The 118th NSW Cross Country championships assembled a strong line up of athletes on Saturday 20th June at the Kembla Joggers Cross Country Park. A host of Nowra athletes battled it out against some of the best cross country athletes in the country.
After a week of rain the conditions were tough in the mud and athletes struggled with the very slippery corners but this didn’t stop Nowra athletes from putting their best (and muddiest) foot forward!
In the Women’s Open 8km event defending champion Michaela Quinn pushed through the muddy conditions to come home in second place in a time of 30.36. In the lead up to the race Michaela had been unwell so she was pleased with the result; “I was happy to place second after a rough last year of injury and I’m looking forward to hopefully racing nationals with a few months of consistent training under my belt”.
In the Men’s Under 20 8km event Arron Spiessberger-Parker continued his strong form of the season, coming home with the gold medal. Arron put in a strong run for the two laps of the 4km course and didn’t let the mud deter him. Also running in the Under 20’s event were Mitchell Cunningham (18th), Jake Myors (19th) and Liam Doley (26th). The four Nowra boys earnt themselves a team medal, taking out first place in front of rivals Kembla Joggers and Sydney Striders.
Meanwhile the combined effort of the Under 16’s boys Hugh Dobson (18th), Jesse Buckham (24th), Kieren Harrison (27th) and Cooper Thomson (28th) gave them a bronze medal in the teams category over 4km.
In the Under 18’s male 6km event there were 60 keen competitors and the competition was fierce! Jye Edwards gave it everything he had and came home with 4th place. Harry McGill pushed all the way to finish 9th.
Nowra’s senior athletes also did themselves proud, with a strong representation across the older age groups. Cristine Suffolk took home a silver medal for the 45-49 women’s 8km event and was also a member of the Nowra 45+ team along with Annette Sampson, Linda Weatherill and Angela Bond who won a team silver.
In the 55-64 women’s Nowra won another team silver with the dynamic lineup of Christine Russell, Ann Swinbourne, Maxine Gernyi and Eva Moeller-Duhme. This second placing was despite Maxine losing her shoe in the mud on the first lap and spending precious time retrieving it from its sunken depths! A difficult feat with the mud not wanting to relinquish the shoe! Eva maintains her shoes “have never seen this much mud” and informed a very muddy Maxine that she was not getting in her car with those muddy shoes on!