XCR Round 3 Jells Park Relays - Sat 7 Jun

With a forecast of lots of rain through the day, we packed plenty of layers expecting a wet afternoon. Surprisingly we had no rain and conditions were dry and good. We were missing a few runners this time with Julian in South Africa for Comrades, Glenn away for the long weekend, Nick off to Mildura for his next marathon and James McEniry sick. Also Janice Marston away and Sally still injured. But we welcomed Martin Buden, Tess Mitchell and Maddie Daws for their first runs of the season.

Our best podium chance was our Mens 50+ team who had won the first 2 rounds, and on paper looked a good chance for Jells, with Box Hill and APS looking like they could be close. First away was Smoothy, and he was up against the best 2 runners in the age group. He stayed with them in the first lap, then pulled away from Box Hill’s Kynan Dawes. But Kynan found something and caught Smoothy just before the end of the leg, with Smoothy 3rd. But against great competition – they were the fastest 3 runners of the Division.

Davin soon caught the APS runner who had started 24 seconds ahead, but Paul Prentice from Box Hill ran a blinder of a leg and put another 40 seconds on our champion Davin, to give Box Hill a 47 second lead on the last leg. Martin chased valliantly on the last leg and at one stage had the lead back down to just over 30 seconds. But in the end Michael Sleap from Box Hill was just too good, and pulled away further in the last lap to win by nearly a minute. We were a bit nervous with APS legend Ant Rickards running the last leg chasing us, but Martin’s lead was just too big and he never got close. A great silver medal performance by our M50+ team, our first M50+ team medal at Jells for 7 years.

In Mens Div 4, Daniel ran a great PB of 24:34, to be our 4th fastest for the day. Martin Buden, debuting for the season was our next fastest in 25:02, just ahead of Ernie and Peter, and I was a late fill in for the sick James McEniry.

In Mens Div 5, Smurf led away with the two Harvs to follow. This time Michael took the chocolates from Matt by 16 seconds. But I suspect it could be his last win for a while when Matt gets through his back niggle. Michael Jansen brought the team home, and snuck in a few seconds quicker than Smurf.

In Womens Div 3, Beck ran very well on her way back from illness with our fastest womens time of 25:41. But Tess was not far behind her in 26:00. It will be great to see them head to head in other XCR events. Em ran well despite an alarming illness in the morning, and Maddie brought us home, impressively outkicking me up the last hill.

In womens 50+, Niamh ran nearly 3 minutes quicker than last year to show she’s well and truly back. Wendy did well and Petra stepped up to anchor the 50+ womens team to a handy 5th place.

Some other battles of interest: Ernie and Beck had been close in the first 2 rounds- Beck just quicker at Hanging Rock and running identical times at Myrniong. This time it was Ernie who was faster by 6 seconds. So after R3 it’s one all. Niamh and James McEniry have also been close. Niamh was 1 second quicker in R1, and then 24 seconds quicker in R2. James would have fancied himself over the shorter distance, but as a late withdrawal due to illness, its now Niamh 3-0. James will have his work cut out now to bring that back. Look out next week in the 5K.

Some other highlights were Smoothy and Davin 1st and 2nd fastest in M50+. In Div 1 Men, Western Aths made it their 3rd win in a row, and in Div 1 Women Box Hill knocked off the unbeaten Sandringham. Malvern finished 2nd in Div 2 Women, and look well on their way to Div 1 next year.

A big thank you to Sally and Neil for being our club helpers today spotting and recording, to make sure all our points counted.

Our next race is just over a week away – the 5K at Albert Park on Sunday. Please make sure to enter well before the cutoff on Wednesday morning:
https://athsvic.org.au/events/xcr25-round-4-lakeside5/

Full Jells results are at: https://athsvic.resultshub.com.au/#