On Saturday, June 23, the famous Willandra property of Rod and Jan Gibb hosted the Waratah Series Challenge, the current version of what local runners have come to know as ‘The Country Classic’. The event incorporated the 121st NSW Cross Country Championships, first held in 1890. This is considered to be the premier annual winter running event in NSW, and it was conducted over a traditional undulating cross country course – over bridges, watercourses, through creeks and up and down hills. A true test.
Perfect conditions greeted the athletes with plenty of Winter sunshine and a soft and fast Willandra course made for great running.
Entries from local athletes were considerably down on previous years however Nowra still managed to bring home three medals.
New member Robin Vonk was first in the men’s 35-44 years 10km event, finishing in 36.32 minutes. Robin showed good form to take the win in front of David Costello from UTS Northern Suburbs who clocked 39.16 and Ryan McKendrick from Mingara who crossed in 39.27.
Long-time member and veteran cross country runner Cristine Suffolk finished second in the women’s 45-54 years 10km event. Crissy finished in 47.40 minutes close behind Lindsay Norton from Sydney Striders who clocked 46.32. Third place was Zoe Melling, an unattached runner who finished in 53.12.
In the men’s 65-69 years 8km run Nowra’s Robert Pickard was third in 39.22 minutes. Rob finished behind Christopher Dwyer from Hills District (35.12) and Ron Schwebel from Sydney Striders (36.29).
In the Under 12’s 2km Ella Colusso was 14th; Emily McLaren was 16th and Alisha Mustapic was 18th.
In the boy’s event Toby Dyball was 12th and Hamish McLaren was 20th.
Will Dyball was 19th in the Under 14’s 3km event whilst Lucas Charalambous was 29th.
Meanwhile in the Under 16’s 4km Alexis Charalambous was 22nd and Ella Dyball was 37th.
In the boys Under 16 event Lucas Johnson was 35th and Nash Hay 36th.
Jade Mustapic was the sole representative in the Under 18’s 4km event; finishing 27th.
Troy Whittington put in a solid effort in the Under 20 8km showing strong form to place 4th in 27.17 minutes; only narrowly missing a podium position in a close top field. First place was claimed by Charlie Doherty from UTS Northern Suburbs in 26.29; second was Luke Schofield from Sydney University in 27.08 and third place was Jayden Schofield, also from Sydney University in 27.12.
In the open male 10km it was great to see Arron Spiessberger Parker back running for Nowra. Arron nailed a top ten finish in this highly competitive field; finishing in 34.23 minutes. The high standard race was won by training partner Jordan Gusman from Bankstown Club, both coached by Dick Telford. Jordan crossed the line in an impressive 31:19, while Ed Goddard from UTS Northern Suburbs was second in 31:42, and Ben St Lawrence from Run Crew was third in 31:56.
Angela Bond was 4th in the 45-54 years 10km event whilst in the men’s event Club President Scott Johnson was 11th and Richard Bosdyk was 19th.
Despite carrying an injury Milton Cox managed to complete the 65-69 years 8km event in a creditable 43.17 minutes, finishing 9th.
On the day there was also a fun run, conducted over three distances of 1km, 2km and 4km where a number of Nowra athletes participated. Results from the Fun Run were not yet available at the time of writing this article, however, Nowra certainly put in a great performance here.
The Club would like to thank those for offering their time to assist in the staging of this event. Without volunteers on the course, in the carpark, at the cake stall and in admin areas the event could not operate. Thank you to those who contributed baked goods for the cake stall too. We are sure there were plenty of satisfied tastebuds!