Another chapter of athletics history was written in Nowra with the recently run Athletics NSW and Little Athletics NSW Cross Country Championships at Willandra.
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The event was hosted by the Nowra Athletics Club and competitors took a challenging course.
Conditions were perfect for running and a vast number of athletes, from far and wide, enjoyed the undulating cross country course.
Winning outright gold once again was Jye Edwards(Nowra) in the under 20’s 8000 metre event and he ran strong and confident for the entire course to finish well ahead of the field in a time of 26.07 minutes. Jye’s Nowra team mate Harry McGill also performed strongly, finishing sixth in 27.45 minutes.
In the junior Little Athletics races, Nowra’s youngest athlete was Bethany Dobson who ran in 19 in the under eights 800m in a time of 3.39 minutes.
In the under nines 1500m Kate Leung finished 22 and Alisha Mustapic was 23.
In the under 10s 1500m event Shoalhaven Little Athletics members Jayla Beresford and Dakota Farn were 36 and 37 respectively while Emma Whitehouse was 45 and Ryan Smith finished 11 in the Under 11s 2000m.
There was a strong representation in the under 13 and under 14 combined 3000m event, Ben Shephard was the first Nowra runner home in 25 place overall.
Alex O’Brien was 27 overall and Rhys Flood was 29, Alec Dobson, Jasper Arnold 45 and Jake Babian was 47.
Nowra also had Lachlan Smith (49), Scott Delo (52), Max Buckham (53) and Lucas Johnson (56).
In the girls combined under 13 and 14 3000m event Chelsea Pascoe was the best performer for Nowra in 53 place overall and Emily Burinaga was 64.
The 4000m was contested by six Nowra athletes in the under 15 and 16 group.
Byron Van Dyk finished 22 with Jesse Buckham not far behind in 24 place.
Then the rest of the Nowra athletes finished one behind the other with Cooper Thomson 36, Blake Hartnett 37, Darcy Hopkins 38 and Ethan Havadjia 39.
In the girls 4000m under 15 and 16 combined event Jaylah Cameron Hancock finished top 10 with a ninth place and Dannielle Holt came in 31,while Tara Mustapic was 35 and Victoria Kennedy was 39.
The girls under 17 and 18s also ran 4000 metres and in this event Nowra had Lillian Boland come in 13t and Briony Munro finish 27.
Moving up to the 6000 metres Troy Whittington ran strong to finish sixth overall in the combined Under 17 and 18 boys event while Hugh Dobson finished 25.
Also running 6000 metres were the female 55 and over runners and in the combined grouping Ann Swinbourne was the fastest Nowra athlete in ninth place, Maxine Gherni was 10, Eva Moeller Duhme was 11 and Di Court 13.
The ‘Country Classic’ event was hosted this year over the new distance of 10,000 metres snf his was run by the opens and 35-54 years men and women.
Crissy Suffolk finished 17 overall in the female event with Teresha Moxham just behind her in 18.
Kim Dobson ran well to finish 28 overall while Annette Sampson placed 30; Angela Bond was 32 and Katherine Hopkins was 33.
Laura Babian pushed hard to place 35, then following each other was Sky Martin in 37, Natasha Toms 38 and Alison Havadjia 39.
The men’s field was large and competitive and Leith Babian was the best for Nowra in 26 place overall. Scott Martin was next in 38, Brad Sawyers was 44, Darrin Smith 59, Perry Strand 60, Scott Johnson 67t and Paul Duncan 75.
Ming Leung ran in 79 followed closely by David Hughes in 81; Scott Dobson in 82 and Robert Woods in 83.
Many of these Nowra runners medalled in their individual age-categories and the Nowra Athletics Committee would like to thank everyone who assisted on the day.
Without the assistance of all the volunteers the day would not have been such a success.
The Club would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the athletes who participated and supported the combined championship event.