By Mike Peck

Plenty of Gold was driven back over the Mamakus on Saturday afternoon after a successful day of cross country running by the Hawks contingent. Reversing the grid for a change, we’ll go from experienced to youth in the individual performances.

Standing at the top of the pyramid was Dave Clark who bossed the MM75-79 category taking home yet another gold winning in winning by 1min over the 2nd placed runner. Grahame Clarkin ran well in a tough division and is a great cheerleader at these events. In the MM65-69 Chris Keith dominated with a strong run for another Gold followed by another Gold for Paul Ewart in the MM60-64. Mike P and Glenn S took first and second in the MM55-59 and with Andrew W sticking to his plan of “first lap to warm up, 2nd lap is tempo, you race the 3rd lap and warm down on the 4th lap” we had to settle for that. Cameron Mumby had one of the great runs of the day in finishing second overall in the 35+ and 1st in the MM50-54. A strong finish from John Bowe for 2nd gave us another 1-2 finish.

We were a bit light on the women’s side of the draw, with Boh Ritchie taking a first in the U20 division. The youngsters had some decent results with Charlotte Bell and Jasmine Rasmussen-Shawyer finishing 3rd and 4th respectively in a competitive field. In the U14 males, another 1-2 performance with Lockie Watts pipping Jahan Moore.

In the U12, Daniel Bell finished 3rd by six seconds, so close. Crystal Burgess finished a close 4th in the U16 females and Tasman Reid also a 4th in the U18 males. Perhaps the best performance of the day was the Hawks taking 1-2-3 in the U16 males, with Max, Jack and Daniel shredding the field in a great display of XC running.

Thanks to the Lake City Athletics for hosting and turning on the lovely weather. Thanks to the Hawks supporters and to Graham Dudfield for bringing a gazebo to stable the young talented runners we have within the Hawks club.

2025_WaiBOP_XC_Champs_Full_Results