XCR’17 Round 10: Princes Park Relays

MUAC welcomed more than 1100 athletes to Princes Park, our home turf, for the final round of the 2017 Athletics Victoria winter season. There was a big MUAC presence throughout the park with 50 athletes running in 12 teams and a bevy of volunteers keeping the officials and club helpers fed and selling pastries and bacon and egg rolls.

Our volunteers!

It was a hectic morning of racing, with cold winds and showers whipping across the park, and muddy conditions under foot.  MUAC’s all conquering U20 Women made no mistake, clinching the Winter Premiership by nearly 70 points over their nearest challenger, taking 4th place on the day. Our Premier Women, featuring 3 further U20 premiership winning athletes, secure their place in the top division with a 6th place finish, lead ably by Stella Radford, just returned from Universiade competition in Taipei. The Premier Men backed up their strong 2016 with another great year, finishing second on the ladder and will be vying for the premiership next year. Some MUAC athletes made their winter season debut with Eleni and Rosamond Gilden, Elizabeth Ruach and Madeline Boedel stepping up in distance to take on the 3.2km lap of Princes Park.  The Division 7 Blue team of Rob Vukman, Alister Perkinson, Brian O’Donoghue and Marcus Wong took the club’s one victory on the day, winning by a comfortable 23 seconds.  A massive thanks to all the volunteers who helped on the BBQ, as course marshals and team captains.  The 2017 XCR season was another record breaking one for MUAC with an all time high participation rate across the ten races.  In unexpected news the MUAC Division 7 Men earned promotion to Division 6, with MUAC fielding teams in Premier, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 next season.  All other teams maintained their positions, with the MUAC Open Women set to compete in Premier, 3 and 5, and MUAC teams in U20 Women and 50+ Men for XCR’18.  Tired and satisfied athletes repaired to the MUAC Members Bar at The Clyde Hotel for light refreshments and post race reflection.

MUAC will be back in action soon with Australian Uni Games on the Gold Coast and then the start of AV Shield on October 7.

Results