Weston Creek Athletics Club ACT

Weston Creek Athletics Club

‘Canberra Redbacks’

Half Marathon

The date of this iconic half marathon is determined to allow sufficient time to recover if you are running the Canberra marathon in April. 

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.  Several Balloons were launched at Black Mountain Peninsula this morning and participants had a great view of balloons overhead as they started racing.

The 37th running of this iconic Canberra running event was conducted in perfect running weather, despite the forecast of 36 degrees.  At 8 am it was 15 degrees, and most runners were finished by 10am when it was 25 degrees.   Both the 10km and half marathon started at the same time, which was a first for us and it seemed to work well.

Registrations increased this year with 105 in the 10km and 150 in the half marathon plus 9 in four relay teams.   There were 82 finishers in the 10km and 125 in the half marathon.  All 9 relay runners finished.  Interestingly some 20% of registrants did not collect their e Bib, about the same rate as last year, perhaps they were put off by the weather forecast.  However, I understand that 10-20% of registrants worldwide do not turn up at the start line for whatever reason.

Thank you to the Transport Canberra and City Services team for not scheduling a competing event on the same day unlike last year when the Stromlo Festival was moved to our date, although there was a charity run/walk today around the Lake to raise funds for Dementia research.  

Electronic timing is used for the event, which allowed the results to be uploaded on to your phone through a QR app immediately after you completed the race.   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 Rohan Lowry who assisted Martin with the e timing system during the race. 

Thank you to our sponsors, Nick Walshe of The Runners Shop and Roy Daniels of the Belconnen Physio, both of whom had stalls at the venue.  Runners were able to get a free short massage after the race.   Bib collection on Friday and Saturday at the Runners Shop made the morning of the race less hectic as many of the bibs had already been issued.   Both sponsors provided gift vouchers. 

Engraved Canberra Redbacks medals and Runners Shop gift vouchers were awarded to the outright winners of both events.  The 10-year age group winners in the half marathon also received a Runners Shop gift voucher.  Medals only were awarded to the 10-year age group winners for the 10km.  The male and female winners of the half marathon got to take the perpetual trophy home for 12 months when they will have their names engraved on it.  They also each received an engraved ‘keepsake’ trophy.  There are some very famous names engraved on those male and female perpetual trophies.    Ours is one of the few events where the medals are engraved.

There were lots of lucky draw prizes to go around with gift vouchers from both sponsors, plus 24 bottles of wine.  There was heaps of food (four varieties of hot cross buns), drinks, plus water melon and bananas after the race.  Water at the two drink stations was in small bottles to minimise Covid risk.

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 thank Philo Saunders for coordinating the volunteers and purchasing the refreshments and Deon Kenzie for his marketing skills.  Unlike me Deon talks Facebook.    Deon 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 are available on the website www.westoncreekathletcs.org.au.

Overall Results

                           Males                                                                       Females

1^st Place              Michael Daly     1.11.33                             Sarah King                       1.29.04

2^nd Place             Nuru Somi          1.12.59                             Rachel Waters                 1.30.28

3^rd Place           Johnathon Fearn  1.17.20                             Kristy Zwickert                1.36.06

Age Group Results

M 40-49             Chris Hatherly    1.18.56               F 40-49                       Kristy Zwickert                1.36.06

M 50-59             Andrew leigh     1.25.33               F 50-59                       Cassandra Hodgkinson   1.52.21

M 60-69             Chris Gammon   1.42.29               F60-69                       Cathy Hannah                 2.07.47

M 70-79             Trevor Jacobs    1.49.03              

Relay Team Result

There were four relay teams contesting the half marathon competition this year, one comprising of three runners, the others two runners.  The winning team was ‘Lil Tam’ in the excellent time of 1.27.07, Members: Tammy McCabe and Lilli Mooney.   Despite adding a third runner and taking 7 minutes off their 2022 time ‘The Chonkies’ came second.

10 Km Community Fun Run

A 10Km Community Fun Run event was introduced in 2018 to extend those who only frequent Park Runs.  The winning times were faster this year.  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     Luke Grattan                          34.16                                1   Petra Mossop                           39.54

2    Patrick Clark                             34.32                                2   Linda Edstrom                          44.54   

3    Cameron Curry                       44.24                                3   Jennifer Kellett                        47.17   

Age Group Results        

M 40-49     Jeffrey Van Gangelen              35.03                  F 40-49     Nerida Brogan             48.29

M 50-59             Luke Grattan                   34.16                  F 50-59     Annie Schofield           53.40

M 60-69             Nigel England                  46.26                  F 60-69     Jennifer Kellett            47.17   

M80 +                 Lachlan Lewis                   2.13.37              F 80 +        Caroline Campbell     1.09.26

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

Race Director

19^th March 2023