After getting rained out the previous week, runners enjoyed a return to cross country running with Nowra Athletics Club on Saturday 11th June at Willandra.
Numbers were low as families undoubtedly enjoyed adventures away on the long weekend but there was still plenty of speed out on the course.
Despite the cold westerly wind Jaylah Hancock-Cameron set a new Female 4km record finishing in 15.55 minutes and Jye Edwards bettered his 8km record with a new time of 26.37minutes.
Both these young runners also competed with great results in their school Regional Cross country last week so they certainly proved they can back up.
In the 1 km event this week there were just 12 runners. First across the line was Tynan Caswell, followed by Charlie Braddick and then Lexie Burinaga.
In the 2km Division 1 Roxi Florance took line honours with Darcy Arnold running in second and Toby Dyball took third. Division 2 was claimed by Dylan Lang whilst Harriet Urquhart was second and Katie Martin was third.
In Division1 of the 3 kilometre event Rhys Flood was the fastest and crossed the line first in 11.28 minutes. Scott Delo was second and William Dyball took third place. Chelsea Pascoe crossed 6th with the fastest female time of 13.30 minutes.
Meanwhile Jade Mustapic took the winning honours in Division 2 in front of Thomas Pratt and Ella Dyball.
In the 4 kilometres event Ben Shephard claimed first place and the fastest male time of 16.35 minutes. Alec Dobson was second and Andrew Munro was third.
Division 2 saw Leah Dobson cross first, Rod Rose was next and Gavin Urquhart was third. Division 3 was claimed by Alison Havadjia who is enjoying her return to running this season. Eva Moeller Duhme ran in second and after some absence from cross country Di Court finished on the podium with third place.
In the long course 8 kilometres Hugh Dobson was the first runner home in 33.47 minutes. Jye Edwards was second in his new record time of 26.37 and Michael Duncan was third. Further down the field Arron Spiessberger-Parker and Troy Whittington battled it out for 6th and 7th place, with Arron just edging out Troy clocking 28.26 minutes to Troy’s 28.28 minutes. Elisha Bell ran the fastest female time yet again with 36.26 minutes.
Last but certainly not least Division 2 long course was run & won by Jack Robertson. Lisa Carroll ran hard to finish second and David Hughes was third.
Next week’s cross country will be held at Dapto on Saturday 18th June for the return match against Kembla Joggers. We would love to see all the Nowra athletes there in Club uniform to test their abilities against the Kembla Joggers runners on their home turf!
The following week, there will be no Saturday running because the NSW Athletics & Little Athletics combined State Cross Country Championships will be held at Willandra on Sunday 26th June. The first event is bright and early at 9.30am! There are Championship events and ‘Altogether Fun Run’ events so there is something for everyone – of all ages and abilities. All the details can be found on the website or facebook page.
The Club also needs volunteers on the day so if you can help, please let a comittee member know. in addition we need those great chefs to cook up a storm as we need cakes, slices, muffins etc for the cake stall which is used as a fundraiser for the Club at the Championships event.