Kangaroo Valley has been described by many as “The most beautiful valley in Australia”. Fortunately for many running enthusiasts, Kangaroo Valley was the location for this year’s King of the Mountain Running Festival.
The “renowned invigorating and recuperative powers of the valley” may have been at work on Sunday as a host of local runners were joined by a variety of both casual and elite runners from all around to test their speed and endurance amongst this beautiful landscape.
The inaugural running festival event was conducted from the Kangaroo Valley Golf and Country Resort on Sunday 5th July. This revamped family friendly running festival replaced the old format of the single King of the Mountain Race. There were four different distance events on offer on the day, from a 2 kilometer run around the golf course to the testing 5 kilometre undulating run and then on to the challenging 10km and for the most testing of all, the 25km run up and over Mount Scanzi.
Runners were spoilt for views no matter their distance of choice, with simply stunning rich green pastures, rolling hills, and unspoiled bush-land, all guarded by the magnificent escarpments with sheer cliff faces, valleys and ravines. Throw into the mix an incredible variety of native flora and fauna, including kangaroos bouncing across the road in from of some unsuspecting runners and the scenery was nothing short of exhilarating. The crowned 2015 winner of the new-format ‘King’ was Jason Martin from Sutherland District Athletics Club in a course time of 1.45.31 hours. Martin held the lead for the entirety of the race. He powered up the many climbs to the highest point of the race on Mount Scanzi, approximately 360metres above sea level, then on to Duffy’s Corner and Burma Fire Trail before turning around to conquer Mount Scanzi a second time on the homeward run. Jason looked strong the whole way and was elated with his win; “I just can’t believe I won” he exclaimed at the finish line. In second place was Graeme Russell in a time of 1.47.37 hours. Third was Nowra’s ‘lethal’ Leith Babian in a time of 1.48.14. Leith was not feeling confident going into the race but his Phar Lap attitude saw him push through to a podium finish. Not far behind Leith in fourth place, also from Nowra Athletics Club, was Scott Martin, in a time 1.48.59. Scott has been in impressive form of late and his fourth place was certainly well-deserved. Also featuring in the top finishers was Nowra’s Bill Stahlhut (7th), Perry Strand (9th) and Club President Scott Johnson was 12th.
Kevyn Davis ran his 39th King this year, having only ever missed one King of the Mountain in its 40 year history due to injury. Kevyn finished in 83rd place in a time of 3.06.00 hours, still with a smile on his face as he crossed the finish line to loud cheers and applause. At almost 70 years of age, Kevyn Davis is simply inspiring, but he insists he “just likes running”.
The first female to finish ‘The King’ was Emma Brown in a time of 2.06.52 hours. The second female was Catherine Thrum in 2.15.41 and just behind her was Tiffany Knight in 2.16.32. Nowra Athletics first female home was the ever-smiling Sky Martin in 79th place in a time of 3.01.32. Sky was happy to report that having running partner Natasha Toms out on the course with her was a great support and she declared that she only swore twice during the race – a great achievement! Sue Anfruns was the second Nowra athlete home in 81st place; and was “stoked to have come in well within the cutoff and in one piece”. Our third female athlete home was Natasha Toms in 82nd place.
Despite a slight hiccup in the marking of the 10kilometre turn-around point, this event was completed by 36 athletes. In first place was Ed Thrum; second was Nowra’s Annette Sampson and third was Lance Johnson. Nowra then cleaned up the remaining top ten spots with Matt Kinsele (4th), Trish McInally (5th), Peter Heald (6th), Ethan Havadjia (7th), Darcy Hopkins (8th), Milton Cox (9th) and Michael Duncan (10th).
In the testing 5kilometre course the winner was Lachlan Chisholm, followed by Nowra athlete Brad Sawyers and third was Aleks Silins. Once again Nowra featured well in the top ten from 44 competitors with Cooper Thomson (4th), Peter Dooley (5th), Cristine Suffolk (6th), Dave Tuckerman (7th), Elisha Bell (8th) and Zac Havadjia (10th).
Congratulations must go to all competitors across all the events, and a big thank you to all the volunteers and organisers who helped make this event possible. A full list of race results can be found on the King of the Mountain website, as well as photos from the day.