XCR’18 Round 2: St Anne’s Cross Country

Two individual medals, some team podiums and a massive team presence had the MUAC cohort fizzing at St Anne’s Winery as our winter athletes were tested over the rolling hills of Myrniong. The talent bubbled to the top with Ciara Boyd-Squires Long claiming second in the U20 4km race and team gold with Emma Hogan and Anna Louey.  Nick Earl collected bronze in the Open Mens 8km race behind Olympian Brett Robinson and young gun Matt Clarke. The brutal course gave athletes no respite, with constant changes of direction and elevation and the unseasonably warm conditions meant rehydration was important after racing. A record 42 MUAC athletes worked up a thirst, with the team results showing our depth and quality. We saw the welcome return of Lisa Dick to racing as the 20th anniversary of her Commonwealth Games silver medal approaches, and Amy McCormick, who’s graduated and started studying medicine since the last time she donned the sash.  The race also saw a change in race distances, with Open Women and Men competing over the same distance, 8km, for the first time.  Equality of race distances for open athletes, long lobbied for by MUAC, can be found in every round of the XCR’18 season.

Premier Women, 272 points, 7th

Lucy Buckley, Pippa Trevella, Amy McCormick, Lisa Dick, Ruby Turner

Division 3 Women, 412 points, 5th

U20 Women, 20 points, 1st

Ciara Boyd-Squires Long, Emma Hogan, Anna Louey

Premier Men, 146 points, 3rd

Nick Earl, Frankie Conway, Jack Powell, Charlie Park, Chris O’Neill, Zac Newman

Division 2 Men, 478 points, 2nd

Division 3 Men, 782 points, 5th

Division 5 Men, 914 points, 4th

Division 6 Men, 1009 points, 2nd

Division 7 Men, 1219 points, 4th

50+ Men, 124 points, 10th

The team retired to the MUAC Members Marquee for a brief repast before decamping for the St Anne’s cellar door where the MUAC methuselahs dispensed dubious nuggets of wisdom in between sips of sparkling shiraz.  Rehydrated and restored, the team returned to the bus for a relaxing roll back to the inner North, followed by some rooftop revelry at the Clyde Hotel.

MUAC will be back in action at Round 3 of XCR’18 on Saturday, 26th May at Cruden Farm

Results