XCR 25 Round 4 Lakeside 5km
After 3 rounds of cross country including the big 12km at St Anne’s, many of us found the Albert Park 5km a sprint, with the weather conditions very favourable and the course fast, so many PBs!. Highlights for the round were another win for the Premier Men, ten in a row, Ben Chamberlain’s 2nd in the open men’s race, Leanne Ellis’s win in the U18 women, Janae Mackrell’s first top ten result in an XCR event, and of course our very strong open numbers, with no short course event. Thanks to all those who ran and for those who hung around after the race for the brunch and a chat. Thanks to Brenda, Janice and Peter for assisting with the ‘slow-cooked’ bacon and eggs!
Open Men
We had incredible numbers for our open men’s ranks with 27 competing and one from U20 running in open - enough for 6 full teams! Despite a number of athletes missing from the Premier team, it was a surprise win this week, and was due to the quick actions of coach Burkie who flipped Alex into the open men’s ranks and he ended up finishing in the top ten! First in for the team and second in open men’s, was Ben Chamberlain finishing in 14 minutes and 3 second. Then, only a second behind, was Zayd Al Sayd with another PB and National record for Lebanon! Third in was U20 Alex Cameron-Smith then Brandon Muscat, Abdi Haji Ali with Leo Heading (debut for Premier team) rounding out the team. With the overall competitor number across all clubs behind far greater than other rounds (130 more) our other teams struggled with the Div 3 finishing 7, Div 5 was 5th, Div 6 was 9th and Div 7 was 11th and 12th. Welcome and congratulations to Marcus Colla on his first XCR with the club, well done, a massive PB!
Ladders
Premier Men - 1st ( by 17 points!)
Div 3 - 3rd
Div 5 - 2nd ( promotion zone)
Div 6 - 3rd
Div 7 - 4th
Open Women
As with the men, and no short course option, our open women’s numbers were strong with enough to fill 5 teams! In the Premier team is was Janae Mackrell again finishing first (8th overall and her first top ten results in XCR) in a time of 16 minutes and 53 second, then Ebony Dodemaide, Sophie McMinimee, Claire Hodgart with Nardine Bainbridge rounding out the team. The women’s division fared a little better than our men’s teams with the Div 3 finishing 4th, the Div 4 was 3rd and the Div 5 was 5th and 7th. There were also lots of top ten results for our overage athletes with Janice Hodgart 3rd in the 60+, Abbey Speakman 9th in the 40+, Brigitte Sneyders 6th in the 45+ and Carolyn Huell 8th in the 55+.
Ladders
Premier - 4th
Div 3 - 2nd (Promotion Zone)
Div 4 - = 3rd
Div 5 - 6th and 12th
Juniors
Our junior numbers were down on previous rounds and the only full team result was from our Men’s U18 team with Bon Martin running very well finishing in 15 minutes and 47 seconds, Steven Morgan and Emerson Arnold, with the team finishing 4th in a very full competition. In the U18 women’s it was again Leanne Ellis winning the race and finishing at the same time as open Janae Mackrell in a time of 16 minutes and 53 seconds. In the women’s U16 It was Ella McDonald and Maddi Hall, both running well with the team of two in 4th place and Ella into the top ten (9th) for the first time in the U16s competition.
Ladders
Men U20 - 2nd
Men U18 - 3rd
Women - U 18 - 6th
Women U16 - 5th
