Published results are provisional, Please advise any errors or anomalies to canberra@srichinmoyraces.org
Race report and photo album coming soon, final results will be published Monday night.
Steep. A short word with a pitched long vowel, sharp sound at the front to cut clean in, finishing with a gasp: its sounds speaks every bit of the paths it describes.
The Sri Chinmoy “Cooleman Clip”, first of the Winter trail series – the introduction, goes straight to the point. The shortest of them all, it offers a sampling and preview of all the races hence. Before the runners have time to settle their stride, they are dragged up one of the steepest of hills – concrete and steps hidden behind houses, and flung into the wide open air of the ridge – the Brindabellas far off to the South leap into view, and rows upon rows of houses borrowing Autumn charm from the red and orange leaves of the intermittent suburban forest. Beautiful, but a backdrop, their heights inviting us, who now scale and feel an elevation of our own. The view accompanies and rewards the one who climbs, but for the lover of trail and hill the views are secondary – we do it for the burn.
Full results are published online, so we will confide ourselves win this report only to the new Course Records which succumbed today:
* Saleena Ramboer bettered her own Girls Under 13 record from last year, this time cruising around in under 9 minutes for a impressive 8:58;
* Tara Holmes, the only runner faster than Saleena on this day, set a new Girls Under 17 record for the 2.2km 2-lap course of 8:40;
* Rohan Tankey also beat his own record from last year, this time clocking 11:01 to maintain his Male 17 and Over record;
* Kodi Clarkson is another who was not satisfied with his existing course record in the MU50 5km race, this year winning the race outright by over 3 minutes in a scintillating new record of 18:39 for the very un-flat 5km loop;
* Shiree Yap lowered the F50-59 best time in the 5km with her excellent showing of 26:44;
* Natalie Wood proved strongest among the F50-59 in the 10km event to establish a new benchmark of 54:52;
* On the men’s side of the ledger, Glen Robinson ran a swift 44:39 for a new best M50-59 time;
* In the M60-69, Ian Prosser’s 51:33 now stands as the mark to beat.
The Series Pointscore table is also published, with points allocated to the top 10 placings in each age group of the middle and longer distance races at each of the 5 Series events. Runners must participate in at least 3 races to qualify.
From the northern end of Cooleman Ridge, you can look over and almost touch Mt Stromlo – and it is to the “Stromlo Strides” that we now turn our attention in just 2 weeks, for Race 2 of the Series…