Attendance for Week 4 of Victory Runners Point Score was rather depleted due to a number of factors. A big thank you to the D’Ombrain Family who represented Victory Runners at the St George Classic by competing in the Waratah Run series events held in conjunction with Athletics NSW XC Novice Championships at Ramsgate. Several of our tri-athletes were also involved in events away from the local area while some families are using the school holidays for a well earned break.
Week 5 Point Score will be conducted on Easter Saturday at Willandra. Arrival at the venue around 2.30pm is advised, especially for competitors on a minus handicap. This allows time for checking the notice board and set all ‘Go’ markers on their way at 3.00pm.
At the conclusion of the 1k and 2k events there will be an Easter Egg hunt for our young members. In addition to this we invite members to stay for a cuppa and a chat. Please bring a plate of afternoon tea to share.
First home in the 1k event and also fastest time was nine year old Holly Matthews. Holly chose 1k this week, having run her school cross country on Friday. Runners up on the adjusted sealed handicap were siblings Zali & James Wilson, followed by the very consistent Burbage sisters Layla & Cailin.
Due to well over 20 competitors in the 2k course it was necessary to divide this into two sections.
Section 1 was a great race for the top three places between three young boys who did really well at their school XC carnival on Friday at Willandra. Bailey Newham improved his time to gain the 10 points closely followed by Bailey Matthews with fast improving Ayden Spicer in 3rd spot and credited with fastest time of 9.33. Fastest girl 9.42 and back marker with Ayden was the very consistent young nine year old Evie Hill, closely followed by her equally consistent eight year old sister, Tori.
Pleasing to see success for another family mix, daughter Johanna and mother, Kirsten Pichler improved their previous time by one minute taking out first and second place in 2k Section 2. Well done also to Samantha Holland and Carla Hill who improved to place third and fourth.
Jane Newham decided the 2k walk was a good starting point and was joined by friend Roz Matthews. Regulars in this event but missing the official start were Hati & Kanun Onsel who clocked fastest time of 19.01.
3k Course was the lightest event for numbers this week but certainly didn’t dampen the competition. Leela Matthews just managed to hold off the two fast flying backmarkers, Jai Holland & Joel Harlor. This was a great finish as Leela managed to improve her time by a minute. Jai was fastest time in 11.56 with Joel just 10 seconds behind in 12.06. Well done all three.
4k Course Section 1 despite this section having 10 competitors listed all nine were absent. However the only contestant, Cristine Suffolk, training hard for the Australian Masters Championships in Melbourne at the end of April certainly put in a great effort to finish in her best time of 18.21 and be awarded 10 points and fastest time.
4k Course Section 2 was another great finish with only three competitors out of 12 listed. Laura Burbage just managed to hold off backmarker Natasha Spicer in a very good finish time of 22.38 with Natasha in 22.30 and Paul Jennings carrying the flag for the males, finishing third.
Despite only two contestants in the two lap event, Kev Davis 6k and Graeme Pepper 8k, the effort these two athletes displayed was very rewarding. Such is the competitive spirit displayed by Graeme each time he runs, he managed to improve his first 8k run of the season by just under an incredible 5 minutes, his time was 37.47 !! This improvement was too much to make a close finish, however Kevyn didn’t let us down and completed his 6k in time just over 38 minutes which wasn’t too bad seeing he gave Graeme a two minute start.
Thank you to all for participating in Week 4. It is not the number of competitors that is important but the effort and input from competitors that makes it worthwhile. In the meantime, a repeat of our Monthly quote to think about.
‘You don’t have to be GREAT to start, but you do have to START …… to be great.
Zig Zagler
1k Course
| Name | Time | Points |
| Holly Matthews (Fastest time) | 5.35 | 10 |
| Zali Wilson | 6.32 | 8 |
| James Wilson | 6.54 | 6 |
| Layla Burbage | 5.54 | 5 |
| Cailin Burbage | 6.36 | 5 |
| Lexie Burinaga | 5.52 | 5 |
| Ashley Spicer | 11.11 | 5 |
| Jai Burbage | 6.38 | 5 |
2k Course – Section 1
| Name | Time | Points |
| Bailey Newham | 10.59 | 10 |
| Cohen Matthews | 9.45 | 8 |
| Ayden Spicer (Fastest Boy) | 9.33 | 6 |
| Cameron Harrison | 10.00 | 5 |
| David Holland | 11.57 | 5 |
| Evie Hill (Fastest Girl) | 9.42 | 5 |
| Tori Hill | 11.08 | 5 |
| Tanyel Onsel | 12.21 | 5 |
| Selin Onsel | 12.32 | 5 |
2k Course – Section 2
| Name | Time | Points |
| Johanna Pichler | 13.22 | 10 |
| Kirsten Pichler | 13.22 | 8 |
| Samantha Holland | 15.09 | 6 |
| Carla Hill | 15.19 | 5 |
| Quenton Matthews | 14.12 | 5 |
| Eliz Onsel | 12.47 | 5 |
| Foster Henry | 16.25 | 5 |
| Lulu Wilson | 18.07 | 5 |
| Charlie Henry | 20.42 | 5 |
| Pam Henry | 20.51 | 5 |
2k Walk
| Name | Time | Points |
| Roz Matthews | 21.49 | 10 |
| Jane Newham | 21.49 | 10 |
| Hati Onsel | 19.01 | 8 |
| Kanun Onsel | 19.01 | 8 |
| Elaine Davis | 23.33 | 6 |
| Melzon Burinaga | 20.10 | 5 |
| Tracey Burinaga | 20.10 | 5 |
3k Course
| Name | Time | Points |
| Leela Matthews | 17.54 | 10 |
| Jai Holland (Fastest Time) | 11.56 | 8 |
| Joel Harlor | 12.06 | 6 |
4k Course – Section 1
| Name | Time | Points |
| Cristine Suffolk (Fastest time) | 18.21 | 10 |
4k Course – Section 2
| Name | Time | Points |
| Laura Burbage | 22.38 | 10 |
| Natasha Spicer | 22.30 | 8 |
| Paul Jennings | 23.30 | 6 |
6k & 8k Course
| Name | Time | Points |
| Graeme Pepper (8k) | 37.47 | 10 |
| Kevyn Davis (6k) | 38.12 | 8 |