XCR Round 8 Ballarat Half Marathon - 9 August 2026
It was a typical Ballarat winters day today, with icy winds and rain around the Lake. Well done by the 14 Waverley runners who braved the elements to compete this morning. Thanks for the photos Nic - I could feel the cold.
First away was Matt in the U20 6K event, and great to see he was able to finish ok, even with the dodgy knee.
Then it was a combined men’s and women’s event for the half. Conditions looked wet and windy and wild. Any snow to report?
First in for the men was Martin. The first time he's beaten Davin all season, with Ryan just behind in somehow a half marathon pb in these conditions. Davin was first in 60+, ahead of the legendary John Meagher. Smoothy got to 9k before his achilles flared up. Great work by all.
Next was the amazingly improving Smurf in 88:08, smashing his 90 minute target, with Daniel not far behind. In the battle of the Michael's - Jansen had Harvey covered today.
Niamh led our women in and was second in her age group. A great run by Wendy in her 3rd fastest half. Then Petra completed our womens team, somehow still smiling in all the photos.
Our team results were fantastic:
Women 2nd in Div 3 and 2nd in 50+
Men 1st in Div 4 and 1st in 50, 3rd in 60 and 5th in Div 5 and 40+
So that's five podium team finishes. Waverley comes to the fore in these longer tougher events when other clubs fall away. Our men are now 2nd in Div 4 and looking likely to get promoted to Div 3 (top 2 teams).
Our results:
Female Open
21.1km: Niamh O'Reilly 1:42:19; Wendy Masters 1:55:05; Emily Bentley 2:00:29 (INV); Petra Spiteri 2:16:09;
Male Open
21.1km: Martin Spiteri 1:23:33; Davin Hopper 1:23:50; Ryan Bentley 1:24:04; Stephen Paine 1:27:41 (INV), Ewen Vowels 1:28:05; Daniel Spiteri 1:34:17; Michael Jansen 1:45:18; Michael Harvey 1:48:46;
Male 20
6km: Matt Harvey 31:36;
The fastest times were Men: Tom Bowers (APS) 65:55, Women: Donje Viljoen (BOH) 74:51.
Sandringham won Men Div 1 and Women Div 1 to complete the double again.
Full results are at: https://athsvic.resultshub.com.au/index.html#
Well done all who ran so well today.
