The Nowra Athletics Winter cross country presentation was held on Saturday 5th August at Willandra.
The afternoon started with the launch of the new athletics club uniform.
Models proudly strutted their stuff in the new attire which incorporates the old logo and colours with a new modern stylish design and clearly displays the Nowra wording so our athletes can be easily identified. With a range of tops and bottoms options available athletes will be able to choose the piece that best suits them. The club looks forward to seeing all athletes wearing the new uniform throughout the upcoming track and field season and future competitions.
Orders can be made online from Monday 7th August with Sportsmagic www.sportsmagic.com.au If anyone missed the launch and wants to try on the uniform for sizing they can contact Mel Mustapic who has a sample set.
After the uniform fashion parade, the trophies were presented for the first three place getters in each division of each distance for the Winter Competition.
In the 1km distance event each participant was awarded a certificate and a ribbon. Attending the most rounds across the season was Dean Osgood and Will Anderson; both attending 13 rounds. Emily and Heidi McLaren were next for attendance with both running in 12 rounds. Great effort to these little athletes!
In the 2km course there was only two points separating first and second place. The winner of Division 1 was Darcy Arnold on 554 points with Cameron Harrison coming in second on 552 points whilst Hamish McLaren was third on 545. Division 2 was won by Katie Martin. Camryn Anfruns placed second and Brodie Wilson was third.
In the 3km Division 1 Lou Reali took the top points on a score of 550. Second was Mathew Higham on 514 points and third was Bethany Dobson on 452 points.
Division 2 of the 3km was taken out by Alastair Urquhart on 563 points with Andrew Havadjia second on 553 and Harriet Urquhart was third on 547 points. Running a very close fourth was Rommey Hazell on 543 points.
Medium course Division 1 winner was Paul Duncan whilst runner up was Jasper Arnold. Third was Cristine Suffolk (aka Batgirl) just three points ahead of fourth place Alec Dobson.
Division 2 was won by Lucas Johnson. Dean Bryce was second but almost missed out on his medal due to a mis-placed identity crisis from Zara and Laura who pushed through the crowd calling out “I’m Dean Bryce!” Dean stood his ground and proudly (maybe smugly) accepted his medal. Erin Smart was the recipient of third place and happily shared the glory with children Evie and Tom.
Division 3 Medium course was claimed by Alex Arnold whilst Angela Urquhart (the third Urquhart family member to win a medal in the Winter cross country competition) was second. Zara Wells-Smith got to accept her own medal (not Dean’s) with her third place triumph.
Long course was won by quiet achiever Bradley Sawyers who ran consistently in 15 rounds across the season. Coming in second was Perry Strand and just two points behind was Scott Johnson in third place.
Division 2 long course was claimed by Ming Leung whilst second was Erich Moeller-Duhme and third was Milton Cox.
Trophies were also awarded for the fastest times across each distance.
Fastest male and female athletes over 2km were Toby Dyball and Darcy Arnold whilst fastest over 3km were Matthew Higham and Bethany Dobson.
Running the quickest over the medium course were Alec Dobson and Cristine Suffolk (maybe the batwings assisted her) and the fastest athletes this season in long course were Matt Lewis and Annie Schofild.
Congratulations to all these athletes who medalled and to all the athletes who competed over the 2017 Winter cross country season.
After all the official business of the day was finished athletes, young and not so young, enjoyed a scavenger hunt, organised my Alison Havadjia. There was much laughter and collaboration as runners searched for clues around the Willandra course with the promise of chocolate and a sausage sizzle at the end of the hunt! It certainly was a great afternoon of celebration and camaraderie.
Summer Track and Field will kick off on Wednesday 11th October after the school holidays. The Club looks forward to seeing everyone at Shoalhaven High School for track and field competition after a well deserved few weeks break – hopefully in the new uniform!