XCR ROUND 1

Doncaster Newsletter

Round 1 – 27/04/2024

11 teams (37 athletes) were greeted with beautiful sunshine and a slight breeze at Jells Park, Waverley.   It was a day ‘out of the box’, and with a firm course, made for perfect cross-country conditions.  Athletes ran either one or two 3km laps, over hilly terrain.  A club tent village was situated for excellent viewing, and the coffee van and free massage tent were kept busy all day.  Our Team Managers did a stellar job at organising the athletes and teams, including newcomers to XCR Shane & Aleisha Scott, Sophie Brooks, Tim Denny, Bradley Sala, Alfie Onley, and Edward Borham.  Invitees were; Roberto Chavez, Neetha Pai from Ruffey Runners, Sawer Onley, and Emma Schuette!  A big welcome to them all!   By day’s end, Team Manager Matt Christy was one of the last athletes still out on the course.  His 6 x 6km Open Div 2 team had covered a lot of ground – Matt a solid anchor with one of the fastest DAC male times of the day!   

The best result of the day was 1^st placing to the Boys U16 team of Harry Maddocks, Joel Denny and Alfie Onley.  All three boys ran a very fast 3km, and enjoyed an early season taste of success, Alfie in his first Winter season with DAC.  If they can keep up this momentum, the boys will be hard to beat during season 2024!  Our Women’s Div 3 team placed 2^nd, again, with 4 athletes running very near to their best – Abbey Caldwell, Lydia Rinaudo, Alissa Ramsdale and Connor Gist. For Connor, it is her first season of XCR, after having had an amazing summer season.  Having competed 2 or 3 years previously, Alissa is back from injury – great to have her join us!   Lydia, stepped up from 40+ and has always been near the top of XCR Masters competition.  Abbey is our Olympian in training and completed the first 6km leg in an amazing 19:55!   A couple of other teams were within reach of podium placings, and all faced very tough opposition.   

Some other notable performances were:  

• Josh Kilmartin, who is returning from a fractured ankle.    
• Colleen Kelly in her first AV race since a leg fracture. 
• Nick Finch – a lightening 20.20 for 6km, also bringing 4-month-old “Tommy” and new Mum Anita for a visit.  Papa Jim was also in fine running form.   
• Will Sullivan, returning member to track and XCR this season, had a great outing on Saturday!   
• Emily Allen is a retuning member, back after some years off, and was the fastest member of Saturday’s Women’s 40+ team.   
• DAC Legend Rod De Highden ran a very solid 6km in Men’s 50+, and another Legend in Natalie Harvey came along to cheer us on!   
• Fastest females:  Sophie Brooks (Junior – U14), Abbey Caldwell (Open) and Lydia Rinaudo (Masters). 
• Fastest males: Joel Denny (Junior – U16), Nick Finch (Open) and Tim Denny (Masters).   

We have made an excellent start to XCR 2024.  Athlete numbers at Jells Park were very encouraging, and so many athletes are in great form!  Thank you to a number of people who assisted with Club Volunteer duty – Crystal Xie, Damian Maddocks and Shaun Onley.  Further, thanks to those parents and family members who assisted in getting athletes out there and into action!  There were a number of amazing shots taken of DAC athletes in action, thanks to Laura McLennan!  These are available on Facebook ((2) Facebook).  

Members may be interested in reading XCR rules, with some changes for season 2024: https://athsvic.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/XCR24-Rules-2.pdf

All results are presented below.  Further details are available from Resultshub (Results Hub)