It is mid October and while most of our umpires are recovering from a gruelling season some have decided to continue to test themselves against the very best.
The Melbourne marathon was run in Melbourne on Sunday in what turned out to be a tough day at the office for many with the temperature hitting the mid-high twenties which is very unseasonal at this time of the year. Two of our boundary umpires ran in the 10k and one ran in the half marathon and can I say their times were phenomenal!
Michael Marantelli who hasn’t stopped running since he was nine (as the story goes) ran a 10 kilometre portion of the marathon event in 32.31, finishing 9th overall out of the 7,034 runners who registered for this event. Not a bad attempt at 3.15km pace.
Damien Cusack who just finished his first year as a boundary, finished 47th in the same race clocking 36.57 or a 3.42 km pace.
But let’s save our applause for Chris Esler, who some will remember at this same time last season struggled to run a step with significant injuries, competed in the half marathon, finishing 27th out of the 9,952 runners in a time of 1:15.51 or 3.33km pace.
Boys, you need to be applauded.
Pictured: Michael Marantelli, Damien Cusack, Chris Esler