Weston Creek Athletics Club ACT

Half Marathon

The 36th running of this iconic Canberra running event was conducted on 6^th March in perfect running weather, despite the forecast of heavy rain in the morning.  It is an undulating and challenging course, all run on bike paths, with no road crossovers, thus it is a safe and extremely scenic course with views over Lake Burley Griffin for most of it.  For those who noticed, the km markers were new this year and these were branded with ‘Weston Creek.’

The number of runners who registered for both 2022 events were lower than in previous years with 131 solo runners in the Half Marathon plus 6 relay teams and 45 runners/walkers in the 10 km community fun run.   The Stromlo Running Festival was moved to our weekend from November 2021 and many of our regular participants had already registered for their events.  My complaint to ACT Parks about this clash ‘fell on deaf ears’ as ‘there was no overlap of courses’.  Those participants who chose to run at Stromlo despite having registered with us and the forecast of heavy rain meant that about 20% of the field did not collect their e-timing bib and they missed a good run.  Hopefully the 2023 event will bring them back.  This will be held on the third Sunday in March 2023 so please mark the date in your calendar.  This iconic half marathon is a great tester of your condition if you are running the Canberra marathon in April.  Discounts will again be offered to Griffin members, i.e., those who have completed at least 10 Canberra Marathons.

Electronic timing is used for the event, which allowed the results to be uploaded on to your phone through a QR app immediately after the race this year.   Thank you to Martin Fryer for setting up our event in Race Results and developing the start list and QR code.  Thank you to Michael Corlis and Ruth England who ran the e timing system during the race.  Thank you to our sponsors, Nick Walshe of The Runners Shop, where bib collection on Thursday to Saturday made the morning of the race less hectic as most of the bibs had already been issued, and Reuben Caley of Sports Care and Physiotherapy who provided gift vouchers and items of physio aids for the barrel draws.  We provided engraved Canberra Redbacks medals for the second and third runners in the half marathon and for the each of the 10-year age group winners for both events.  The male and female winners of the half marathon got to hold the perpetual trophy for a little while for a photo opportunity and then returned it for safe keeping and to have their names engraved on it.  They each received an engraved ‘keepsake’ trophy.  There are some very famous names engraved on those male and female perpetual trophies. 

There were lots of lucky draw prizes to go around because of the low number of participants with one runner commenting to me that “half of Canberra got a prize but unfortunately I missed out.”  “Better luck next year” I responded.  Hopefully next year will draw a bigger crowd and our loyal fans will return.

At least one participant enquired about a participant medal.  This has been discussed by the Committee for some time and it was decided that we would provide one for our 40^th race in 2026, just as the YMCA Runners did for their 40^th half marathon.

I must thank all of the Weston Creek athletes and their family members who helped on the day and made sure this event was run smoothly and participants had an enjoyable experience.  In particular I should thank Philo Saunders for coordinating the volunteers and Reuben Caley for being the Race Director and in charge of publicity.  He is the one, along with Deon Kenzie, who sends out the bulk emails to you.  Thank you to Ken Eynon OAM who arranged to loan us some essential equipment from the Canberra Runners and who controlled traffic at the entrance of Black Mountain Peninsula to ensure our runners were kept safe when running up Garry Owen Drive.  Thank you also to ACT Masters Athletics for the loan of their e-timing equipment and other items of equipment from their gear trailer.  Lastly, Thank you to Transport Canberra and City Services for approving the event in a timely fashion.

Full results for the half marathon are available here.

Overall Results

                           Males                                                                       Females

1^st Place              Daniel Carson    1.13.28                                          Kim Wilmhurst                1.39.12

2^nd Place             Liam Ryan          1.16.46                                          Rowena Woods               1.47.28

3^rd Place             Liam O’Rorke     1.16.53                                           Jennifer Kellett                1.51.12

Age Group Results

M <20                 Shamsher Foley              1.26.45              

M 20-29             Daniel Carson                  1.13.28                    F 20-29               Grace Planting                 1.54.26

M 30-39             Liam Ryan                        1.16.46               F 30-39               Rowena Woods               1.47.28

M 40-49             Rob Wilson                      1.16.57               F 40-49               Kim Wilmhurst                1.39.12

M 50-59             Matthew Rizzuto            1.25.40               F 50-59               Geraldine Blomfield-Brown              1.53.30

M60-69              Geoff Hawke                    1.33.41               F60-69                Jennifer Kellett                1.51.12

M 70-79             Peter Clarke                    2.00.54               F 70-79               Ruth Baussmann              2.26.31

Relay Team Result

There were again six relay teams contesting the half marathon competition this year, one comprising of three runners, the others two runners and the winning team was:  Team 8: ‘The Chonkies’ in a time of 1.40.55           Members: Chloe Hanbury and Mick Hanbury.  Teams 10 and 9 were close behind.

10 Km Community Fun Run

A 10Km Community Fun Run event was introduced in 2018 to extend those who only frequent Park Runs.  There were only 45 runners registered this year, a significant decrease over previous years for reasons mentioned earlier.  The winning times were faster this year despite the wind.  The full results can be found on the website here but congratulations to the first three males and females and the age group winners: 

Males                                                                                      Females

1     Tim Barnett                            33.44                                1   Natasha Cole                            40.47

2    Paul Stephens                          41.22                                2   Kathryn Sliwinski                     51.20   

3    Cameron Curry                       44.24                                3   Jane Godkin                             52.34   

Age Group Results        

Males

M 20-29             Tim Barnett                     33.44                  F20-29                Katie Gersekowski           58.24

M 30-39             Cameron Curry               44.24                  F 30-39               Natasha Cole                   40.47

M 40-49             Tony Britton                    55.10                  F 40-49               Jane Godkin                     52.34

M 50-59             Paul Stephens                  41.22                  F 50-59               Tania Pollard                   1.23.32

M 60-69             Nil                                                                 F 60-69               Maria O’Reilly                 56.56

M70-79              David Baussmann           52.44

Prologue

The Committee will soon sit down to discuss how the event may be further improved and I would welcome input from the participants by emailing me at robbie.costmeyer@bigpond.com

Robbie Costmeyer

Joint Race Director