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Atherton Notches
Win.
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| Paul Atherton |
| Click to enlarge |
A steadily
improving Paul Atherton finally bettered his 2
previous second placings this season, when
he came home strongly to take out the Lindsay Kent
Memorial 8km Championship by almost a minute.
Run
as a combined sealed handicap and championship
race, all runners started together. First across
the line takes the championship points, then
handicaps are applied post-race to decide the overall
race
winner.
Held near
the Stawell Airport in cold but clear conditions,
the pace was on right from the start, when Col
Barnett and Jon Dugdale took
the
lead of the 23 strong senior
field.
Charlie Jones, Mark Pumpa, Peter Steggall and
Ray Scott not far
behind.
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| Alastair
Dugdale |
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to enlarge |
By mid race,
competitors were dealing with some muddy stretches,
and then a long,
testing ascent to the finish, which saw the in-form
Barnett
gradually pull away from the rest of the
field to take line honours and the Championship
points,
in a fast time of 29min 28sec. First female
home was Susie Ellis in a time of 35min 27sec,
which
also gave her the Womens Championship points.
The
battle for handicap and thus overall race winner
produced a number of good individual
performances, with Meg Parnaby, Paul Atherton,
Axel Meumann
and
Bob Freeland all in with a good chance.
However,
after handicaps were applied, Paul Atherton claimed
a clear win,
clipping 4min 30sec off his previous
best for
this course. Axel Meumann was second,
with Meg Parnaby
only 2 tenths of a second behind in third.
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| Elly Barnett |
| Click to enlarge |
The
juniors ran a 2km out and back course, with Alastair
Dugdale soon taking the lead,
not to
be headed. He crossed the line in a time
of 7min 42sec
to take the Junior Championship points.
Emily Parnaby was first girl home in
a time of
8min 33sec, and
girl Junior Champion.
Alastair Dugdale
also tok out the handicap section,
with Hugh Scott
running well for second, and Jacinta
Cameron third.
The sub-juniors
also ran the same 2km course as the juniors, starting
at the same time, and the first 2 subbies home
actually beating several junior runners home.
Line honours
went to Liam Scott,
in a time of 9min 18sec. Handicap
winner was Elly Barnett, with the fastest
girl sub-junior time
of 10min 43sec. Second was Kieran
Schneider and Chloe Jamieson was third.
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