For the 170 brave souls who turned up at what would have been 5:30 am a few days ago, before daylight saving, it turned out to be a beautiful day with smiles all round at the end. The weather was perfect with a gentle breeze and a little bit of that Canberra chill in the air.
A new development is going up just next to the race start so the course had to be changed around a little with a grass section for the first 100 m or so.
In the U13 Category of the 4km race, brothers Liam and Calvin Whitehead got first and second with Liam winning in 22:32. Sisters Saleena and Samantha Ramboer showed their true colours again finishing in smoking hot times of 16:44 and 19:35 respectively. They were incidentally both faster than the boys first and second in the U13s – well done girls!
In the U17s Ben Marshall (19:33) came first in the boys and Matilda McCormack (22:09) came first in the girls race. The male over 17s was won by Jarrett Anthony who also won the overall 4 km race in a time of 14:05 at a pace of 3:31 /km. Female over 17 category was won by Xuan Liu (21:58) who also helped serve pancakes to all the other runners after she finished!
In the 10 km race Greg Taylor finished first in the male Under 50s with a very good time of 35:35 (3:33 /km). In the Male 50-59s Ben Crabb won with 38:45 with our ever-popular Canberra MP, Andrew Leigh, just behind. Jeff Grey ran a very respectable 41:55 to win the male 60-69s and Trevor Jacobs came through in 50:57 to win the over 70s.
Sarah Fletcher finished in a super-fast 37:58 (3:47 /km) to win the female under 50s. She was 7th overall. Julie Kael ran 50:30 to win the female 50-59s with Anita Scherrer and Kristin Tanner hot on her heals. Elspeth Nicholls finished the 10 km in 58:51 to win the 60-69s with Clare Wall running an almost unbelievable time of 52.50 to win the over 70s. She would have given the 50-59s a run for their money!
Thanks to Abhinandan Willis who drove up from Melbourne and did a great job of being the on the day race director. Thanks also to our new crew of students who turned up to volunteer making pancakes, pouring drinks and giving out the awards. It was great having you all!
Well done to all the participants who took on the challenge of the race! We look forward to seeing you at our next race which is the Sri Chinmoy Triple-Triathlon on 10 November.
