XCR Round 6 - Bundoora

We got a taste for some rain at Sandown and this time at Bundoora we really got the full package of winter conditions – cold, raining and mud. This didn’t stop 21 Waverley athletes heading out to take on the new course with a slightly changed 4K loop. The new course seemed nicer than the old one, but the times were generally a bit slower.

First away was Matt Harvey in the U18 6K. Despite the tougher course Matt ran an amazing 6 and a half minutes quicker than last year. He has improved out of sight.

Next we had the 6K short course with Linda and Jackie doing well. Linda finished 4th overall in her age group – just missing out on a medal.

Then it was the womens 10K, and the rain poured down just as it started, and kept going for pretty much the whole 10K. Niamh was in great shape and led our women in with the impressive time of 44.46, her quickest time since 2017. Sally was not far behind in 45.10 and both took out bronze medals in their age groups – impressive work in a state championship. Janice and Nickie had a good battle with Janice coming through stongly in the middle lap. And Petra did well in the cold wet conditions.

In the mens event, the rain stopped for us. Smoothy unfortunately had to withdraw early in the 2nd lap. We hope his ankle is ok. Davin ran a blinder and was our first runner in, taking out the state gold medal in his age group. Then Martin, Ernie, Daniel and Julian made up our first team. Peter, myself, Slips, Smurf, Michael and Nicholas all followed in.

In the teams events, our womens 50+ team finished 2nd and our mens 50+ team finished 3rd.
Our womens Div 3 team fiished 4th – a great result and our mens Div 3 team were only 23 points behind Malvern. The closest we’ve come so far this season. Surely we can nail them before the season is over.

A big thank you to everyone who helped at our club duty – the drink station at the finish. It was cold and wet there and it was busy at times. Most runners still took a drink at the end, despite the cold. Thanks to Harvs, Matt, Martin, Daniel, Nick, Petra, Linda, Jackie, Niamh, Janice, Nickie and Sally, and anyone I missed.

Our results were:
Schools U18 6km: Matt Harvey 26.19
6km: Linda Sharp 36:04; Jacqueline Mitchell 39:45; Simone Albiston DNS;
Female Open 10km: Niamh O’Reilly 44:46; Sally Lim 45:10; Janice Marston 54:38; Nickie Gibson 55:33; Petra Spiteri 1:06:04;
Male Open 10km: Davin Hopper 40:01; Martin Spiteri 41:23; Ernest Lim 43:34; Daniel Spiteri 43:48; Julian Russell 44:28; Peter Kormendy 45:50; James Atkinson 45:54; Shane Fielding 49:38; Ewen Vowels 52:37; Michael Jansen 52:48; Nicholas Spiteri 54:19; Michael Harvey DNS; David Venour DNF;

Winners of the open races were:
Men: Haftu Strintzos GHY 29:42 (he lapped 4 of our team)
Women: Melissa Duncan BOH 35:38

Division 1 Teams winners were:
Men: Western Suburbs
Women: South Melbourne

Our next event is the Ballarat 15K on Sunday 4th August.
Looking forward to seeing you out for the next one. And maybe we can even take out Malvern there.

Cheers

James