On Sunday 26th June athletics history was written in Nowra with the amalgamation of the Athletics NSW and Little Athletics NSW Cross Country Championships.
The event saw a combining of different age groups, age determinations and races distances where races in the U7 – U11 age groups were conducted under Little Athletics NSW rules and races in the U13 – 75+ age groups were conducted under Athletics NSW rules.
This historic event was hosted by our own Club at the challenging Willandra Course.
Whilst Winter temperatures plummeted over the weekend, the sun still shone on race day and the wind dropped so conditions were perfect for running. A vast number of athletes, from far and wide, enjoyed the undulating cross country course.
Winning outright gold once again was Jye Edwards in the Under 20’s 8km event. Jye ran strong and confident for the entire course to finish well ahead of the field in a time of 26.07 minutes. Team mate Harry McGill also performed strongly, finishing 6th in 27.45 minutes.
In the junior Little Athletics races, Nowra’s youngest athlete was Bethany Dobson who ran in 19th in the Under 8’s 800m in a time of 3.39 minutes. Well done Bethany!
In the Under 9’s 1500m Kate Leung finished 22nd and Alisha Mustapic was 23rd whilst in the boys race Zac Peters finished 19th.
In the Under 10’s 1500m event Shoalhaven Little Athletics members Jayla Beresford and Dakota Farn were 36th and 37th respectively whilst Emma Whitehouse was 45th. Nowra’s Harriet Urquhart finished 49th.
Ryan Smith finished 11th in the Under 11’s 2000m.
There was a strong representation in the Under 13 and Under 14 combined 3km event.
Ben Shephard was the first Nowra runner home in 25th place overall and he placed 13th in the Under 14 group. Alex O’Brien was 14th in the Under 14’s and 27th overall and Rhys Flood was 15th (29th overall). In addition Lachlan Smith finished 23rd in the same category (49th overall) and Max Buckham was 26th (53rd overall).
In the Under 13’s category Alec Dobson was 22nd (42nd overall), Jasper Arnold was 24th (45th overall) and Jake Babian was 25th (47th overall). In the Under 13’s Nowra also had Scott Delo finish 27th (52nd overall), and Lucas Johnson place 30th (56th overall).
In the girls combined Under 13 and 14 3km event Chelsea Pascoe was the best performer for Nowra in 53rd place overall and coming in 33rd in the Under 14’s and Alice Hamlen ran in 37th (65th overall). Meanwhile in the Under 13’s Emily Burinaga placed 28th (64th overall).
The 4km was contested by six Nowra athletes in the Under 15 and 16 group. Byron Van Dyk finished 14th in the Under 15’s (22nd overall) with Darcy Hopkins 22nd (38th overall) and Ethan Havadjia 23rd (39th overall).
Jesse Buckham ran in 9th in the Under 16’s and was 24th overall. Also in the Under 16’s Cooper Thomson was 15th (36th overall) and Blake Hartnett was right behind in 16th place (37th overall).
In the girls 4km Under 15 and 16 combined event Jaylah Cameron Hancock finished top ten with a 4th place in the Under 15’s and 9th place overall. Dannielle Holt came in 17th in the Under 15’s (31st overall) and Tara Mustapic was 19th (35th overall). Victoria Kennedy competed in the Under 16 category and placed 18th (39th overall).
The girls Under 17 and 18’s also ran 4km and in this event Nowra had Lillian Boland come in 7th in the Under 18 category (13th overall) and Briony Munro finish 14th in the Under 17’s (27th overall).
Moving up to the 6km Troy Whittington ran strong to finish 6th overall in the combined event and 5th in the Under 18’s group whilst Hugh Dobson finished 11th in the Under 17’s and was 25th overall.
Also running 6km were the Female 55+ athletes. In the combined grouping Ann Swinbourne was the fastest Nowra athlete in 9th place. Maxine Gherni was 10th, Eva Moeller Duhme was 11th and Di Court 13th. In the individual age categories we had a gold medal awarded to Eva for 1st place in the 65-69 years group. Congratulations Eva! Ann placed 5th in the 55-59 years category, followed by Maxine in 6th place and Di in 7th place.
In the mens 8km 55+ event Nowra had 11 competitors.
Our best runner on the day was Martin Tomasini in 6th place overall and winning Bronze in the 60-64 years category. Bill Broughton was 5th in this category with Rod Rose 9th.
In the 55-59 years group Graeme Pepper was 4th; Peter Khourey 9th and Bill Stahlhut 10th.
Our 65-69 year olds ran well also with Robert Pickard placing 5th; Eric Moeller Duhme 6th; Milton Cox 7th and Kevyn Davis 9th.
Our most senior athlete Jack Robertson ran across the line in 44th place; finishing 4th in the 70-74 years group.
The ‘Country Classic’ event was hosted this year over the new distance of 10kms. This was run by the Opens and 35-54 years men and women.
Crissy Suffolk was Nowra’s fastest athlete in this event. She finished 17th female overall in and won a Bronze medal in the 45-49 years division. Teresha Moxham finished just behind Crissy crossing the line in 18th place and in doing so won Silver in the 35-39 years category. Kim Dobson ran well to finish 28th overall and she too medalled with a Bronze in the 40-44 years group. Annette Sampson placed 30th overall but she was first in the 50+ age group; claiming Gold for Nowra. Angela Bond placed 4th in the 45-49 years and was 32nd overall. Katherine Hopkins was also 4th in her age group (40-44 years) and was 33rd overall. In the 35-39 years group Laura Babian pushed hard to place 6th (35th overall), then following each other was Sky Martin in 8th place (37th overall) and Natasha Toms in 9th place (38th overall). Alison Havadjia earned herself a Bronze medal in the 50+ category and placed 39th overall.
In the teams events our women performed very well with gold to both the 35-44 years team and the 45+ team whilst the 55+ team won Silver.
The men’s field was large and very competitive. Leith Babian was the best for Nowra in 26th place overall and he won Silver in the 45-49 years group. Scott Martin was next across the line in 38th and he placed 7th in the 40-44 years age group.
Meanwhile Darrin Smith was 11th in the 40-44 years and 59th overall whilst Scott Dobson placed 14th in the same group (82nd overall).
Perry Strand won himself a Bronze medal in the 50+ category; crossing the line in 60th place. Also competing in the 50+ group was Paul Duncan in 9th place, David Hughes in 11th place and Robert Woods in 12th place.
Scott Johnson placed 14th in the 45-49 years group and Ming Leung ran in 19th in the same group whilst Brad Sawyers competed as an Opens runner and was 44th.
Our men’s teams claimed Bronze in the 45+ team as well as the 65-74 years team; and won Silver in the 55-64 years team.
The Nowra Athletics Committee would like to thank everyone who assisted on the day. Without the assistance of all the volunteers the day would not have been such a success. The Club would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the athletes who participated and supported the inaugural combined Championship event. They was plenty of athleticism on display on the course as well as determination and strength. Well done to all!
Next Saturday cross country will be held at Timberhills on 2nd July for Round 12 of the Winter pointscore competition.