Jells Park Cross Country Relays

Three victories and one more top three finish for MUAC were the highlights of the Jells Park Cross Country Relays, as 9 MUAC members made their competition debuts and a record 33 MUAC athletes competed.  Round 1 of Athletics Victoria’s XCR’11 season, the Victorian Cross Country Relay Championships, pitted 7 teams of White Train athletes against 1000 others from all over Victoria at Jells Park on Saturday, 7^th of May.  MUAC’s Division 2, Division 3 and Division 7 Mens Teams claimed victories, whilst Division 5 Men took second.^rd.  The Division One Women’s team who were up against Victoria’s elite athletes, including multiple Olympians, finished mid field in 7^th place, whilst Division Two women came 12^th.

Adrian McGregor, one of 9 debutants for the White Train, led off the Division Two Men’s team with a scorching time of 18:22 to set up the victory.  Recent winner of the two mile race at Stawell and crowd favourite Zac Newman (19:21), and Grant Morgan (19:14), back after some secret hill training in Hurstbridge built a substantial lead that would continue to grow.  Nic Browne (19:38), only just returned from an impressive Boston Marathon run, and Hamish Beaumont (19:51), reputed to be a former cricketer, pushed on and tagged MUAC Winter Captain David Paroissien (19:35) for the final leg.  The victory bodes well for MUAC’s campaign to return to the elite Division One in 2012.

In a result that had members of the White Train questioning the team selection skills of David Paroissien and Hamish Beaumont, the MUAC Division 7 team of Liam Morgan (23:11), Tyler Harlan (21:27), Richard Dutton (22:31) and Tom Gorman (22:02) not only won their Division but beat home the MUAC Division 5 team.

UPDATE: In a late correction to the results, the MUAC Division 3 Men’s team has been elevated to first place, taking MUAC’s victories to three on the day. David Ulbrick, Charlie Sheldon, Chris Xu, Leigh Goedecke and Peter Shearman won the division by nearly three minutes over second place.

The MUAC marquee was abuzz with excitement after the strong start to the season and the prospect of the sumptuous post race repast that inevitably accompanies cross country races.

Many thanks must go to Mick Wong for volunteering.

The White Train will be racing again in two weeks time on Saturday 21^st May, in Round 2 of XCR’11 with 4km and 8km cross country races at  Balnarring.

Jells Park News Flash

Results

Women

Men