XCR Round 8 - Lake Wendouree
Rewards go to those who are willing to travel and the race at Lake Wendouree is a perfect example of this. Overall race numbers were down compared to the Lakeside race and, whilst our numbers were also down, we managed to field solid teams and delivered some great results. Highlights from the round includes another win for the premier men’s team, Leanne Ellis again winning the U18 race, Liam Cashin second in the open Men’s race, Alex Cameron-Smith second in the U20s, and a number of club records broken. Thanks to all those who made the journey to Ballarat and bringing the morning tea.
Juniors and Short Course 6km Race
First race for the day was the 6km race and there were some really remarkable individual results and some solid team results also.
Top of the list was the U18 women’s with Leanne Ellis again winning in a time of 21 minutes and 3 seconds. This is also a club record for mutliple age groups; U18, U20 and Open over 6km on the road. The u18 team was second, a great result, with Lucy Cleveland back in the top ten in 8th place and Sofia Mbote 11th. Bella Keogh ran well, returning to her U20 age group, after a few rounds helping out the open teams.
In the Men’s U20, Alex Cameron-Smith was second place and a new 6km road club record, incredibly finishing in a time of 17 minutes and 40 seconds. Jackson Wright ran well finishing 9th, with the team in 3rd place. Another couple of great results was in the Men’s U18 race with Emerson Arnold, backing up well from his 10km race, to finish 4th in a time of 19 minutes and 23 seconds and Steven Morgan seconds away in 5th place with the team finishing 3rd. In the Men’s U16 Ryder Deans was 5th and also with a new U15 club record, in the time of 19 minutes and 31 seconds.
In the seniors Short Course, Mal Hodgart was 9th in the 60+ and Phil Cameron-Smith was 4th in the 50+ , also a club record, finishing in a time of 27 minutes and 19 seconds. Carolyn Huell was 1st in the 50+ women and in the 60+, Janice Hodgart was 1st and Brenda Cashin 3rd.
Ladders
Men U20 - 7th
Men U18 - 2nd
Women U18 - 7th
Open Women
What was feared to be a very poor result for our open women, with a combination of athletes recovering from colds, flu and injury, ended up being a very solid set of results. Our numbers were down on previous rounds but then so were overall numbers and we ended up with two full teams and one in the Div 4. Again, first in for the Premier team was Janae Mackrell finishing 63 minutes and 54 seconds. Not far behind was Claire Hodgart then Abigail Thomas, Sophie McMinimee with Brigitte Sneyders rounding out the team and 4th in the 45+ age group - a great result with the team 4th. The Div 3 also had a great result finishing 3rd with Abbey Speakman continuing her good form, finishing 7th in the 40+ age group.
These results see the Premier Team lifting slightly to equal 3rd with South Melbourne and the Div 3 firming into second place in the ladder - the promotion zone. The Div 4 with just one athlete was 6th but a very handy 10 points!
Ladders
Premier = 3rd
Div 3 - 2nd
Div 4 - 3rd
Div 5 - 5th
Open Men
No doubt, it was our open men who had the best day out, a great rebound from the last two rounds. Our premier team returned to form with a narrow win and back to a 19 point lead over second placed Ballarat Region in the Ladder. First in for the team was Liam Cashin in a time of 45 minutes and 23 seconds and second place overall, then Brandon Muscat, a fast finishing Nathan Pearce, Callum Drake, Abdi Haji Ali with Daniel Dunstone rounding out the team. With good depth our Div 3 was strong did very well finishing 3rd. The depth also spilled over to our Div 5 finishing 3rd and the Div 6 was second, another great result.
In the overage results Peter Boyle was 8th in the 40+.
The Ladders are looking great for our men’s divisions with a back to back premiership for the premier team and our Div 5 within reach of the promotion zone.
Ladders
Premier - 1st (19 points ahead)
Div 3 - 5th
Diiv 5 - 3rd (1 point behind second)
Div 6 - 4th
Div 7 - 10th
