On behalf of the SKAAC Committee we congratulate Callum Day on being announced as 2017 Cross Country Captain at Trinity Grammar. Callum is a budding star of the sport, having only until recently juggled representative basketball with his running.
After a super win by the Trinity Under 20 team (nearly 90 seconds in front of the 2nd placed Marcellin Team) at the All Schools Cross Country Championships at Jells Park on the weekend, it is clear that his leadership is already having a huge impact. This was a team that also contained Callum’s younger sibling, Tristan, fresh off his national 3,000m Bronze medal. What a delight to see two brother atop the podium from the same race!

Callum, all the best for the remaining Cross Country Championships and the AGSV season.

And also a big well done to Callum & Tristan’s coach, Steve Cain, who has done a magnificent job over the last 2 seasons with both lads.

In the 12 hours Sam McEntee has landed in Uganda to take on the world!!

All at SKAAC wish Sam all the best as he represents Australia yet again in the Mens World Cross Country Championships in Kampala (Kololo), Uganda on 26 March.

If my calculations are correct the race is on at 12:55am Melbourne time on 27th March.

Sam joins fellow Australian team representatives, taking on the world’s best:

Liam Adams

Stewart McSweyn

Jack Rayner

Brett Robinson

Patrick Tiernan

Sam McEntee has finished a strong 4th in the National Cross Country trials in the Stromlo Forest course in Canberra over the weekend, covering the 10km course in 30.07.

Well done Sam!!

SKAAC was represented by Tristan Day in the Under 16 4km race and Jack Holden in the Open race over 10km on Saturday 20 August 2016 at Stromlo Forest Canberra.

This was the first time that Tristan has made a Victorian team and finished in 15th place recording a time of 13.16 over the 4km course. Significantly, Tristan was also a part of the silver medal Under 16 Victorian team. Tristan’s result is a great testament to the hard work that Tristan has put in with his coach, Steve Cain.

Jack Holden tackled the 10km course and finished in 24th place in 32.47 a very commendable performance in Open company. Jack is clearly one of SKAAC’s brightest distance running prospects having stepped up to Open class in the last few years.

Additionally, Year 7 SKC student Luca Di Conza was 31st in the 13 year old 3km race in 10:42

Congratulations to all 3 athletes for representing the Big V at the 2016 National Cross Country Championships.

All at SKAAC wish Tristan Day all the best as he represents Victoria in the Under 16 National Cross Country this weekend in Stromlo Forest in Canberra.

Go Tristan!!

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.

After a fantastic few months of training with coach Steve Cain and a gym routine introduced in summer season Tristan Day has secured his first ever state medal in finishing 3rd in a super strong field in the Under 16 group at Bundoora, in super tough conditions that only Bundoora can serve up!

Well Done Tristan

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.