This year’s King of the Mountain has been run…and won!
The triumphant winner was Klayten Smith who ran the 25km in 1.47.38. Local runner Scott Martin was second in 1.48.30 and third was last year’s winner Jason Martin in 1.48.52.
The King of the Mountain has had many prestigious winners over the years including Dave Power, Andrew Lloyd, Kerryn McCann and Heather Turland. And now Klayten Smith joins the King of the Mountain honour roll.
Originally the King of the Mountain race was a 20 mile point-to-point race but traffic and logistics have meant course changes over the years. The one constant however has been the Mount Scanzi climb and descent.
This year was the 42nd running of the event however this year the historic King of the Mountain Race was for the first time run in partnership with ANSW incorporating the Greater Nowra Fun Run as part of the Fun Run NSW series. The unique family friendly running festival format helped to make the run more accessible to a greater number of people with a new date of 22 May 2016 instead of the usual July run.
The running festival event was conducted from the Kangaroo Valley Golf and Country Resort for the second consecutive year. There were four different distance events on offer on the day catering for all ages and abilities, from a 2 kilometre run around the golf course to the testing 5 kilometre Greater Fun Run and then on to the challenging 10km and of course, for the most hardened runners, the 25km King of the Mountain run up and over Mount Scanzi, 360m above sea level.
Sunday started out with the Valley clouded in heavy fog, with visibility difficult in some areas, but as the sun peeked through and the fog lifted it proved an idyllic setting for a late Autumn run.
For those who like distance running and for those who like running over mountains – the 25km King of the Mountain course had it all! This year the run began at the Golf & Country Club, where runners completed a grassy loop then headed up a fully sealed road to the top of the Country Club and beyond. Runners then headed along a trail Northwest until meeting up with the famous Mount Scanzi Road. If runners managed to catch their breath they were treated to some astonishing views over Kangaroo Valley making the climb worthwhile – rolling farmland, unspoilt bushland and glorious views of sheer cliff faces, valleys and ravines. The course then took runners down a steep descent, on a fire trail and back up over the Mountain.
At 67 years of age Kevyn Davis ran his 40th King this year, having only ever missed one King of the Mountain in its 41 year history due to injury. Home-crowd favourite Kevyn finished in 44th place and was third in his age group. He crossed the line to loud cheers and applause in a time of 3.00.04 hours, faster than last year! This man obviously justs keeps getting faster with age!
There were 54 finishers in this year’s gruelling King race. Nowra runners to feature in the top 20 included Leith Babian in 4th place, Darrin Smith in 12th place, Steve McCullagh in 16th and Peter Khourey in 18th position.
The first female to finish ‘The King’ was Alison Hawley in a time of 2.14.42 hours. The second female was Erin Finlay and third was Kate Whitton.
Nowra Athletics first female home was Kim Waters who was the 8th fastest female in the event and finished in 32nd place overall.
Laura Babian was the 9th fastest female (37th overall) and Angela Bond was 11th (40th overall). Sky Martin was 12th female this year in 43rd place and was “happy to see the finish line”; even if she did have to share her well-deserved finishers iceblock with her cheeky but very cute son.
The 10kilometre event was completed by 52 athletes. In first place was Jonathon Moore; second was Geoff Sheargold and third was Garry Wheeler. Nowra’s Perry Strand was 4th. Placing well also for Nowra was Darcy Hopkins (10th) and Richard Bosdyk (12th). Briony Munro was 15th beating out dad Andrew Munro who placed 17th whilst Milton Cox ran in 18th and Ethan Havadjia finished 19th.
In the testing 5kilometre course Nowra took the trifecta; Harry McGill was the winner with Troy Whittington second, and Brad Sawyers third. Next was Ben Shephard, then Crissy Suffolk as first female, followed by Erin Smart, Lucas Johnson, William Pratt, Jack Baker and Lachlan Musson.
In the 2kms fun run Jake Babian took line honours, followed by William Dyball and Jett Anderson.
Kangaroo Valley has been described by many as “The most beautiful valley in Australia” and we are sure those who ran at the King of the Mountain Running Festival on Sunday would agree with this.
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, and Athletics NSW website as well as photos from the day on the Nowra Athletics facebook page.