XCR 26 Round 6 XC Championships, Bundoora
Our numbers were well down on previous rounds with only two complete open men’s teams and two open women’s teams and no complete juniors teams. There were some great individual results with two top ten open men, two women in the top ten as well as a couple of seconds and a win in the juniors ranks. Thanks again to Nick Tavendale for bringing the marquees, Stu Macaulay and Alistair McDonald for the photos and all those who braved the weather and ran. The course was kinder to us than previous years, avoiding the up and over at Mt Cooper, and the rain held off just long enough for most of the racing to finish.
Open Men
With our lowest numbers so far this year, we could only field 2 full teams and no one in the Div 5. Despite the numbers we had a reasonably strong Premier team with two top ten results and the team finishing 4th. First to cross the line was Liam Cashin. Fresh off his win in the 10km at the gold coast, he backed up well to finish 3rd overall in a time of 31 minutes and 38 seconds. Next in was Zayd Al Sayd, then Callum Drake, Nathan Pearce, Dan Velardo with Dylan Brandie rounding out the team and his debut in the Premier team. Our Div 5 was full but could only manage 13th place.
Open Women
It was a similar story in the women’s ranks with only enough for two full teams but some great individual results with two in the top ten and the Premier team finishing 4th. Amy Cashin was first for the team (7th overall) in a time of 37 minutes and 33 seconds with Ebony Dodemaide hot on her heals, just 4 second behind, in 8th. Just outside the top ten was Janae Mackrell in 11th then Jodie Dunstan with Brigitte Sneyders rounding out the team. The Div 2 team was the last full team in 8th place.
In the short course, Carolyn Huell was 2nd in the 50+ and Janice Hodgart was 3rd in the 60+.
Juniors
Congratulations to all our junior athletes who competed in the State XC Championships. There were some great results with our small junior contingent, not least of which was Leanne Ellis’s win in the U20s 6km race in a time of 21 minutes and 33 seconds. This also sees her invited to compete in the NZ cross country championships. In the Men’s U18 6km Bon Martin was 7th in a time of 20 minutes and 16 seconds. In the Men’s U16 3km Ryder Deans was 2nd in a time of 10 minutes and 1 seconds and Zac Salerno was 9th. In the men’s U14 3km, Isaac French was 2nd in a time of 10 minutes and 34 seconds and Roman Jaszewski was 9th. In the men’s U20 new athlete Mahmoud Abouzeid was 9th in his first race for the club and possibly his first cross country race! In the women’s U18 Keely Williams was 15th and, in the women’s, U16 Ella McDonald was 16th.
