Today represented a special milestone in the history of Sri Chinmoy races. Forty years ago, to the day, the first ever Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team event was held: a ten-mile race in the hills of Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. Many more races were to follow, with thousands of participants. Not to mention a significant number of races held in Canberra, beginning in the early 80's.
This Labour Day holiday featured the best weather Canberra has to offer – a brisk Spring morning blossoming into a warm, sunny day. The wind that has plagued the region for the last ten days seemed to be taking a holiday too. 160 runners toed the starting line in the 10km and 4km events, having beaten the Floriade multitudes into the Acton Ferry carpark! Veteran runners Rad Leovic and Lachlan Lewis, now both in their 80s, put in a welcome appearance amongst the participants. After our traditional moment of silent reflection, the race was underway.
As is to be expected, the 4km runners were the first home. Thanks to our first foray into chip timing at this event, we could see the runners' names onscreen well before they crossed the finish line. Another innovation meant that finishers could scan their race bibs and see their finish time and position – courtesy of Martin Fryer and FlyerUltra race timing.
The Cuzner family dominated the male divisions, with Ryan in the Under 13s winning the race outright in 15:51. In the adults, Matt won in 18:18. Hannah Cuzner was first in Girls Under 17 (21:26). The Under 17 Boys was won by Rohan O'Grady (15:57, second overall).
The Quispes family featured Xavier and Caleb finishing second and third in the Boys Under 13, whilst Hannah Quispes won the Girls Under 13 (20:57). The Over 17 Women was won by Kim Wilmshurst (16:36), who was also first to claim her medal before dashing off to work.
The 10km event saw Daniel Carson come home first in the blistering time of 36:41. The first seven men all came in under 40 minutes. For the women, Penny Slater won in 39:33.
Jeff Grey was first in the Male 50-59 division in 41:35. Pam Muston won the Female 50-59 category in 50:41. Legendary mountain runner Trevor Jacobs took the line honours in the Males 60-69 in 45:25.
Peter Gentry won Male 70 and Over division 1:03:37, though was beaten to the finish line by Caroline Campbell, Female 70 and Over in1:00:01.
Congratulations to all the runners, and we hope to see you at our next 10km & 4km Fun-Runs on Canberra Day in March 2018.
