MUAC went to Lardner Park and you’ll never guess what happened
Round 2 XCR’15:Lardner Park Cross Country
More than 30 MUAC athletes took to the fields of Lardner Park on Saturday 9, May and some amazing things transpired. Here are ten of them.
1. Georgia Griffith took silver in the U20 3km race in 12:00.2 in her debut for MUAC.
2. Fred Smithers overcame the ditches of the back field to take 15th in the U20 4km.
3. MUAC’s Premier Men’s Team of Nick Earl (11th), Zac Newman (17th), Max Ueda (32nd), Ian Lawford (33rd), Sam Blake (36th) and debutant Tony Orth (59th) took third in the teams result. Ueda outsprinted his teammate Lawford in the last 200m. The result moves MUAC’s Premier Division team into third place on the XCR’15 ladder.
4. Charlie Blanch arrived two minutes before the race start and starting still pinning his numbers on, running well enough to be in MUAC’s Division two team. His tardiness also garnered him the shiny pants for the round, which he’ll be sporting in Ballarat for Round 3 of XCR’15.
5. MUAC’s women came out in force with 13 starting the Open Women’s race fielding a Premier Women and Division 3 team comfortably. Debutant Amy McCormick looked comfortable in elite company with the leaders just before halfway before rolling her ankle. Sarah McSweeney was our first finisher in 14th place, with debutant Aislinn Prendergast, Gippsland local Alex Bull, Ella Trimboli and Gen Blanch making up our Premier Division team. The team came in sixth and now sits fifth on the Premier Division ladder.
6. MUAC athletes were resplendent in the 125th Anniversary competition uniform, which made it’s debut. Only athletes competing for the club in the 125th year of the club will be awarded the uniform.
7. MUAC broke our record for most athletes at a non metro cross country race, continuing the trend of growing participation (there are graphs).
8. Post race recovery took a step up in sophistication with athletes retiring to the Gypsy Creek Winery for some tasty antipasto, pizzas wine and beer, relaxing in the late afternoon sun amongst the vines. Further recovery and repartee took place on the way home. Chapeau to Gen Blanch for the organisation and merci to Tim Thomas for the supplies.
9. Hamish didn’t fall into any of the ditches, trip over the fence either the first or the second time, or slip on a flat stretch of ground. Fred, on the other hand. Tony took a more cautious approach to avoid this trouble.
10. We all got to Lardner Park and back in one piece, on a bus that may not have been the most modern ever seen.
MUAC will be back in action in three weeks with another bus trip to Ballarat for the Lake Wendouree Road Race on Satuday, May 30th.
