A beautiful autumn day greeted all the runners and officials at Longreach on Saturday afternoon. Each distance was well represented and many enjoyed the spring like atmosphere and the chance to burn some calories before the Easter Bunny made his deliveries. Olivia Spencer took out line honours in the Special A’s – making a welcome return for the season. In Division 1 of the 1km James Babian held off the girls to cross first. Close on his heels was Lila Pratt and Annie Secombe. Charlie Braddick and Hannah Phillips also had a great run.
Tara Cornell, Cameron Harrison and Olivia Fletcher were first 3 to cross the line for the Division 1 of the 2km. Stirling Norwood and Jake Babian put in fine performances as back markers. In the 2nd Division of the 2km, Amanda Secombe and Deb Clarke showed that experience can pay off with a 1st and 2nd. Kate Moore ran well for a 3rd place and Emily Burinaga also ran strongly.
The 3km Division 1 was won by Kye Jones, William Pratt was 2nd (like his daughter in the 1km) and Jade Mustapic sprinted home for 3rd. Emma Moore looked quite strong as she crossed the finish line and Kieran Harrison showed his consistency with another strong performance. First over the line for the 3km Division 2 was Alex Cornell, not too far behind was James Phillips and Mikayla Check.
In the medium course, the long slow climb leading to the finish didn’t seem to slow down Steve Grant, Shenay Edwards, Martin Tomasini or Scott Secombe and in Division 2; Paul Jennings took out line honours again this week. Hot on his heels was Holly Bond, Angela Urquhart and Ethan Havadjia. In Division 3, Rob Woods, Megan Fitt, Samantha Emery and Alison Havadjia managed to get over the line to take podium honours.
The Long Course didn’t seem too much of a challenge for some people. Great handicapping was evident with the first 10 runners all crossing with not much between them. Perry Strand (who hadn’t been running) was able to hang on for 1st. Joel Lord, Arron Spiessberger-Parker, Jason Huntsman, Harry McGill, Jake Myors and Jye Edwards cruised together for the 9k’s. They made it look easy when it was anything but. There is definitely some great talent in our club. Jacob Prince had line honours for Division 2. Angela Bond ran well for 2nd, Annette Sampson and Michelle Cummings were 3rd and 4th. Elisha Bell whizzed up the monster hill (obviously being pregnant didn’t slow her down. Other great performers were Siobhan Clayton, Kristina O’Shea and Linda Wetherill.
Next week April 26 we will be running at the picturesque Timberhills. And yes, the name is very apt. If you think Longreach had hills, then wait till you get to Tomerong.