Round 7 of the Nowra Athletics Winter Cross Country Competition was held at Willandra on Saturday 20th May. The forecast rain didn’t eventuate and the weather was both exceptionally warm and dry.
In the 1km there were 18 eager athletes but it was Emily McLaren who crossed the line first. Noah Dyball ran in second and Lacey Baker was third.
In the 2km Division 1 was taken out by Levi Wallis from Go position. Toby Dyball was second with the fastest 2km time of 8.45 minutes and Cameron Harrison was third. Division 2 saw Ben Maher take the points for the win with Charlee Baldacchino running in second and Zoe Baker third.
There were also a number of visitors and athletes running the 2km in training for upcoming school regional cross country events.
In the 3km it was Sam Maher who took line honours in Division 1 with Matthew Higham taking second place. Cam Musgrove ran through from back marker to take third place in the fastest time of 11.24 minutes whilst Ella Dyball ran the fastest female time of 15.20 minutes.
Division 2 saw Wil Osgood run in first from a 2 minute handicap start with Adam Wells claiming second place and Lyn Baker running in third.
The medium course was won by Darcy Hopkins whilst Jasper Arnold took second place and Dennis Smart clocked the fastest time of 16.26 minutes, finishing in third place. Crissy Suffolk was the fastest female over 4kms finishing in 6th place from a 50 second handicap, clocking 17.58 minutes.
It was Angela Bond who took the top points in Division 2 followed closely by Tara Mustapic and Laura Prince. Division 3 saw one, two, three going to the girls with Lisa Carroll, Megan Fitt and Angela Urquhart taking out the top three positions.
Saturday saw the introduction of a 10km race so many of the long course competitors chose the 10km option over the normal 8km event, reducing the contenders in the 8km to just 8 athletes. Taking out the Division 1 8km was Kieren Harrison. Graham Anderson continued his great form from last week crossing in second place with the fastest time of 38.49 minutes and Michael Duncan crossed in third place. Annie Schofield was fourth with the fastest female time of 44.34 minutes.
Division 2 was won by Hannah Vaughan with Rebecca Cooper second and Zac Havadjia was third.
Facing up to the 10km distance were 17 keen (some may say crazy) challengers. Such was the enthusiasm and competitiveness that there were two winners. Crossing the finish line at the same time were Daniel Wells and Scott Johnson. Under the sealed handicap Daniel clocked 42.18 minutes and Scott 43.38 minutes but both scored themselves 50 points in the graded pointscore. Brad Sawyers ran in third in an adjusted time of 43.27 minutes.
Kevyn Davis clearly wasn’t daunted by the extra 2 kilometres and finished first in Division 2 followed by Darren Morris and Ming Leung.
Next Saturday 27th May the State Cross Country Relays will be held at Miranda. Junior and senior teams have been organised. If you are not quite sure if you are in a team please contact Peter Dooley or Mel Mustapic to confirm. All program details regarding start times and event parking are on the Athletics NSW website. Please ensure you arrive 1 hour prior to your race start time so team entries can be submitted.
Event Time:
11:30am Fun Run (2km)
12:00pm U12, U14 Male and Female (4x 2km)
12:40pm U16, U18, U20 Male and Female (4x 3km)
1:35pm 55+, 65+, 75+ Male (4x 4km)
1:35pm Open, 35+, 45+, 55+, 65+, 75+ Female (4x 4km)
3:00pm Open, 35+, 45+ Male (4x 4km)
If you are not running relays round 8 of cross country will be held at Longreach.