XCR’18 Round 9 – Half Marathon

Glenhuntly Open & Masters Men

After cancellation of the Ekiden Relays at Anglesea, runners were primed and ready to go for the last and longest of the individual races on the 2018 XCR calendar. Race conditions at Burnley for the past 3 years had been perfect and this year was no exception. Blue skies, cool temperatures and little or no wind made for fast times and an ideal start to Father’s Day.

The Open men were missing a few notable runners but Rhydian Cowley once again lead the way, finishing in 7th place overall and with a time of 67:26. Jamie Cook was the second Hunter home in another impressive time of 71:53 (30th overall) while David Ceddia swapped his paddle for running shoes and rounded out the top 3 in 72:34 (43rd overall). Sam Toll made his half marathon debut, completing a very strong “training run” (75:25) with Geoff Scott only a few minutes behind. Great to see Declan Murphy and Dale Woodbridge back running in club colours. Both posted impressive times off very limited preparation. A solid team performance by the Open men, finishing in 5th place.

In the 40+ category, Andrew McEvoy ran out of legs but still surprised himself with a PB. Julian Kuppler made up good ground, finishing close behind in 78:00. Jamie Rossjohn and Peter Macknamara ran strongly and were third and fourth home respectively. Mike Bryant in fifth. Special shout out to Angelo Portelli for coming straight off the powdery slopes of Treble Cone and onto the mean streets of Burnley. The 40+ team finished in 3rd place.

Peter Rushen continued his great form in the 50+ category, finishing in a time of 81:49. Mick Ryan finished in under 100 minutes (easily) but was the only other 50+ runner so unfortunately, team points didn’t count.

The day’s real news story came in the 60+ category. Club legends Chris Wardlaw, Chris Murphy and Eric Sigmont (70+) took care of business and finished in 1st place. Great way to kick off Father’s Day. Big thanks once again to Chris Murphy for taking the trailer back to DMac.

And now, onto the final (relay) round of the season at the Tan on Saturday September 15. Hope to see you all there for some fast racing and the end of season presentations.

Go Hunters!