A windy run at Willandra 23.7.2016
Well Round 15 of Nowra Athletics cross country was certainly a windy one!
Surprisingly no one got swept away to the land of Oz but the competitors who fronted up on Saturday deserve congratulating for braving the extreme gale force conditions.
Everyone certainly earned their points and some of the winners even ran a Personal Best which is quite amazing considering the harsh weather.

This week it was Tynan Caswell who took out the 1 kilometre event. Lexie Burinaga ran in second followed by Evie Smart and Dean Osgood.

In the 2 kilometre Division 1 event Lila Pratt was the first to cross the line, finishing with a personal best time for the season. Reilly Caswell was second and James Babian was third.
Division 2 was won by Harriet Urquhart, also in a personal best time, whilst Katie Martin ran in second and Alastair Urquhart was third.

Jake Babian secured a first place and a personal best in Division 1 of the 3 kilometre event. Jasper Arnold was second and Scott Delo third.
In Division 2 it was Thomas Pratt who secured the win followed by Andrew Havadjia who pushed all the way to equal his best time of 18.18 minutes; and Emily Burinaga wrapped up third place.

Medium course Division 1 was won by Alec Dobson, also with a Personal Best. Cooper Thomson and Jon Schol were second and third respectively. Stephen Grant crossed in fifth place with the fastest time on the day over the 4 kilometres in 15.13 minutes followed by Teresha Moxham in sixth place who recorded the fastest female time of 17.42 minutes.
Ian Robinson won Division 2 whilst Zac Havadjia made a return to cross country running with a second place and Megan Fitt was third.
Division 3 had just two contenders this week with Alison Havadjia coming in first in front of Alex Arnold.

In the 8 kilometre event Division 1 was claimed by Hugh Dobson who not only recorded the fastest time over this distance but also a personal best of 32.39 minutes. Darrin Smith ran in second and Brad Sawyers was third. Not to be outdone by her sons, Kim Dobson also ran a personal best time and secured the fastest female time on the day of 38.52 minutes as she crossed the line in fifth place.
Division 2 was won by Kathy Hopkins in 44.09 minutes with Rob Woods also recording the exact same time and Laura Babian grabbed third in 45.18 minutes.

The next round of cross country will be held at Longreach on Saturday 30th July for the final points round of the Winter season. Last chance to earn some points – this round could be the difference to finishing in the top three for the season so don’t miss out!

The following week cross country end-of-season novelty events will be held at Willandra. This will be followed by a sausage sizzle. Athletes are asked to please bring a salad or something sweet to share.