Runners from both the Stawell and Ararat Cross Country club and the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club were greeted with fine drizzle floating in the air and cool temperatures, it appears that this provided great running weather for runners and supporters to enjoy the beautiful scenery that the area around the Best’s Winery provides.
This morning was the joint club race over an 8km course, this course left the driveway of the winery, took a left turn onto the asphalt of Best’s Rd and then a right turn onto the dirt road of Mailes Rd. Runners ran along Mailes Rd for a couple of kilometres before taking a small side road where the turnaround point was, this area was a great opportunity for the participants to cheer each other on as they headed back towards the winery. The lightly undulating course then turned left onto Hurley’s Lane, from here was the opportunity to enjoy the elevated views looking over vineyards with plenty of autumn colours on display across the vines, and where the ups and downs were a bit more pronounced. It was along here that the puddle gave runners the chance to tiptoe around the edge or run straight through the middle and refresh their feet with the ankle-deep water before a right turn onto Stephenson St and then back onto Best’s Rd for the flat last kilometre of the race.
Today’s race fastest times were produced by husband and wife team, Mark Thompson for the men in a blistering time of 32.10 and Tess Thompson for the women in a very speedy 36.13. The handicap results saw Tess Thompson again making the podium taking 3rd place, 2nd place by just two seconds was Jess Hunt having another strong run, and in first place by just under a minute was Sue Blizzard. Showing that this course suited her well as this is the third time she has won on this course, Sue proudly stated in her speech that she ran straight through the middle of the puddle and that the water was indeed “invigorating”. Sue has been training consistently over the last couple of months to regain fitness after taking most of last season off due to injury, and the last few weekends have involved running the Paradise 14km fun run at the Great Ocean Rd Running Festival and the 6km event at Run the Gap last Sunday.
Many thanks to Best’s Wines for sponsoring the race, the track markers Peter and Jack, the timekeepers Gail and Natalie, to Peter for stepping into take care of presentations this week, to the SAAC for the great company and encouragement out on the course and to all the other helpers in the club who work diligently behind the scenes.
Next week’s race is the Trounson Family 8km in Ararat, please see the club website or our Facebook page for details.
