XCR ROUND 9

27 DAC athletes were up bright and early for the penultimate round of the winter XCR season, held on the road at Burnley.  They chose between short course (5km) and long course (1/2 marathon, 21.1km), with all junior athletes competing in the shorter event.  For some athletes, this was on the back of competing in the Australian Short Course Cross-Country Championships in Tassie the previous weekend.  The morning was mild and sunny, and winds picked up during the event.  It could be said – close to ideal conditions for road racing.   

Except for early starters (7.30am), the 5km and ½ marathon both commenced at 8am.  The Portaloo’s were very popular and busy!  Athletes were visibly a bit toey – they were in for a very tough run!   The Burnley ½ marathon course required 4 laps of 5km, ‘plus a bit’ and allowed plenty of opportunity to shout some encouragement to your DAC mates.    

5km course athletes made a very swift job of it, some carving up the road in an impressive 15 minutes!   Luca Scholes-Robertson (U20, 9th) was the quickest DAC athlete over 5km. However, Harry Maddocks was just 3 seconds behind and placed 1st in the male U16 age group!   As the winter season draws to a close, he’s gotta be happy with that!  Joel Denny was 8th , and with the efforts of compatriot Hamish McLennan, the lads managed to win the round for DAC in the U16 age group.  Joel was ‘taking it easy’ on coach’s orders, and otherwise likely to have been up on the podium with Harry.  Bella Davey (U18) has been rapidly improving this season and finished 9th – her time for 5km under the magic 20-minute milestone.  Lewis McLennan (U14) finished 8th and was ‘neck-in-neck’ with older brother Hamish – both 18:40. These junior athletes should be very proud of their winter season accomplishments!     

Open and Masters athletes tackling the short course event also had an excellent outing.  Tim Denny (M40-44), Campbell McLennan, Jason Merrett, John Curry and Darryl Kilmartin (all 50+) achieved top 10 placings for their age groups.   In fact, Tim Denny won the 40+ 5km event, and Campbell was just outside the podium positions in fourth.  The Masters men again won the round for DAC, and as the Tan relays aren’t included, have officially won the Short Course Competition for XCR 2024!   Congratulations Gents!  Christal Xie and William Sullivan also completed the 5km event; both have been invaluable over this winter season, Christal starting to ‘make friends’ with distance running! 

12 Male and 6 Female athletes took on the ½ marathon.  In particular, we were pleased to have invitees Dave Ridley, Erick Niyiragira and Leah Finch along for the ride.  Dave was placed 10th and Erick 22nd in a large (n=547) and very competitive men’s field.  Dave completed the run in 1:07.12, which was a phenomenal effort!   The DAC Open Men had Samual Rattray, Nick Finch, Matt Christy, President Nathan Down, and Brock Goodings all firing, with support from 40+ athletes Anthony Paige and Shawn Ko.  They achieved 6th for the round and can now hopefully avoid relegation to Div 3 next season?  Anthony Paige, now M40-44, has found a real ‘sweet spot’ in his distance running, finishing in an impressive 1:20.37.   

Lydia Rinaudo (W40-44) was the fastest DAC female over the ½ marathon, achieving a very hard fought 1:32.47, and 7th in her age group.  Georgia Chalmers (Open), Kath Gawthorn, Sue Kilmartin and Colleen Kelly (all Masters) made up the Div 3 women’s team, and all achieved well under the 2hr milestone.  Div 3 women placed 3rd this round and now look promising to achieve a promotion to Div 2 for winter 2025.    The Masters Ladies were all nursing injury and health concerns, though admirably stepped up to the challenge on Sunday.   Jim Finch was also gallant in completing the ½ marathon course and has been an invaluable member of the Masters’ team this season.  The short course option was ‘out of the question’ for these Masters athletes!  Afterwards, there was palpable relief and congratulations all around, even between members of different clubs.  It was an extremely tough test!   

Congratulations to All who competed in Round 9!   

Thanks so much to Laura McLennan for spending her morning taking some fantastic pics of us all in action!  Full results are presented below, with more information available at Results Hub.  Results Hub 

Australian Short Course Cross-Country Championships 

The weekend of 31 August and 1st September saw a number of DAC athletes travel to Symmons Plains Raceway, Tasmania for these annual Championships.  Following recent rain, the course was very slushy, though the competition was hot!   The following excellent results were achieved: 

Joshua Field U14 3km 11:21 (3rd) 

Chloe Baldock U14 3km 12:57 (15th) 

Madeleine Kearney U15 4km 18:04 (20th) 

Joel Denny U16 4km 15:03 (8th) 

Alfie Onley U16 4km 15:35 (29th) 

Lucy Kearney U17 4km 18:04 (30th) 

Rachel White U18 4km 17:24 (14th) 

Congratulations to All on their efforts!