XCR’18 Round 7 – Ballarat 15 km

Glenhuntly Open & Masters Men

Round 7 of the AV XCR 2018 racing calendar was held at the picturesque Lake Wendouree in Ballarat. As always, conditions were cold and windy but the flat 15km road circuit still managed to produce fast times. Overall numbers for the Club were down on previous years but those who braved the conditions were rewarded with some good results.

The Open men were led once again by the multi talented Rhydian Cowley who settled in behind a lead group which included Olympian Collis Birmingham and competition leader, Harry Summers, to run a blistering time of 48:08. David Ceddia continued his great form finishing as the second Hunter home with Sam Toll and Jamie Cook close behind. It’s great to see Sam and Jamie back racing near the front of the pack after a bad run with injuries. Chris Winter is returning to form, finishing just ahead of Mark Thompson and a fast finishing Geoff Scott closing in behind them. While probably not the overall result we wanted, it was a solid performance given the relatively low numbers.

The Masters men also struggled to make up numbers for this event. Andrew McEvoy ran slightly quicker than last year in the 40+ group but blames the “serenity” for not being able to stay with Open runner, Geoff Scott as he cruised past at the halfway mark. It was great to see Peter Macknamara back and running well after a recent calf injury. Such a tough competitor. Alec Highnam rounded out the 40+ runners.

Pete Rushen led the way for our 50+ runners with and impressive time of 58:31. Mick Ryan also ran well as he continues his Gold Coast Marathon recovery.

Joe and Chris Murphy carried the torch in the the 60+ category, both finishing inside the top 15 for their age group. Big thanks also to Chris for taking the trailer back to DMac.

Glenhuntly Junior Men

The Ballarat weather forecast and distance to travel dampened the enthusiasm for XC racing for our junior men. We had two junior men who competed with Sam Lindsay in the U14s and Josh Francou in the U16s. Both team members had good races with Sam placing 5th and Josh 7th in their respective age groups. Well done to Sam and Josh, the racing at this time of year will stand you in good stead when the summer season rolls around.

I should also highlight that we were very close to having a third competitor in Mark Rainey. Mark played soccer in the morning with his usual team and was keen to back up with the road race in the afternoon. Unfortunately logistics worked against him and Mark arrived at the start line a minute after the U14 start time and missed the race. Great commitment Mark.

Glenhuntly Open Women

A typical day in Ballarat produced cold and more predominantly windy conditions. However, that did not stop the 10 women who tackled the 15km course and came away with awesome results! Amelia Aslanides and Anna Kentwell flew through the course gaining very impressive top 10 positions, running speedy times of 56:56 and 57:11 respectively!

Dana Dekkers grabbed another PB in 58:27 and Rebecca Beagley dominated on her familiar training ground, running a fantastic time of 58:46! Special mention to Hannah Cox who not only joined the club that week but also ran a PB in the Run Melbourne Half Marathon the Sunday before. Hannah smashed out the course in 65:00 and rounded off the Division 1 team in her first ever race with the club! There was a close finish between Anung Samsu (66:24) and Gill Highnam (66:28) who are both running absolutely incredible this season and only seem to be on the improve!

Kim Nanscawen ran a massive PB of 3min 34sec to finish with an amazing time of 71:32! It was great to see Kellie Macknamara back in action, running a time of 74:27 with an impressive amount of smiling out in those tough conditions! Lisa Deramond had a superb run of 88:32, continuing her great form this season.

The Premier Women placed equal 1st and were just shifted to 2nd based on count back and Division 2 placed 5th, which is a fantastic effort by all!

Go Hunters!