What a fabulous morning of racing. The sun was out, the ovals looked fantastic and the kids were excited.

We started with the Ruud Relays and we only had one no-show for the relay so it was a relatively painless exercise to get the handicaps recalibrated. I say relatively because it’s still like herding chooks but the event itself is so good to watch that it’s worth the effort to get it off the ground.

We started with the girls and due to the nature of the events it’s impossible to see who is winning or getting close until we get down to the final two runners. It looked like it might be a battle between the U13s and the Seniors but an unfortunate baton drop on the second last changeover destroyed any chance for the U13s and the U14+ girls were able to comfortably take the win. The rest of the girls teams all finished very closely together but it was the U12s taking silver and the U8s who held on for third.

One interesting titbit of info is that this event has been going for three years and has been won by the same group of girls as they have advanced through the age group for all three years from U12s to Seniors.

• First – U14+
• Second – U12s
• Third – U8s

The boy’s relay had the Senior boys starting almost 23 secs behind everyone else but with 11-second runner Joshua Lobo in the team, anything was possible. With two runners to go, all the action was in the middle of the field with U10s to u12s looking most likely. The final changeover was close but it was the U11s who pulled away with about 30m to go, to take the win over a gallant U10 outfit and the U12s in third. Josh took the baton in last place but stored home and beat all but the place getters.

• First – U11s
• Second – U10s
• Third – U12s

The Gift heats were then underway and with so few meets this season, the handicapper was nervous how the finished might pan out. But he need not have worried as there were many close finishes needing the iPad photos to split the finals qualifiers.

The first two from each heat went into the final and the qualifiers were as follows:

Girl’s Heats

A             Emma Coot        13
A             Eloise Collingwood          10

C             Evelyn Webb      12
C             Chloe Mueck      7

E             Poppy Breingan 10
E             Madeleine Heys               12

G            Jasmine Stevens               13
G            Stella Rowley     8

J              Lulu Schofield    14
J              Heidi Ramsay     13

L             Jahzara Gafa      11
L             Adeline  Cowie   8

N            Laura Davidson  14
N            Eliza Lawton       12

Boy’s Heats

BB          Angus Burrell      10
BB          Myles Box           10

DD          Joshua Zissermann           11
DD          Ian Kwak              8

FF           Jamie Edye          6
FF           Finley Beales      7

HH          Elliott Burrell      12
HH          Luke Peek            13

KK           Yvain Guirad       12
KK           Emmanuel Allen               11

MM        Malachy Todling               11
MM        Edward Allen      10

Then one of the most hotly anticipated events came up in the Sutton Sprint, aka the Dads race. 2 time winner Karl Giason was going to be challenged by Luke Allard, an accomplished Masters athlete. I started directly behind them knowing I’d get a clear run as they took off into the distance. I wish I had of stayed at the finish line as it was an incredibly close finish but Karl took the bikkies again, from Luke with Will Mueller in third spot. I am also pleased to report there were no committee injuries this season, although Karl himself, twanged a hamstring. Scar tissue may slow him down next season.

The Takken Trot saw returning champion (and second in the first year) Hilary Giason challenged all the way to the line by two other speedy Mums, but Hilary held on to ensure five of the names on the Parent’s trophy end in Giason. second was Liz Edye with third being brand new member Tina Hunt. These were well participated events and I thank the parents for having a go. Sharon Moloney tried to ensure our perfect record of Corroboree injuries stood the test of time by going base over apex during the Mum’s race but reports are that it was just a scratch.

Santa then came to visit the kids which was hugely popular.

Finally we had the running of the Gift finals. The boys was a closely fought contest needing the i-pads to split the top 5 runners. U6 Jamie Edye continued the trend of young winners by just pipping last years runner up, Josh Zisserman U11 and Malachy Todling U11 slid across the line in third with a move I wouldn’t recommend too often as I can see a knee going sometime into the future!

The Girl’s final had a runaway winner in the yellow bib in Evelyn Webb from the U12s. second across the line was from our U8s Stella Rowley with U14 Lulu Schofield, our first Seniors place getter in the event, taking up third place. It wasn’t quite as close as the boys race but a lot of the fourth – 12^th girls crossed pretty closely together.

We thank LiveBetter Nutrition for their ongoing support of the gift and we look forward to doing it all again next season.