Frankston to Portsea 55km Run 55km/34 miles
1st April 1989
| 1. | Kon Butko | 4:15:00 |
| 2. | Peter Gray | 4:28:50 |
| 3. | Geoff Hook | 4:43:05 |
| 4. | Peter Armistead | 5:12:20 |
| 5. | Ron Smith | 5:12:20 |
| 6. | Phil Barnes | 5:52:08 |
| 7. | Pat Cooper [F] | 6:09:53 |
| 8. | Jacques Gaillard | 6:31:01 |
Report by Dot Browne
On April Fools day, eight runners fronted at the Frankston Post Office in the early hours of the morning, all ready to prove how foolish they were in wanting to run the 34 miles [55km] to Portsea with no drink stations, no portable toilets, no support crews, no split times, no police supervision, no nothing. Well, almost nothing. The Peninsula Road Runners, not wanting to spoil them too much, did make a few concessions. They provided them with a time, a block of chocolate and a certificate once they touched the gates of the army camp at the end of the Nepean Highway.
Phil Barnes, Peter Armistead, Jacques Gaillard, Pat Cooper, Peter Gray, Kon Butko, Ron Smith and Geoff Hook were the fools. This certainly was a super casual race, and they loved it. Ross Shilston started them off and Peter Gray took off like a rocket. Nobody saw him for dust until Rosebud, 35km later. He’d been running 20 minute 5kms and left the rest of the field for dead.
Hookie and Kon Butko came next, running together at a more sedate 23 minute per 5km pace, chatting as they ran. Kon picked up the pace once he hit the beach road and overtook Peter Gray at Rosebud before going on to win comfortably in 4:15. Hookie was left in third place finishing in 4:43. Peter Armistead, the blond bricklayer from Frankston, kept the attractive Pat Copper company for the first half but then ungallantly left her for dead. Ron Smith caught Peter and these two rogues then ran together to the finish. Then just to prove they were both genuine April Fools, they stopped for a beer 800 metres from the finish then proceeded to do a U-turn at the end and run all the way back to Frankston, just to cool down!! Peter took over 12 hours to complete the round trip in the dark!!
Phil Barnes was next in followed by Pat Cooper in her first ultra. Jacques Gaillard also did well to finish in his second ultra. Well done, all of you.
It had been a great day. The weather was perfect. The course was interesting and scenic, pleasantly undulating from Frankston through to Mount Eliza with the natural bush lining the road. Then the landscape opened up for a few kilometres before hitting the ti-treed foreshore from Dromana to Sorrento – a long flat road with glimpses of Port Philip Bay on one side and rows of holiday shops on the other.
The final 5km stretch into Portsea was the toughest. Six short, sharp roller-coaster hills which really tested the runners when they were exhausted and looking for the finish. All eight runners finished. I guess the only disappointed one was Peter Armistead. This was to be day one of Mike March’s training program and he had bombed out badly when he only managed to complete half the required mileage with his 110km!!!!