Report by Mike Harris

It was a great turnout for this years Gilchrist Rose Bowl. After turning up at the club rooms to only a few there, it was awesome to see the crowd assembled at the start line including many parents and supporters, all appearing to be enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on a cool winters day.

The youngest ones did their laps and we got one or two giving us course tips as they went on to lap two. “It’s slippery, need to wear spikes” and “Watch out for the hard tree corns!”

At the start of the main race, we got told to line up from the fastest to slowest, which for me and others at the slower end gave us a pre-race indication of how far back we would quickly be heading into the early steep bits. From this line up we were paired off fastest with the slowest and so on. We were told there was no need to run together and that there would simply be a fastest pair announced afterwards and awarded the Gilchrist Rose Bowl trophy at the season end prizegiving.

I approached the race conservatively and gave it a reasonable effort, appreciating that there was two laps and particularly the steep bits at the start of each lap.  Appears I ended up close to where I had self graded myself, although probably was also me pre-determining my effort amongst by longstanding running mates.

It was really great to see all the juniors join with us oldies at the club rooms after the race hanging out together over afternoon tea.  Another enjoyable event.

Thanks to Vaughn, Glenn, Peter M and Dave for setting up the course. Lucie and Rachel for registrations and results.