Saturday 29th April was the first of two cross country matches against Kembla Joggers for the 6th annual McCaffrey Challenge. The Challenge is named in honour of Frank McCaffrey who was instrumental in founding the Nowra club in 1960.
The match was a golden opportunity to test runners abilities on not only one of the best known and most popular cross-country venues in the country but on Nowra’s home turf, Willandra. It was run under fine Autumn weather conditions and there were 305 competitors all up, an increase of 50 from last year.
In the shortest distance the youngest runners pushed hard. Kembla Joggers runner Bailey Mitchell took line honours with Nowra’s Emily McLaren running in second whilst third was Kembla’s Hana Barnes. The next Nowra runner home was Amba Florance in 7th place whilst Noah Dyball was the first male Nowra runner home in 15th place.
The two kilometre race showcased the fine form of Matthew Higham for Nowra who crossed in 8.12 minutes for first place. Kembla Joggers took the next three places with Nowra’s Reilly Caswell in 5th place. Toby Dyball and Hamish McLaren finished in the top ten, taking 8th and 9th place respectively.
The three kilometres saw 59 competitors take the field with Kembla Joggers featuring strongly. Kembla took out the first six places with Nowra’s Olivia Greenhalgh finishing 7th. Next best for Nowra was Abbey Dunn in 10th place and Sam Maher in 13th.
The 4 kilometre race was again won by Kembla Joggers with Dylan Holland taking the win. Byron VanDyk was first home for Nowra in 7th place followed by Nowra athletes Alec Dobson, Jaylah Hancock-Cameron, and Daniel Wells to round out the top ten. Not far behind, Asha Martin was 13th and Jesse Buckham 15th.
The eight kilometre race saw some real contest between the two clubs. There were 70 competitors but it was the consistent Harry McGill who staked his claim on this race. Harry finished in 27.16 minutes ahead of Kembla’s James Seal who ran in second in 28.11 minutes. Next was Martin Cooper and Matt Lewis for Nowra. Hugh Dobson showed reliable pace to finish in 7th place and Damian Smith showed he is back to form again after some absence from Club cross country with a top ten finish in 9th place. Perry Strand and Bradley Sawyers tussled it out for 15th and 16th place with Perry coming in just in front of Brad whilst Nowra’s Club President Scott Johnson ran in 18th.
For anyone interested in statistics:
In the 1km there were 18 Nowra competitors from a total field of 37
In the 2km there were 36 Nowra competitors from a total field of 63
In the 3km there were 32 Nowra competitors from a total field of 59
In the 4km there were 47 Nowra competitors from a total field of 73
In the 8km there were 30 Nowra competitors from a total field of 70
The Club would like to thank everyone for their participation. The return match against Kembla Joggers will be held at Dapto on June 24th.
Meanwhile next Saturday’s round 5 of competition will be held at Longreach. This will be followed by the AGM and Presentation Night at 6.30pm at Illaroo Road Public School. Everyone from Cross Country, Track and Field and Summer Road Running is invited to attend to celebrate the achievements of all athletes over the past season. Please bring a plate for supper.
Looking further forward the NSW Cross Country Relay Championships are coming up on May 27th. This is a truly unique event that should be on everyone’s fun run calendar! There are a range of different team options on offer, and each runner covers distances between 2-4km! The event is held over the undulating hills at Miranda park in the heartland of the shire and is suitable for all ages and abilities.
Members need to be registered with Athletics NSW (or other state member association or Little Athletics NSW ) for the current season and wear their club uniform with their bibs worn front and back for the duration of the event. If you want to run in these relays you need to contact Mel Mustapic or Peter Dooley as soon as possible so teams can be organised.