NEWS

XCR Round 1


The usual start to the cross-country season is the team relays at the picturesque Jells Park, Wheelers Hill. Always a tough start to the winter season, with a very long uphill start and a long uphill finish. Wintry conditions including the occasional shower added to the challenge.

Results were mixed but everyone came away having enjoyed completing the challenging 6km course. (Two laps of 3km each. Junior teams ran one lap).

A number of runners were competing in their first cross country, while we had five members of the Red and Black Running Team competing for Essendon for the first time- Robyn Coyne, Peter Stead, Kim Cova, Neil Stewart and Linda Rosa-Fitzgerald. Other debutants included Jannik Ernst and Leo Zabarauskas, while ten-year-old Adam Hackett ran a great first up 3Km in12:07.

Liam Adams lead the field through the first 3km lap and eventually ran the equal second fastest time of the day, 17:25.

Our best placed finishing team was the premier division open women, who finished third. This was a great first-up result after being promoted from Div 2 in 2018.

Essendon’s fastest open women runner was Charlotte Wilson with 20.24, while our fastest junior female was Bianca Puglisi who completed the course in 10:50.

Charlotte Jackson sliced 59sec off her 2018 time for a new PB.

Makda Haji returned to Essendon to record 22:35 in the Div 1 team.

Essendon’s fastest junior male runner was Brodie Andrews in 10:41, taking 20 seconds off his 2018 time. Another big PB came from Damien Bruneau who took 51 sec off his 2016 time.

It was great to see Janine Higham and Nick Smith back in action.

Many thanks to those parents of our junior athletes who took the relay team times and helped organise our junior teams.

Huge thanks to our three mandatory AV club event helpers, Carolyn Heaney-Stewart, Joyleen Stewart and John Cooper.

There are a number of races across the XCR’19 season where we will again require mandatory AV event helpers, make sure you can do your bit for your club and help fill these required roles when asked.

See you all @ XCR’19 round 2 on Saturday 1 June 2019 at St Anne’s Winery, Myrniong for the first individual race of XCR’19. Juniors will run 2km, 3km or 4km depending on their age and open men and women will both run 8km.

We had our first ever XCR race here last year and it’s a great location for a day out, so come out early and/or stay late and sample some of the offerings of the winery.