Round 8 XCR’15:Anglesea Ekiden Relay

It was a crisp winter’s day at Anglesea, with only patches of sun but the MUAC Premier Men were well bronzed by the end of the day, claiming third place in the Anglesea Ekiden Relay in 2:22:43. The Premier Men set a fine example for the 7 MUAC teams racing around the trails and cliff tops of Anglesea. Lead off by MUAC’s form athlete Zac Newman, who looks in frightening shape ahead of the Chicago Marathon, the team pushed hard all race against strong teams from Box Hill, Geelong and Knox. Martin Mashford, Aldershot Town’s #1 Melbourne based fan, and Andy Buchanan, Bendigo’s finest, had the team in a great position at half way. Max Ueda, just returned from a training stint with an Ekiden team in Japan, applied the tactics he’d learned (run as fast as possible) and tagged Paul Munro, elevated to the top team after a string of good results and enormous mileage. Charlie Park took off on the last leg with a significant gap on fourth place and ran hard through the line to ensure the bronze was safe, finishing not far behind Geelong and Box Hill.

In the first staging of the event at Anglesea MUAC’s Division Five Women took third place but only give up one point in their hunt for the Premiership. The team of Cassie Cohen, Bethany Hosking and Clare Walsh put in another sterling performance and with two rounds remaining the team is four points from the top of the ladder (63 points to 59 for MUAC).

Al Bryant-Smith, MUAC’s mercurial winter captain, Amanda Paulin, Aislinn Prendergast, Ella Trimboli and Martine Botha combined for MUAC’s Premier Women’s team and took a creditable 7th place, in 2:26:58. This results will see the team comfortably inside the top half of the premiership ladder with two rounds remaining in the XCR’15 season.

For the first time in the season, the MUAC U20 men fielded a relay team with Fred Smithers, Sam Tymms and Nick Parkinson running well, despite various illnesses, afflictions and plagues, to take fourth place.

MUAC’s teams in Division 2 and Division 3 Men ran well with final results still uncertain after some errant marshalling during the first leg. MUAC’s Division 3 Women took a strong sixth place and lie only two places outside the promotion zone with two rounds remaining.
Many thanks to Kyle Stocker for helping out with marshalling on the day.

MUAC athletes repaired to their accommodation nearby for a civilised afternoon tea followed by a bracing dusk dip in the ocean. There was a sumptuous feast provided by Al Bryant-Smith and a quiet ale or two/red wine or two.  Most MUAC athletes were up bright eyed and running for a 7:30am long run through the seemingly endless hills of Anglesea guided by local legend Brett Coleman and the friendly Geelong Cross Country crew.

Results