Registration: Don’t forget that you can renew your membership or register online for the first time. Just go to the website for full details.
Fun Run – Sunday May 31st we are conducting a Fun Run from the Nowra Showground. There will be NO competition on the Saturday due to this event. We encourage all club members to come along and bring a friend. This will be a great day out for the family.
This week was Round 4 of the Nowra Athletics Cross Country Competition and was held on the luscious Willandra course. The course was a little heavy underfoot in places but that didn’t deter members from turning up in good numbers.
1km – The 1km started on time and comprised of 17 enthusiastic nippers. Charlie Braddick is in great form and was able to maintain his lead from the start finishing in a time of 5.24min. Close on his heels was Mysty McLaren at 5.32min and Laila Hartnett at 5.50min. Fourth over the line this week was Aimee Coulson –Knight in 6.56min.
2km Div 1– The 2km event is hotly contested and this week was no exception with 27 club runners and an additional 7 visitors to bring it up to 34 competitors. The fastest female time in Div 1 was set by Bethany Dobson who went off a handicap of 30sec and finished in 10.18min. In second place was Scott Delo with a time of 9.10min and Jack Hopkins in third in 10.12min, and James Babian for 4th at 9.53min. The fastest male in this division was James’ older brother Jake with a scorching time of 8.37min
2km Div 2 – First and second across the line in this event were only separated by 3 seconds. Zac Peters 10.48min was able to hold on to cross in first as Kate Leung was quickly closing the gap and finished in a convincing 2nd with 10.45min. Rachael Banwell was well behind the leaders but still had a good run and finished in 3rd in a respectable 12.20min.
3km Div 1 – Leah Dobson took advantage of her handicap and was able to hold off the back markers in this event so that she could claim the 1st place with a time of 13.07min. Alec Dobson was trying his hardest to catch his sister but it wasn’t to be but he was hopefully happy with his time and performance to collect 2nd place in 12.13min (back marker) and Blake Hartnett was only 12 seconds behind and finished in 12.25min. Indie Secombe had a notable fast time of 12.27min. Watch out boys – here she comes.
3km Div 2 – One of the smallest fields this week was in this division but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t competitive. Rebecca Lancaster finished in 1st place with 16.44min and Ella Heald who started 30seconds behind made great time to take 2nd with 16.34min. Hamish Heald also had a great run to finish 3rd in a time of 15.28min.
Medium Div 1 – Peter Dooley may be stepping down as Club President but he is stepping up and stepping out with a convincing win in this event completing the difficult course in 16.53min. (Not bad for an old guy). Clare Dobson 18.44min and Crissy Suffolk couldn’t catch him with their times of 18.44min and 17.29min respectively and Hugh Dobson was left in their wake but placed 4th in a time of 15.20min.
Medium Div 2 – This division had the least competitors with only 9 runners turning up to give it a crack. Misty Hayburn took out a hard won 1st place in a time of 22.21min, Graham Smith showed that he’s maintained his form in the off season for 2nd place – 22.04min and Megan Fitt placed 3rd in 23.52min.
Medium Div 3 – Terry Bailey made good use of his early start to maintain his lead in this run and took out 1st place on the podium with a time of 28.15min. Fintan Murphy had to be happy with his 2nd place in 27.20min and he was closely followed over the line by John Price for 3rd – 25.26min
Long Course Div 1 – In total, there were 33 runners having a go at this challenging course – 21 in Division 1 and 22 in Division 2. The Division 1 runners make it look so easy, running along singing as they pass you (yes Leith, that was you) and then still have energy to take a podium place finishing 1st in 33.06 (make the most of your GO handicap cause you won’t have it for long with performances like that. ). Stuart Drury took out 2nd – 39.14min and Bill Broughton showed that a maturity doesn’t equal slow with his solid 3rd place with 39.29min.
Long Course Div 2 – The nature of the beast (being division 2) means that some of these runners are out on the course a little bit longer than others. High humidity made it difficult for some but that doesn’t seem to be the case the winner of this week’s run. Will Minchin was able to finish 1st, 43.11min. Doug Jeffrey (I haven’t run for weeks blah, blah, blah) managed to use his handicap to good advantage for 2nd – 46.38min and Scott Dobson obviously was spurred on by his cheer squad watching from the sidelines placed in 3rd – 42.58.
Novice Cross Country – This weekend Arron Spiessberg-Parker competed in and took the silver medal at the Novice Cross Country Championships at Ramsgate. To be eligible for this competition, you cannot have placed in the top three in any state track or cross country event over 3000m. This was Arron’s first competitive 10km event in a field of 44 competitors. It is an event with a long history (103 years) with 75 years being at this venue. Arron was up against some strong competition but didn’t lose sight of his goal, he was able to stick to his strategies and the results paid off. He is in good company as his coach – Rob McDonald competed in this event back in the day and took out a respectable bronze. Well done and congratulations Arron.