Nowra Athletics Club was host to the State Cross Country Championships on the Willandra course last Saturday and visitors and locals alike were treated to one of the best events this writer has witnessed in many years.
State events have been conducted at Willandra since 1990 and the organisation, weather, and the top class running made this most memorable.
In a nutshell the results of note include
The under 12 Boys, bronze medalists and well done to Alec Dobson, Stirling Norwood, Alex Cornell and Jake Babian.
The under 16 Girls Shenay Edwards, Clare Dobson, Breeana O’Donnell and Rebecca Miles were also bronze medalists.
Gold medals went to the under 18 and 20 Male teams. The under 18s Jye Edwards Harry McGill Gus and Jed Frank. The under 20s Arron Spiessberger-Parker, Jason Huntsman, Jake Myors and Tim O’Shae.
These two races produced some great performances from the Nowra lads.
Arron and Jye were individual silver medalists in the 8 and 6k championships respectively.
In the 8k Arron and Charlie Hunter from Asics West ran shoulder to shoulder at terrific pace. This was an old fashioned match race with the lead swapping several times.
Charlie eventually was the winner but Arron lowered the 8k record for Willandra by 30 seconds in the process.
Jye likewise in the 6k used the second lap to work his was through to get within 9 seconds of Randwick Botany’s Kurt Fryer.
Team results were only available for these events on the day. The other mixed events results will be available later.
Other top performances of note in the open Mens events were Mitchell Hudson 18thin the Open division, Damian Smith a bronze medal in the 40 plus, Robert Pickard another bronze in the 60 plus 8k and a very popular GOLD!! to Leith Babian in the 45 plus.
The medal winning results are something to be proud of for Club members but the overall performance of the 90 plus who entered the championships also deserves congratulations.
Next Saturday we return to Longreach for Round 12 of the Pointscore