Weston Creek Athletics Club ACT

Half Marathon

The 35th running of this iconic Canberra running event was conducted on 14^th March in atrocious weather, as had been forecast.  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.  Unfortunately the rain prevented the balloons from taking off on the final day of the Canberra Balloon Festival.  These balloons have provided some spectacular photos over the course in previous years.

The number of runners who registered for the 2021 events were gratifying with 214 solo runners in the Half marathon plus 6 relay teams of three per team and 90 runners/walkers in the 10 km community fun run.   However, the rain and cold temperature on the day deterred about one quarter of the field from actually turning up and they missed a good run.  Hopefully the 2022 event will bring them back.  This will be held on either the first or second Sunday in March 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.

Electronic timing is used for the event, which allows the results to be uploaded almost immediately after the race. Thank you to Michael Corlis who ran the e timing system during the race and Martin Fryer who prepared the start lists and arranged for the results uploading system.  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.  Full results are available on the website www.westoncreekathletcs.org.au

Overall Results

                           Males                                                                       Females

1^st Place              Travis Haslam    1.13.04                                          Sarah Johnson                 1.27.13

2^nd Place             Daniel Carson    1.14.05                                          Kristy Lee Zwickert         1.29.48

3^rd Place             Liam Ryan          1.15.12                                          Lili Mooney                      1.32.53

Age Group Results

M <20                 Shamsher Foley              1.30.05              

M 20-29             Daniel Carson                  1.14.04                            F 20-29               Sarah Johnson                 1.27.13

M 30-39             Liam Ryan                        1.15.12               F 30-39               Kristy Lee Zwickert              1.32.15

M 40-49             Travis Haslam                  1.13.04               F 40-49               Bernie Connors               1.41.11

M 50-59             Jeff Grey                          1.24.42               F 50-59               Catriona Moxham              1.51.13

M60-69              Steve Johnson                 1.48.36               F60-69                Clare Wall                        1.52.24

M 70-79             Peter Clarke                    1.41.05               F 70-79               Ruth Baussmann              2.19.54

Relay Team Result

There were five relay teams contesting the half marathon competition this year, each comprising of three runners and the winning team was: 

Team 3: PRR Blue in a time of 1.24.03      Members:  Scott Imhoff, Dan Cook and Derek Collinge.

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 90 runners registered this year, an increase over previous years. However, only 69 participated on the day due to the cold and wet weather no doubt.  The times were much faster this year despite the weather.  The full results can be found on the website but congratulations to the first three males and females and the age group winners: 

Males                                                                                      Females

1     Isaac Muscat                          35.38                                1   Jen Bright                                 41.55

2    Kieran Wilson                         37:22                                2   Ainsley Pahljina                       42.08   

3    Simon O’Regan                       39.28                                3   Laura Toyne                             47.34   

Age Group Results        

Males

M 40-49             Simon O’Regan               39.28                  F 40-49               Jen Bright                        41.55

M 50-59             Geoffrey Monro              46.28                  F 50-59               Carmel Houghton           48.06

M 60-69             Brian Weiss                     46.22                  F 60-69               Alli Clark                          58.58

Prologue

 The event could not be run without the help of lots of volunteers and I thank all members of the Canberra Redbacks who assisted before and/or on the day.  Thanks to our commercial supporters: Nick Walshe of The Runners Shop who provided gift vouchers and allowed our promotional flyers to be on display; Reuben Caley of Sports Care and Physiotherapy who provided gift vouchers and items of physio aids for the barrel draws; and Dennis Ogden of National Mail and Marketing who produced all of the promotional material.

Robbie Costmeyer

Joint event coordinator