10 March 2008

If the passengers in the "EU" hot-air balloon were angling for a bird's-eye view of the Sri Chinmoy Canberra Day 10 km & 4 km Fun-Runs, they timed their run a little early, as their balloon sailed down to land right on the course about an hour before the race was due to start.

Continuing a multi-year trend of glorious weather for this race, a good-sized field assembled of 85 runners for the 10 km and 68 for the 4 km run/walk. This is by far the largest field ever gathered for the 4 km race, and also the highest ratio yet of 4 km to 10 km entrants. The morning cool had just about dissipated by the time runners embarked on their scenic lakeside journey.

"Runner of the Day" award goes to Jim White (top left). While Jim "only" took 3rd place in his age category, this was his third race in three days - on Saturday he completed his first "6-foot Track" ultramarathon in the Blue Mountains; on Sunday he raced the Weston Creek Half-Marathon; then this 10 km race on Monday! Congratulations Jim for an outstanding effort, you are an inspiration to us all!

Scott Imhoff (bottom left) is an oft-times winner of the Sri Chinmoy 10 km race and notched another victory in an impressive 35:02 on this testing course. Anthony Olliffe took out the competitive men's 50-59 division in 43:27, while Bob Chapman lithely covered the course in 51:53 for first over-70s male.

First woman home was Kate Molineaux in 44:39, a full 4 minutes ahead of her chasers. Kaaren Sutcliffe, another veteran of the course took line honours in her new category Women 50-59 in an impressive 53:32.

Meanwhile the 4 km race, as so often happens, was a stage for younger runners to shine. Shane Farrant was first home in a sprightly 15:02, though running in the Under 17 Boys category, with Dave Cooper in the Male 17+ only 12 seconds adrift, just ahead of Daniel Craig. Joshua Torley was first Under 13 boy home in 16:30.

Nicola Torley (right), in the Girls Under 13, was not far behind the leading males in 15:45, an outstanding run. Kym Chisholm announced her comeback by taking first place Female 17+ in 16:46, while Georgia Hardy was first in the Girls Under 17 in 18:30.

Full age category results are now published.