By Jamie Strudley
A massive day for Yarra Ranges Athletics over the weekend with our club members competing at Bundoora Park in one of two events; our Juniors taking on Victorian All Schools Cross Country Championships in the morning, and our Seniors the Victorian Cross Country Championships in the mid-afternoon. On a mild winter’s day, athletes tackled the challenging slopes of the iconic Bundoora Park, a staple in Victorian cross country running. The course meandered its way around the parklands, pitching up to Mount Cooper and its lone water tower before diving back down into the trees below, sending athletes flying trying to keep up with their competitors.
Our Juniors recorded some fantastic results, with some particularly impressive runs cropping up throughout the morning. We saw Brad McMeekan take home 6th in the U17 Men Para race, followed not long after by Brigitte Rice (U17) and Maddie Laven (U20) finishing in 4th and 6th respectively. These top ten finishes will send Brad, Brigitte and Maddie to Canberra in a month’s time to run in the Australian Cross Country Championships at Stromlo Forest Park, Canberra. Well done to all of our Juniors who represented their schools!
Soon after the All Schools event had concluded, the course was alight with more activity as the Open Women surged up the starting chute. A 2km loop to establish the leaders and chase groups, followed by two challenging 4km loops Several nasty pinches in each lap that served to break up the pack ,allowed for some exciting racing to take shape.
Not only did we see two top twenty finishes from Liv Twining (14th) in the Open Women race and Harry Norman (19th) in the Open Men, but our Division 2 Women and Men teams both walked away in third place.
The success of the teams hinged on our athletes’ strong performances throughout the whole field, Chris Grundy and Jared Byrne both working their way up through the ranks, showing substantial improvements with each race they run together. We were also pleased to see Abi Hyndman and Kat Winger not far behind Liv, scoring some very valuable points that will see YRA remain in third position in the Division 2 ladder.
A huge congratulations to all YRA athletes that battled it out on the weekend, the next round of AV XCR’23 is at Ballarat in two weeks time.
Full results are…
Open Women 10km Olivia Twining: 38:10 – 14th; Abi Hyndman: 41:55 – 48th; Katrina Winger: 44:12 – 65th; Georgia Laven: 44:56 – 70th; Bonnie Morris: 46:30 – 88th; Elisabeth Coffey: 52:34 – 124th
U20W 6km Maddie Laven: 23:43 – 6th; Rori Jones 28:12 – 17th;
U17W 4km Brigitte Rice: 14:19 – 4th;
U16W 4km Kristina Nackovski: 16:44 – 32nd;
U15W 4km Zoe Clarke: 15:36 – 19th;
U14W 3km Brienna Coffey: 12:51 – 61st; Lily Clarke: 13:01 – 66th; Brookley Horsburgh: 13:06 – 69th; Tori Kincaid: 14:33 – 108th
Open Men 10km: Harry Norman: 31:25 – 19th; Max Savill-Bentley: 31:42 – 23rd; James Laven: 33:09 – 53rd; Seamus Dwyer: 35:40 – 118th ; Jared Byrne: 37:12 – 158th; Chris Grundy: 38:18 – 182nd; Graham Coutts: 45:06 – 293rd; Bryan Ackerly: 49:08 – 319th; Craig Hewitson: 53:53 – 337th
U20M 8km Ky Harris: 32:10 – 39th;
U17M Para 3km Bradley McMeeken: 16:58 – 6th;
U15M; 4km Mitch Pointon: 14:22 – 44th;
U14M 3km Ryder Holland: 10:39 – 29th; Finn Rossthorn: 11:48 – 96th
Saturday morning cross country returned to Morrison Reserve. Another excellent turnout of eager athletes again took up the challenges presented by the tough Morrison Reserve course, once again chasing the PB choccie.
There will be no cross country on Saturday morning with our little athletics members competing at Region Cross Country Championships at Ruffey Lake, Doncaster. Good luck to all our athletes competing.
Training continues for all club members on Tuesday from 5.30pm at Morrison Reserve and Thursday evenings from 5.30pm at Victoria Road Primary School gym. Yarra Ranges Athletics welcomes and encourages all athletes of any age or ability.
If you, or someone you know, wants to join in the fun of cross country email info@yarrarangesathletics.org.au for information about events and registration.
For information on training, how to join or trial, photos, results and updated news, visit the website at yarrarangesathletics.org.au or check us out on Facebook. Run, Jump, Throw…too easy!
