be going well to win this
Jinx moving up to 800 is an interesting one certainly has class on her side
Goder who has shown good form in Open company this season again class

Others:
Pieters not much form to go off but looks tuff from 50m
Fox first run back for a while and looks super hard from 80m
White can run but first run back for a while will find this difficult
Beer on current form will struggle
Barrow good mark no form on the board so could be a smokey but think this is tight for her
Kapusta in decent shape will be honest run but honest runs won't win this event
Gunning seems to be getting fitter but times suggest no
Arthur times suggest no but is still young and can improve

Overall I think Platten is best placed to win even in current form but with this mark it is worth banking and taking to Stawell, will stick with the current form I know and say McDowell

Great summary distance and I agree with the majority of what you say in relation to the rest of the field.I also agree that Anna K is a beautiful middle distance runner for her age with a lovely relaxed technique and leading up to Saturday 66 was probably a fairly accurate mark based on her Parkdale and open runs so far.The cold hard facts are that she chose to run an 800 Saturday and showed the running fraternity that she can run 2.14 which far and away overides everything else she has done and should give her a mark of between 35 and 40 for a 2.08 on the track and 2.10 on grass/Stawell which are what the rules state having coached a number of athletes who are or have combined ammos and pro I have always demanded that they submit all runs outside of val within 24 hours of the race.we are reminded of it every week in the race reports and whilst I am not saying for a minute that Anna has not done that maybe she did it Sunday night and the handicapper has not had time to assess it.lets hope it's adjusted by Friday night and the other 23 ladies have some sort of a chance cheers

Hi Jim,

Yes agree with your calculations here, ceiling time for Stawell is 2.08, her 2.14 reverts to a 2.16 depending on what the tenth are maybe closer to 2.17 ? so given the benefit of the doubt 50m is probably about right.

Actually not sure why any of the girls came back in the event when they did not break ceiling, thats a mystery.

And actually think there are better girls off better handicaps than Anna in this instance.

Based on the last 2 years form which this race is handicapped around some girls form have deteriorated dramatically and they have benefited from it while others seem to be held accountable for what they have done in this time period. I cannot see any ryhme or reason to it, other than to hide your form until you are convinced you can win.

Anna has not done that and probably needs this mark and a bit more if she is going to win, can't see her winning by 40m but good luck if she does it will be a great run.

Fantastic call distance to declare the outright winner in this day and age great stuff.look at the times though 2.02 2.03 2.04 from Anna K to come third c'mon and then 3 others under 2.08.generally speaking do we want another Zoe Nicholson 2.01 win which is fine or can we get the 6 of them back to real marks and make the best day 1 final at Stawell the race it should be .bring on Bendigo cheers

And by the way distance wonderful to see Martine back in a final she's a legend

Jim not sure if you were there last night but it was a straight Final so congratulations to all the girls who made the final and especially to those who turned up to support the event, not sure why 5 the finalist from Parkdale didn't turn up again after getting so close

It was actually a better final to watch with what I thought was still 3 legitimate chances at the top of the straight, I thought when Goder took kasapis on she looked the winner about 250 out but credit to Danielle who did what Danielle does well and that is grind out that last 100 and find a way to win. Goder faded a little which helped and Kasapis remained strong to the line, signs of a Athlete in good shape.


Its hard to get to excited over an event were you have 7 girls break ceiling and half of them are not even fit YET. Must break the soul of anyone who works hard to even be competitive in this event.

Yes it was an all weather track and times are ultimately quicker but the scary thing here is that the 200, 300 & 550 which were also run here were all a second slower than what Stawell has been won in the last 2 years, so with these current crop of marks and the fact a lot of girls here are yet to peak as such the most interesting result for Stawell is how fast can they actually go. Could we see a Sub 2.00 ??

It will be interesting what the Handicapper does here after this result, an unprecedent amount of girls breaking Ceiling. And what probably makes it harder I think is that from the entries for this race I think there are another 7 who didn't run who would have potentially broken it as well. Maybe they are the smart one's here as they will more than likely be the benefactors out of this result. Shame being you actually want girls turning up and running but in this instance you move the handicaps around to get them back to ceiling 2.08 for what this race is supposed to be handicapped to or you change the rules re-handicap it to 2.05 and lift everyone. Either way you basically get the same result.

More often than not at Stawell in the distance races if you can get yourself to Ceiling you are a legitimate chance to win and I give the Handicapper the credit for this, but in this event if your best is 2.08 and you are handicapped to run 2.08 then you probably give yourself a chance to final but that is about it.

Based on the current marks and the entries I would look towards the following girls from my preamble as a winner at this stage.

Outside of these:
Meg Deane a 2.09 at Stawell last year off 58 out to 74 if fit should have these covered
Ruby Crisp did win 2018 in 2.03 of 100 now 76 and should be in her prime and more than capable of this if fit
Tamara Hamond ran a 2.02 last year off 126 off 100 she be well and truly in it
Celia Cosgriff did run a 1.58 of 128 just 2 years ago and getting fit off 100 well and truly in it
Alice Platten ran 2.10 twice at Stawell last year and lifted from 66m to 126m this has to be a winning mark
Sophie Stokes ran 2.10 in open last week off 140m has 140m this week but ran 2.04 last year off 150m
Others:
Barrow good mark no form on the board so could be a smokey but think this is tight for her

Ribera yes your previous summary regards the Stawell winner will follow a familiar pattern I suggest