Teruki Shimada takes home first win at the Launceston Running Festival | The Press Box 89 (7/6/25) - video Dailymotion

The Examiner

Ben Hann, Josh Partridge, and Ryan Bentley discuss Teruki Shimada's first win at the Launceston Running Festival. Video by Aaron Smith and Phillip Biggs (7/6/25)

Transcript

00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of the Press Box. This is episode 89. My name's Ben

00:11Hand. Joining alongside me once again is Ryan Bentley and Josh Partridge. We've got, you know,

00:16a big episode today after a lot of action across the weekend from footy, running basketball and

00:22everything in between. But before we get into that, it's everyone's favourite segment, numerology.

00:30All right, fellas, I've had to be a bit creative today after what was a pretty historic round

00:44of MTFA Premier League. Unfortunately, not for the right reasons in some instances, but

00:50it certainly gave me an idea about how I go about this week's numerology. And now 89 came

00:56up in Tasmanian sport after the MTFA Premier League men combined for 17 plus three plus

01:0549 plus two plus 14 plus five goals individually. Now, an eagle eye would spot that that is in

01:13fact 90, not 89. But this is where...

01:16How are you solving this, Ben?

01:18This is where my creativity comes in because ahead of that record-breaking 300-point margin

01:24in the men at Windsor Park, there was a far closer contest. In fact, Launceston and Scottsdale

01:31were separated by just one point. So if we take that single point margin and minus that from

01:37the 90, we get today's episode number 89. And now they're off to that flyer. We will move

01:43straight into basketball. The most beloved, probably the best player to have ever pulled

01:50on a Tasmanian Jackjumpers uniform, Milton Doyle, has left the club and gone to probably the club's

01:57biggest rival, Melbourne United, obviously famously playing in that five-game series championship

02:03that the Jackjumpers won just last year. Josh, I suppose... Sorry, in fact, I'll go to Ryan

02:10first. Ryan, you know, we were obviously at the desk when it happened. It was pretty big

02:16news late on that Sunday. You know, where is the club at since the end of the season?

02:22Well, it was quite the news to get on a Sunday evening. Not usually the time for news, but

02:26nevertheless, Milton Doyle out. So, yeah, they were down to just one of their three important

02:33spots now with the recent signing of David Johnson. He was born in Kentucky, played for the Raptors

02:37for a few years. So, I assume probably would have crossed paths with Scott Roth at some

02:41point there. Or maybe, maybe, maybe. And that hopefully will cover Jordan Crawford, who the

02:48Jackjumpers elected not to re-sign after three seasons with the club. So, yeah, we're looking

02:55to feel one more important slot of thing. I don't think they'll get all three, but yeah.

02:59Yeah, no. And obviously, Josh, it's not just been departures. We've had a few new players

03:05join the nest, haven't we? Yeah, Ryan there mentioned David Johnson, the American. But

03:10other than that, we've got a few Australians that have signed on. Josh Bannon was the big

03:14one, the one that you were really excited about, Ben. Played at the 2024 Summer League

03:19with the Clippers. So, he's got some NBA-ish experience there. So, he'll be a really good

03:25big man to play alongside Will Magnet there. And we've got also Ben Eyre, Nick Marshall and

03:30Kobe Williamson. So, Marshall's a good small forward. He's played with the Boomers and a

03:37bit of a veteran in Australian basketball circles. So, he adds a bit of experience to

03:40the Jackjumpers roster. Absolutely. And I think, Ben, I think what's crucial about him

03:44is what made Jack McVay. So, crucial. And what makes Will Magnet so crucial is that, you

03:50know, it's, everyone has good imports, but the difference between winning a championship

03:54and being really competitive is the quality of your local players. And now with the Jock

03:58Dang and with Josh Bannon, you can really see the local talent as well as increase, as well

04:04as Sean McDonald. And speaking of which, that brings me on to something I wrote about yesterday,

04:09which was, it is literally just 14 months ago that Jackjumpers were celebrating that famous

04:14title. And yet, only four players remain from that championship roster. It has been a massive

04:20amount of turnover. Obviously, immediately, there was Jack McVay going for the NBA. There

04:25was just multiple players signing bigger contracts, getting bigger deals elsewhere that the Jackjumpers

04:31could offer. And that happens. So, it is, you know, I think I wrote something of a fond memory

04:37these days with only Will Magnet, Sean McDonald, Anthony Drimic, and Sean McDonald. Sorry, what

04:46was it? The Jackjump, sorry. Got my local players mixed up. They, yeah, I think are really in

04:54the new era. And with Scott Roth, only sort of a couple years out from his end of his tenure,

04:59it'll be interesting to see how they fare. And that brings us in to, you know, the landmark

05:04segment, the section of the show that ties everything together, really, and makes the show what

05:09it is today. And that is, of course, Handy's Hard Hitters. So, boys, this will remain on

05:23the Jackjumpers theme, obviously. With these sort of ingoings and outgoings in mind, the

05:28Jackjumpers finished seventh at the end of last season, the first time they hadn't made

05:31the playoffs. Where do you think they will finish in NBL 26? I'm not much of a basketball

05:38person, but I'm going to back them in to make the playoffs again. I'm going to back

05:43them in to finish fourth. Nice way.

05:47Well, it's a little bit up in the air at the moment because we've only got one of the

05:51imports. I do like David Johnson, though. I'm going to go big. I'm going to put him in

05:55second. Second?

05:56That is not what you said off air. Just bear in mind, he asked, when I asked this question,

06:02first of all, how many teams there are there in the NBL? So, you can take it to the bank

06:07when Ryan gives his thoughts on that. I actually think this will be more like a, yeah, a fifth

06:13season. I think they'll be in the playoffs. I think they might even take one of the series

06:17with them, but I don't see them making the championship series. But I think certainly

06:22it'll be a positive year building on the last season. They were just ravaged by injuries,

06:26really. We'll move right along now to football. We've got, as previously mentioned at the

06:31start of the show, the NTFA Premier League was certainly in the headlines probably for

06:36the wrong reasons. Josh?

06:38Yeah. Launceston had a massive win over Scottsdale. 49-23, 317 to 2-3-15. So that's Launceston's

06:48club record for their highest score ever. Previous was 294. But yeah, Archie Wilkinson kicked

06:5410. Jake Hines kicked 10. And Ethan Conway, 7. The interesting thing was Hines and Wilkinson,

07:00they both did it within three quarters. Hines, he didn't kick one in the first and Arch didn't

07:05kick one in the last. So they shared their time around the goals. But yeah, obviously

07:11a massive result there that was, it's obviously disappointing for the league being such a young

07:16league. Yeah, it's a bit disheartening that that occurred. But I suppose some good news

07:21earlier on the Friday night, North Launceston women picked up their first win since coming

07:26back to women's competition. I wrote an article, I think it was 1,707 days since they last won

07:33when they were in the TSLW in 2020. So obviously it's a completely different outfit. I think

07:39there's only one one that played in the TSL days that's playing now, which is Caitlin Lee.

07:44So, but they had a debutante, a young gun, Leela Jane Atkins. She was fantastic. First

07:51game in senior level and she was a gun. She was under 15 All-Australian in 2023. So she's

07:58got a big future ahead of her and she looked well-equipped at senior level. So yeah, and

08:03she got all the compliments from Coach Emma Groves after the game.

08:07Yeah, and obviously they had Tanisha Kukuwak there for a while. So there could be another potential

08:10AFLW player coming out of North Launceston. And we'll move on to the Launceston Running

08:16Festival just because of how action-packed this show is. There's plenty more to talk about

08:19with footy. But Sunday morning, it was a pretty historic day for Launceston Running Festival.

08:25We had obviously the first elite label 21K half marathon raced in Lonnie here, Ryan.

08:32I suppose take us through what happened over the course of the day and what your thoughts

08:35were.

08:36Well, it was a long old day. There were so many people out there. It was incredible.

08:39I think there would have been easily over 3,000 people running all the different events.

08:43It was quite, yeah, it was awesome to see. So the winners though, for the most important

08:48bit, in the men's 21K, Japanese runner Taruki Shimada in his first ever overseas race.

08:54Won his first ever race. It's his first race he's ever won. So big achievement for him.

08:59He was very happy. He had a massive smile on his face. It was really good for him.

09:03Sam Clifford, local boy, he also broke the state record in that race. So a good effort for

09:08him, given he is usually a 10K runner. So when I stepped up into the 21K, did a nice job.

09:14In the women's, Jess Stenson, who won Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham in 2022. She claimed

09:20the victory there. She talked about giving her money to farmers in need in Australia.

09:25She talked about her family being from a farming background, also needing as much support as they

09:30need. And then it was a Tassie double in the 10K. Stuart McSwain, on his birthday in the place

09:36who was born, even though he's a proud King Islander, was born in Lonnie. 30th birthday,

09:41got the job done and won by, what was it, like 40 seconds in the end. Didn't he look excited

09:46about it? Thrilled. But someone who did look thrilled was Ruby Smee from Hobart. She'd

09:56ran the race many times before and was very happy to win the race. Was lost for words really

10:03at the end there. Also won by 30 seconds. So pretty good day for Tassie runners in the 10K.

10:09Yeah, it was just a remarkable day. Really well done by Richard Welsh and the whole team there

10:14that have clearly put in countless hours, time, money into this project. And it just gets better

10:20every year. And yeah, a real testament to, I suppose, where Tassie running is at. And that

10:25would actually lead us on to a segment that is also equally ever-growing. It just constantly baffles

10:33me just how popular the segment is getting. And that is, of course, Josh's local hero of the week.

10:38Well, I thought you were giving a bit of a spoiler there in your little segue, but it is someone

10:49that is based off the Launceston Running Festival that will win it this week. Millie Clark is Josh's

10:56local hero of the week. Millie ran the half marathon. She's an Olympian and she works here

11:02in Lonnie. So she ran the half marathon, won the Tasmanian, first Tasmanian across the line. But

11:07in the lead up to the event, as a teacher, she's also been getting a school group across the line. So

11:13she had a group of Scotch Oakburn students that she had in the race. So she's done a fantastic job

11:23recruiting her students and all that kind of thing at the school. And I went there earlier last week

11:27for a job and it was bedlam there. The kids were going crazy over the fact that there was TV cameras

11:33and all that kind of thing around. But there were so many kids interested in running and that's all

11:37a testament to Millie and the work that she does. So congratulations, Millie, and well done on your

11:42local hero of the week. Yeah. And obviously, it was such a great sight seeing her graded by the

11:47students when she crossed the line. You know, she's competed in, you know, Olympics, all sorts of

11:52international running events, but I'm sure that award means the most to her. And with that in mind,

11:58that is actually all we've got time for this week. We'll catch you guys for the next one.

Teruki Shimada takes home first win at the Launceston Running Festival | The Press Box 89 (7/6/25)

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