It's been a busy weekend for WA athletes across the country, with the Australian Cross Country Championships, Australian Winter Race Walking Championships and the Chevron City to Surf.
Australian Cross Country Championships
The Australian Cross Country Championships, held on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday, provided a testing course through Maleny Golf Club. Nic Harman was a standout performance, backing up his bronze medal performance from the Australian Half Marathon Championships last week with a fourth place finish in the Men's 10km in a time of 32:57. Other highlights included Brandon Ford and Cameron Quirk, who finished first (13:17) and third (13:27) respectively in the U16 Boys 4km Run.
Australian Winter Walks Championship
The Australian Winter Walks Championship saw several podium finishes for the WA team on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday. Bradley Mann took our the top honours in the U20 Boys 10km Race Walk, with Alexandra Griffin matching the podium position with first place in the U14 Girls 3km Race Walk. A huge effort by Alexandra having competed in the Australian Cross Country Championships the day before.
In the Boys U12 2km Race Walk (a Road Walking Australia Championship event), Xavier Bernard secured the silver medal with a strong performance.
It was a bronze occasion for both Andrew Duncan and Benjamin Reid, competing in the Men’s 20km Race Walk and the U18 Boys 10km Race Walk respectively.
Chevron City to Surf
Back on local turn, rising distance star Matt Ramsden defended his title in the 12km race with a new race record of 35:23. Emily Witham (Front Runner Athletics Club) took out the women's title in 42:21, just missing out on the record set by Eloise Wellings in 2017.
Isaac Birir (UWA Athletics Club) broke the record in the men's half marathon event in 1:05.04, smashing the previous record of 1:05.40 set in 2008. Rochelle Rodgers (Front Runner Athletics Club) won her third consecutive half-marathon title in the women's event, in a personal best of 1:17.35.
It was a record-breaking performance for Melany Smart, who won the 4km women's title in 12:49. Luke Graves took the honours in the men's event, just missing the men’s record with a time of 11:07.