SKAAC kicked off the Athletics Victoria XCR season in style on Saturday with impressive results across the board. With the muddy ditches and prolonged inclines of a drizzly Jells Park providing the backdrop, SKAAC’s five relay teams all produced solid performances. 

The men’s Division 4 team took the lead early with first leg Stephen Knuckey completing the 6km course in 19:11, which was consolidated by outstanding performances from Ben Moynihan and Jack Holden (18:35 and 18:37). Congratulations to the boys on securing 1^stplace. In Division 7, the SKAAC runners delivered a consistent pace to place 3^rd. 

SKAAC’s under 14 athletes put on an inspiring set of relay performances with the boys’ team taking out 2^ndplace to win some silverware and the girls’ team coming in 4^thamongst some stiff competition. Bridie Hill put on an exceptional final leg, completing the 3km course in 11:00 to beat the team from Sandringham by just two seconds. 

Many thanks to all helpers, parents and timekeepers who volunteered to help the day run so smoothly. Next week SKAAC is competing in the APSOC event, the Wise-Findlay Mini Marathons at Westerfolds Park in Templestowe. Our next AV event is on June 1^stat St Anne’s Winery in Myrniong. 

Go SKAAC!

The dark, Berwick clouds hovered ominously over the crowd of APSOC runners warming up around Akoonah Park. Those who inspected the course, however, saw that the damage had already been done. The flatness of the terrain made it seem as though the past week of rainfall had all accumulated in the puddles that lined the gravel.

Some say the word “Akoonah” is the sound that the Haileburians make after slipping over a sharp corner (a regular occurrence in Berwick). Certainly, the first challenge of the course was staying upright in the mud-heavy twists and turns. This challenge was met by SKAAC athlete Jack Holden, who took the race to Old Wesley’s Adam Pyke and managed to push ahead to take out 2nd place.

Chloe Cornwell and Trish Doble debuted the new SKAAC women’s singlets, both recording excellent times and placings. The effort of the displacement of mud from the track to the legs and back of SKAAC runners was only matched by the scattering to cover when the rain eventually came pouring down.

Out the front of the St Kevin’s boatsheds, where those brave few who had elected to run the 16km race gathered, Alan Lodge spoke of his brother’s own affinity to the APSOC community. Keith Lodge was an man whose dedication to building and strengthening the communities he cared for was an inspiration to all who knew him. The 55th running of the Lodge Handicaps illustrated the strength of Keith Lodge’s legacy and how appreciative we, the St Kevin’s Amateur Athletics Club, are of his contribution to the club throughout his life.

Xavier Chapman had an outstanding race, winning the 16km on both time and line honours averaging a pace of 3 minutes 19 seconds per kilometre. Further victories came in the 8km race with Chloe Cornwell taking out the handicap victory with Stuart Pettigrew coming in second. Both recorded excellent times in doing so.

The SKAAC committee would like to pass on special thanks to the Down family for the food they brought and the help in the kitchen, the Cornwells for their help in clean up and Nick O’Neill for his marshal help, MC work and clean up work.

The one concession that cross country runners must inevitably make to athletes of other disciplines is that this sport, unlike some others, requires little to no decision making. The APSOC runners at Westerfolds Park on Saturday, however, each had to make quite a weighty decision. Five, ten or twenty one kilometres?

For those who decided that they’d arrive first and conquer the least mini of the mini marathons, the 21.1km half marathon, a deceptive course lay ahead. The first eleven kilometres led the runners through a flat path, over boardwalks and past picturesque scenery. The second half of the race, however, dragged athletes up climbs both short and long, around farm gates and past precarious drops to the rushes below. Luke Goodman seemed to brush these distractions to the side as he courageously strode home to take an outright victory in this gruelling event, averaging a time of 4m15s per kilometre.

It was in this second half of the course that the 10km race took place. As well as battling the highs and lows of the track, runners had to deal with the varying pace of the stream of competitors; from the worn out pace of an athlete who has completed 18 kilomtres to the spritely bounds of one who is just finishing the 3rd kilometre. It was in this culminating charge that the likes of Tristan Mioni and the Cornwell family all put in for an inspiring effort. SKAAC runners for all events deserve to be commended.

If you’re going through hell keep going

-Winston Churchill

Whoever decided upon the name of Churchill National Park certainly had a sense of irony about them. Far from being a hill of the church, as the hundred odd APSOC runners discovered today, this hill is the work of the devil.

Far more than just your average climb, this hill not only stretches out beyond the eyeshot of a weary runner, it bears no reward to those at the top. For those whose legs survive the lactic nightmare of summiting the hill, the gravelly drop that leads back to the foot replaces the moment of satisfaction with a striking fear.

Even for Stuart Pettigrew, no stranger to the course, it almost seems certain that at some point whilst descending one will lose control and collide with a tree, so he describes. Taking out 11th place in the handicap 6km race, Stuart says a decently paced first kilometre is key to mentally priming one’s self for the hill.

SKAAC athletes had good representation in the top end handicap 6km with Chloe Cornwell coming in as the first female, second overall. John  Cornwell performed similarly well, working hard for a top ten placing in the handicap as well as getting a top twenty time overall.

For those willing, mad or unsuspecting few who elected to compete in the 12km race, the grind repeated itself. Tristan Mioni pulled out all the stops to achieve his time of  47:34, the third quickest 12km time for the day. Honourable mentions must go to Matthew Dole and Joseph Lynch for their monumental effort in traversing this terror of a course.

Needless to say, the flat paths surrounding Albert Park Lake will come as sweet relief to the quadriceps and kneecaps of SKAAC runners next week at the Orchard Handicaps.