On Sunday the Stawell and Ararat Cross Country Club joined the SAAC in racing the G & R Rice Concongella Vineyard 6500m Handicap. We were very lucky the rain had stopped to start the race with the sun peeking through occasionally and continued until the last runner finished. Host and Sponsor, Gary and Rhonda Rice marked out an undulating course through their vineyard with slight variation to previous years. Gary welcomed the group which had a 2 year break due to the pandemic restrictions.
With another sealed handicap no one knew who had taken the sash until announced. Gabe Tonks crossed the line first with Tessa Thompson the first female to finish, running strong after her win last week. The ever-improving Jess Hunt won on handicap 46 seconds clear of Tessa in second, with Gabe in Third.
Ararat local Jess has only been running since last year and has some goals she is wanting to attain. She is training for the Melbourne marathon so she is improving her pace by getting lots of kilometres of running weekly. Jess is always smiling and encouraging the group to the finish line each week. Shout out to Mark Thompson for completing the course pushing both his young children in the jogger pram. Volunteers are essential with this week’s timekeepers Nicki and Paula.
Next week will be our last venture to Stawell on Sunday 24th July to run the Hall Memorial 5km at Three Jacks Reserve, Ironbarks.
