The soft, yielding feel of grass and rain-moistened earth under fleeting foot; embrace of fresh green and release of vast blue; sharing a domain of dozing bats, waddling geese and blaring ibis; horses ambling, parents prambling, cycles blazing, lollers lazing...
Centennial Park on Sunday morning is Sydney unwound, contentment found. To us, the Park is a sanctuary, our haven for running: running, our haven for self-conquest, self-transcendence, self-belief.
Sunscreen was the last thing we thought would be needed – yet reflecting the forecast in reverse, the foothold of blue presented by dawn ever increased its purchase till, little by little, the sky of late morning became a framing proudly proclaiming the unalloyed allure of pure azure.
The Half-Marathoners thrice circumambulated a convoluted loop of 7km of pleasant pathways, pristine arbours, plush playing fields, frondy pond-frontage and a pine grove. The 7km runners completed one loop and the 4kmers a truncated portion thereof.
Chief placegetters in the 3 distances were:
Half-Marathon
Male Under 50
1st Andrew Kelley 1:17:43
2nd Danny Burgess 1:18:49
3rd Wayne Bulloch 1:19:59
4th Wesley Harrison 1:20:03
5th Tim Carlson 1:21:11
6th Jonathon Michael 1:22:28
7th Gas Man 1:24:15
Male 50-59
1st Victor Correa 1:30:11
2nd Kieron Blackmore 1:35:16
3rd Gerard Frahill 1:42:32
Male 60-69
1st Chris Bowern 1:43:03
2nd Arthure Huxtable 1:49:20
Male 70 and Over
1st Michael Foster 2:10:03
Female Under 50
1st Rebecca Holmes 1:33:56
2nd Tiffany Knight 1:34:47
3rd Brydie Houlahan 1:38:16
4th Kim Shmical 1:40:09
5th Brooke Dent 1:41:44
6th Jo Coutts 1:42:06
7th April Palmerlee 1:43:24
Female 50-59
1st Fiona Horn 2:00:33
Female 60-69
1st Kate Rowe 2:07:27
7km
Male Under 50
1st Philip Balnave 25:55
2nd Trent Langlands 26:20
3rd Nelson Santos 26:30
4th John Small 27:17
5th Felix Lievano 27:51
6th Declan McNerney 28:15
7th Julian Murray 28:26
Male 50-59
1st David Heazlett 30:17
2nd Garry Womsley 31:34
3rd Mark Hodge 32:23
Male 60-69
1st Bill Hick 32:01
2nd Bruce John Flaherty 33:01
Female Under 50
1st Nancy Newsome 28:36
2nd Lizzy Georgopoulos 28:57
3rd Sally Lynch 30:28
4th Megan Hasick 31:08
5th Catherine Boshesolsky 31:18
6th Renee Scott 32:55
7th Kelly McManus 33:09
Female 50-59
1st Karen Hasick 38:47
2nd Janet Murton 39:31
3rd Eithne Frahill 41:00
Female 60-69
1st Helen Stanger 35:33
2nd Sue McNamara 36:56
Female 70 and Over
1st Kerry Bray 41:07
4km
Boys Under 13
1st Nickolas Tyrpenou 16:04
2nd Matthew Scolyer 18:50
3rd Julian Bowyer 19:08
Boys Under 17
1st Nicholas Katsilis 14:57
2nd Rory Foster 16:05
3rd
Male 17 and Over
1st Terry Couchman 16:51
2nd Keith Graham 17:19
3rd Fahri Ozturk 17:45
Girls Under 13
1st Taylor Porter 16:24
2nd Renee Lewis 16:25
3rd Emily Scolyer 19:10
Girls Under 17
1st Lucille Moore 19:41
2nd Carla O’Donnell 21:54
3rd Jayden Selvakumaraswamy 23:21
Female 17 and Over
1st Sally Hannah 16:01
2nd Kylie Peck 16:21
3rd Natasha Goulden 20:41
Full results are published, along with a photo album from around the course.