MAY 2007      Number 72

Running along a crowded Istanbul street at rush hour on a warm humid morning, feeling like we had huge pink elephants attached to our heads. I say rush hour, but the truth is rush hour is each and every hour in this ancient city bursting at the seams with a constant influx of people from the east looking for a better life. The city has somewhere between 11 and 20 million people, mostly of the Muslim faith. On this, our first adventure out into this teeming city, the conditions meant we were particularly scantily clad and with two female athletes in our group, we drew plenty of attention. Although it felt uncomfortable being stared at, I tried to put things in perspective by imagining putting on a full Muslim body wrap and walking down the main street of any small town in Central West NSW chanting passages from the Koran, and comforted myself in the thought that although that too would attract plenty of attention, it would be more out of curiosity than any malice and thus I reasoned was the sort of attention we were getting this morning.

At this stage, I was staying in a small hotel with the bulk of the Australian team, including juniors Dave Mainwaring (and his father Laurie), Ryan Gregson (and his father Steve, also assistant team manager) and Dominic Perry. The seniors at this stage were Cindy King, Jessamy Hosking, Barry Keem (also team manager) and myself, with Scott McTaggart, Stephen Brown and Anna Thompson arriving shortly afterwards to join us in Istanbul. The remaining team members, Emma Murray and Ben Du Bois (with his partner Trudy) would join us later in the week at the race HQ in Uludag.

It soon became apparent that all of our training was going to be done on hard pavements (a couple of the juniors made the mistake of running on the only grass in miles, at the local graveyard and were immediately set upon by the local guard dogs!). While not exactly being ideal training conditions (particularly for a spoilt Canberran used to bush trails) this was an excellent way to see some of the back streets of central Istanbul away from the tourist routes. We mostly found a city crumbling at the seems, with piles of rubbish littering the streets, packs of wild dogs roaming (which meant running as a group was a must) and homeless people aplenty. Our usual run consisted of following the ancient city walls down to the harbour front where there was a nice wide boulevard ideal for some interval sessions! We even came across the odd local runner! Our group had swelled with the arrival of Anna, Scott and Stephen, which made for some really nice group runs and 'team bonding'. There was nothing like running through a pack of wild dogs to 'bond' you! The travel advisories had mentioned bombings and avoiding public transport and public gatherings, but to tell the truth, simply crossing the road (together with the dogs) posed the most danger.

It wasn't all training and sitting by the pool of course, and we did manage to get in a bit of sight seeing and shopping while in Istanbul, although we were all wary of not over doing it (as it can be a very tiring thing you know!). After four days dodging traffic in Istanbul we were ready to move on up to the mountain and race HQ at Uludag. The LOC (Local 'Organising' Committee) had arranged to pick us up from the hotel at, well, depending on what day or hour of the day it was, either 10am, after 10am, 8am, between 8am and 9am, 9:30am and finally, definitely at 8:30am. So it was no surprise when our bus finally arrived at 9:30am. The bus mainly consisted of us and the Canadian team. They tried recruiting Cindy (who's a recent citizen of oz having moved from Canada) into their team.

It was around about this time that it finally dawned on me that I'd be racing against people from other countries, rather than other states, or local clubs. I know this should have been fairly obvious to me all along, being a 'world' champs and representing 'Australia' and all, but sometimes I'm a slow learner and I guess the reality of the level of competition just hadn't sunk in until the moment I started meeting the other athletes. After three and a half hours on bus and ferry and bus again, we arrived in the outskirts of Bursa, Turkey's fourth largest city, population 2 million. And there, through the late northern summer haze, across the other side of a sea of red tiled roofs and shining mosques, Prussian blue, towering over the city like a mother protecting her child, stood Mount Olympus, Uludag, the mountain, the physical embodiment of my dreams.

I felt my pulse rate rise as our bus wound its way ever upwards. We'd been climbing up this steep road for three quarters of an hour now and thoughts of the race just wouldn't wash away, we were actually going to race up this? I kept reassuring myself, after all, I'd done plenty of mountain racing before and run up much bigger mountains in the French Alps, yeah, this'd be no problem, sure, no problem. But the bus kept climbing, and at every corner, the views of Bursa became more and more like those you'd expect out of an airplane window.

On arrival at race HQ, the appropriately named Grand Yazici Hotel, we were greeted with the kind of 'organisation' that we had already had a taste of and would come to expect in the days to follow. After a pleasant (but somewhat confusing) one and a half hour wait in the foyer where we were told we had to wait for athlete registration, room book in and lunch (but not necessarily in that, or any other, order) we were finally told that our rooms and the athlete registration process were both running somewhat behind schedule, so we at least were accommodated to lunch at 2:30pm. By this stage there were a large number of teams arriving and chaos, if not exactly ruling, was certainly showing signs of attempting a coup on the massed forces of general organisation and order. The coup by troops loyal to chaos was later successful with the announcement that the printer had broken down and no one could get their accreditation passes, so presumably a general message went out to the public transport system of greater metropolitan Bursa to let "anyone who looks remotely like a runner or international visitor" onto the transport for free.

Our next assignment was to try and get a run done over the men's 12k course, as it was now Thursday afternoon, and only 69 hours (which, by some bizarre co-incidence that can only be explained by the probability of an infinite improbability drive being somewhere nearby, was also my number on race day) until the race was due to start. It was course inspection day. By this, the LOC meant that it was that special day where you made your own way to the start (via a series of dilapidated cable cars that took 1.5 hours to negotiate) without any course marshals or officials, and then proceeded to run around local village streets on the outskirts of town looking for the course because the bottom third of the course wasn't marked AT ALL!
Barry, Scott, Stephen and I were running around villages that looked like they'd just been cut out of the middle of a National Geographic Magazine, looking for any signs of the course. Luckily I'd done a bit of homework and recognised a dirt road heading up the mountain side that looked very familiar. By the way, it was in this exact area the next day that defending World Champion, Jonathan Wyatt, was attacked by two wild dogs and had to be rushed to hospital for treatment including tetanus and rabies shots. Luckily for us the dogs must have been asleep this afternoon.

I'd been in two minds about running the course so close to the event (usually a week out is about the closest I'd run the course before a race) but I really didn't have much choice this time and I find it's really important for both my confidence and pacing to run over the course in a mountain race. This was a real thinking persons' course in which pace selection and even running style selection over different parts of the course would be very important. The course started right next to the bottom cable car station in the outskirts of Bursa. The start line was on an uphill incline in a bitumen car park, then straight on to a very steep bitumen road winding through village, a short flattish section and then onto 3kms of uphill winding dirt road. The 3km of dirt road was a relentless uphill slog from 380m altitude to 760m altitude, completely exposed to the hot afternoon sun, with spectacular cliff drop offs the side of the road to the city below. This section was going to completely ruin people in the race if they went out too hard.

From the senior women's and junior means start at 3.5km, there was a flattish section and then the relative relief of heading into the forest. Here the track became narrow and very rocky with intermittent steep sections for the next 4kms, rising up to 1250m before a half a kilometre of flat and slightly downhill before opening out on to an alpine meadow at the middle cable car station and the junior women's start area at 8.5km. The last section started out fairly steeply and got steeper, climbing up through sharp switch-backs through boulders. There was a brief reprieve and then from 10.5km to 11.5km a very nasty steep winding scramble up through another boulder field before the course flattened out at the top for a fast 200m downhill finish through the top station car park. I felt the trick on the day would be to be as conservative as possible on the hot, exposed relentless start and then keep leg strength for the final 3km of very steep uphill and try and pick off as many as possible in the later stages of the race. The final days before the race are a bit of a blur now, as I look back on it, although I didn't really feel nervous at the time, I realise I was probably more nervous than before any race since my first national cross country in my first year of competition back in 1999. With athletes from the record field of 36 nations all staying together up on the mountain, it made for a great atmosphere and despite the LOC having a few (quite a few) hiccups with areas of the organisation, they got the big things right, like the accommodation, food and the opening ceremony was fantastic on the Saturday.

RACE DAY:

There's nothing quite like preparing for a big race and race day is something special. Many of you reading this will relate to these thoughts. For me, race day is a journey, the bigger the race, the more intense and rich the journey. From the moment I wake up I transcend into my own little world. People often say I go all quiet, I don't notice really, it's just like some sort of long slow meditation. Carrying out every action with the one goal of being the most physically and mentally prepared as possible at the moment the race starts, but at the same time, consciously trying not to think about the race at all.

The funny thing is that most of what counts has already passed, all the months, years of training, the timing of tapering to get your body ready for this day. Not saying that I particularly got that latter part of that done very well this time, but the point is that it's all done. That is why those final few hours are so strange. It's just a waiting game really. Waiting, breathing, relaxing, waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

We gave ourselves a lot of time to get to the start at the bottom of the mountain as just about all of us had lost confidence in the reality of transport arrangements actually matching the planned arrangements. For example, we were meant to be taken by coach down the mountain, but there was a car rally on the mountain on the same day, so no coaches! So we waited, and waited, and finally got on a school bus to the cable car and got down the mountain that way. By this stage it didn't really faze me at all and it was probably a better way to get down anyway. It didn't phase me too much either that the toilets for the men's start consisted of a few dirty 'hole in the ground' style pits with no loo paper. Luckily our trusty team manager (and fellow team member) Barry Keem was prepared and had brought some spare loo paper down with him. The senior women and junior men weren't as lucky as they didn't have toilets at all at the start of their race!

We lay on the cool grass under a tree in a local park; the warm summer breeze was nice. Final tranquil moments of pseudo-meditation but there was no hiding from the fact in just over an hour I would be pushing my body to the absolute limit up one hell of a course against the best line up of mountain runners in any one place in history.

Finally the moment came, the warm up. The waiting finally over. From the warm up onwards it's all automatic, I've done the routine so many times. Admittedly I've never had six Eritreans and a bunch of English, Italians, Mexicans and Turks warming up next to me before a race before, but the basics are all the same. I immediately felt relaxed and confident. It's usually a good sign when you feel strong in the warm up, which I did today, despite the mid day heat and the less than ideal week leading up to the race, everything felt good and I felt strong. My main focus on the start line was not going out too hard. I knew, being the world champs, that the pace was going to be very fast. There were going to be runners at the front who could sustain an incredible pace, then others who could also, or would fall in to the trap of trying to race at someone else's pace. This would be a lethal mistake on this course.

The gun went and so did most of the field of 150. I was almost at the back after 500m. Already the spectators lining the route (mostly bewildered poor local villagers who were probably trying to work out what the hell we were doing and why) seemed to be looking on at me with pity and I was already getting some encouraging cheers. I'd put it in my mind to swallow my ego for a while and not worry about hanging off the wrong end of the field, after all, what does it matter at the finish line where you were placed after 1km? We hit the dreaded relentless dirt road to nowhere. I was somehow hoping that it has sort of shrunk somehow since I last ran on it 3 days ago, but no, somehow it had actually grown bigger! Worse, today there was a howling head wind on this section and the sun was hot. The good news was that I was beginning, ever so slowly, to pass people. I think I was probably about 140th at the start of the '3km of death' and I reckon I passed about 30 people by the time it was all over at the start of the senior women's at 3.5k. A couple were already reduced to walking on the steeper parts, and these were people who'd been selected to run mountains for their country! It was going to be a long, long day for them, poor buggers!

The idea had been to go easy on the hellish first 3.5k and then really put the foot on the accelerator over the middle section of the mountain. The reality of race day was this. All those who took it out easy, spent the middle section recovering and getting ready to tackle the final ascent, all those who didn't, were trashed and spent the rest of the race trying to loose as little time, ground and placing's as possible. For two competitors it wasn't possible. I saw Sebastien Epiney of Switzerland doubled over in pain at the 4k mark, his day over. I didn't really pick anyone up in the middle 5km section, but had bunch of about 6 in front of me who weren't getting away, and no one on my tail. The only one of them who looked particularly strong was the Greek runner (KALAMPUKAS HARALAMPOS) who soon disappeared up ahead. The others I was either pegging or slowly closing on.

There was a flat and slight downhill section near the end of this middle part of the race and everyone seemed to get away from me a bit here. 8.5k, and we ran out onto the alpine meadow, turned a sharp left hander and into a howling headwind and a deceptively nasty little up hill that looked flat! Ouch. Although this seemed to knock the wind out of my sails, I really started picking up the runners ahead. So far in the race, I'd been taking little steps, in order to save my legs for the really steep last section. It's not an overly wise tactic in this sort of distance mountain running as you sacrifice speed for saving leg energy (a longer stride gives you better speed up the mountain, but your legs get cooked more quickly). ON this course I figured saving my legs was going to be very important over the last bit, as big leg strength isn't one of my strong points.

So going into the really steep section now, up through the boulders and my tactics finally started paying big dividends. I soon started passing people for the first time since the 3.5k mark, which seemed like yesterday now, as it had been a hot afternoon back then, and now we were in a dark cool mist in a damp mountain forest. This section was akin to the steeper part of the Crackenback Challenge (for those that know that event up the Crackenback Chairlift route at Thredbo) and many competitors were walking, but I found my little shuffle was doing nicely and I was actually moving faster as well on the really steep bits. I found when we hit the flatter bits other competitors could shift from the walk into a faster running rhythm than I could muster, but overall I was winning the battle and picking them off. First it was DRANITSA of Belarus, then the Canadian, LOUTITT followed by ZAK of Poland, Woods of Northern Ireland, Subic (Slovenia), Urbanosvski (Slovakia) and then two big guns, Phil Costley of NZ and Donald Naylor of Wales. I picked off a couple more in the final uphill section and then felt fantastic over the last 500m with a great sprint finish.

Although in hindsight (and a detailed inspection of results will back this up) I feel like my body wasn't in top form on the day, the contradiction is that I also feel like I actually raced really well and got the most out of myself on the day, which is all I could have hoped for, and for that, and also the knowledge that actually getting to the start (and finish) line of these things is 99% of the battle, I am truly, truly grateful. I was on such a high in those final moments and after the race and I think everyone was, as the after race party went on all night and was pretty wild! (but that's another story). It was such a great experience, not just the race itself, but the whole trip, getting to know the other Australian team members and other competitors from around the world and witnessing their dedication and amazing talents. I'm so proud of all of our team in what was the most competitive world champs to date. I feel like racing at this level has already grabbed my soul, and now I've experienced it it's going to be very hard not to want to repeat the experience, so I guess my goal now will be to do all I can to be my best.

I want to leave you with the following thoughts, as I think they capture the spirit of this whole experience for me. It's funny, quite often in the lead up to that race, I'd find myself doubting my qualifications for being in the team, sort of thinking that somehow someone must have done me a favour or something for me to be there, but there was this magical moment on the night before the race. I had some pre-race nerves so decided to go for a late night walk under the full moon. As I was walking along, looking up at the moon, I started thinking about the long road that had got me to that point, walking along a deserted road at a Turkish ski resort about to compete for Australia in a world championship the next morning. Then as I looked down at my feet, I realised that it was so simple. My own footsteps had got me here, one by one, each little simple step, put together had created this wonderful reality.

That realisation was so powerful and calming because I knew at that moment that I deserved to be hare as much as anyone else and felt comfort in that whatever tomorrow would bring, it would be just one more step.

After a 36 hour journey from our homes to Algiers, Algeria the small but excited Aussie team first experienced what life might be like for the 6 days we had until the race. The team of debutants namely Kathryn Archbold, Eliza Stewart, Brendan 'Woody' Woodman, Adam Bishop, Michael Hosking, Rhys Hart, Mark Shepherd, and manager Ian Anderson had a police escort waiting for us at the airport and we were met with more security at the hotel.

We soon found out that unless a trip was organized with police escort and security guards we were not allowed outside the hotel grounds. As you can imagine a bunch of bored athletic Aussie Uni students locked up in a hotel for a few days could be prone to trouble making. The only example that we can tell you about that won't get us arrested is our water bombing escapades on the officials and selected other athletes. One of the smarter runners of our group found a way onto the hotel roof. From here we had to plan out our attack, we organized for an innocent looking team mate to head downstairs with a video camera while the rest of us hid behind the air conditioning unit on the roof waiting to launch our salvo at the next poor bugger that ran past. We let loose at a few groups going past then bolted back to our rooms to view the damage we had done on the video. Good thing the victims (and the security guards) never found out who did it. Other activities aside, we were here to race.

The course was well advertised as a golf course which we were all very happy about... until we saw the standard of Algerian golf courses. Go bush and find the nearest paddock put in a couple tarmac 'greens', a couple hills and some sandy patches and you'll have a fair idea what we were running on. The course was a true cross country course with tufty grass, undulating hills, and a few sand traps. The women's race was 5.82km of 1 small lap and 2 big laps, and the men's race was a shorter than usual 9.45km of 2 small and 3 big laps.

Women's Race

The start of the women's race sure was an experience! To start things off, the bus convoy went the wrong way to the course not once but twice, the change rooms were locked on arrival, and there was a severe lack of working toilets. 'Working' being anything better than a hole in the ground and with a flush, not to mention finding a ship in the Bermuda triangle would have been easier than it was to find toilet paper! As a result Kat and Eliza had very limited time for warm up with Kat only managing 2 laps of the warm up track before they were ushered to the call room. Kat and Eliza were still in total shock as the starting gun unexpectedly sounded.

Irrespective of the start Eliza was showing good form and was right in the mix with the field, all battling for line honours. Kat lost a little ground to Eliza early on and was trying to work her way into the race and warm up properly at the same time. The crowd was enthusiastic and keen to be a part of the race. The mostly French speaking crowd was supportive of all runners with cheers of 'Go Australia' following the girls through all the twists, turns and all the undulating hills.

In the latter stages the girls could hear a huge roar from the crowd, confirming the victory of an Algerian girl. Souad Ait-Salem, African 10,000m champion with sub 15:20 5km and 32:30 10km credentials, was 1st in 18:54. British athletes Kate Reed (19:04) and Eleanor Baker (19:33) completing the top three. The team from Great Britain took the teams gold with most of their team going to the World Cross country Championships the following week.

What the Aussie women's team lacked in numbers it made up for in courage and determination, giving 150% right till the end. Eliza finished an excellent 23rd (20:35) with km splits similar to those of her 5km PB, just ahead of Kat who ran home strongly to pass a few runners and collapse over the line in 31st (21:11) out of the 50 athletes who finished the challenging course.

Men's Race

The 5 Aussie guys were all really keen to run their guts out for the country, the team and for ourselves, we all felt we were at a similar fitness level and were hoping to be able to work really hard as a team. Before the race we were all educated that the agreed start procedure was to be a 1 minute warning gun then the usual start commands in French, which was fine until what felt like about 30 seconds after the 1 minute warning gun another gun went off while we were all shaking hands and wishing each other good luck. We looked up to see the field of 72 competitors running off into the distance and had to start the race with a 10m handicap. This may have been ok at your local cross country club race but we were chasing a very high quality field who had PB's equal to or better than our own.

The whole first lap was spent trying to catch up on the main group with Woody leading the Aussie charge, Mike and Bishop bringing up the rear. Woody was running well and fighting hard, however the day before he was stung in the derriere by a bee with anger issues and the allergic reaction left him a bit run down on race day. By lap 2 Rhys and Mark had started working together and were finding their way through the field. Bishop and Mike took a little longer to settle but were close behind the other Aussies.

By this stage our best bet was to keep running as hard as we could and pick up anyone who was tiring from the fast start. Mark ran on strongly with a good last lap to finish 40th (30:19) out of 68 finishers with Mike finishing about 20 seconds behind in 46th (30:38) after a good battle with Rhys who finished 50th (30:47). Bishop had a screamer of a last lap passing upwards of 5 runners to finish in 48th (30:46) and just ahead of Rhys. Woody showed courage and determination to fight it out and finish in 67th (32:39), not his best run but tough none the less.

The Moroccan's had a great day taking the first 4 places and consequently the team gold with Mohamed Fadil, a 28:30 10km runner, in 1st (27:59), Abdelkebir Lamachi, a 2:11 marathoner, in 2nd (28:10), and Abdelaziz Azzouzi, a 66 minute half marathoner, in 3rd (28:21).

With the racing all over and the medals handed out it was time to let our hair down and have a bit of fun. After our big post race banquet the organising committee had arranged for an after party at the Sheraton Hotel. It didn't take long before we were getting a little bit bored with the party, given the cheap Algerian beer cost $7 and about half the party smoking inside! We thought we would save our lungs and head back to our hotel. We got back to the hotel at around 2:30am, where Mark, Kat, and Mike decided now was the time to give security the slip and see Algeria. They quickly got on their running gear and jumped the gate to see the city the way it should be seen, on a run! Meanwhile Rhys, Adam, and Woody were getting to know the hotel security a bit better, having a few beers and learning a bit of French before Woody found himself in an impromptu break dance competition with one of the guards. Needless to say the guard was a clear winner.

We all left Algeria suitably sore and tired and satisfied we had given everything we had to give. We left better for the experience, ready to tackle new challenges, and considering extending our degrees to accommodate the 16th World University Championships 2008!

Hi all, Dr R here in Queenstown NZ. Preparation was good for the race and my main goal was to run as fast as possible and try and take at least 47 seconds off my ACT champs time and hopefully place well in the process.

Leading up to the race I'd had a couple of very minor scares with a sore throat a couple of weeks out and then some niggly glute problems, but nothing very bad at all, so by race day was feeling like all the prep was done and everything on target for a good race. Went out at nice conservative pace and was in about 10th place early, feeling relaxed and comfortable.

By the second km had settled into 5th spot, Davo up on my shoulder for a while but then I pulled away slowely. Was surprised to start catching Stephen Brown after the 3k mark and then caught him quite quickly to get into 4th place around 4k mark and then pleased to be catching Ben soon after and then pass him and go into 3rd place around the 4.5k mark... he was going very slow, so obviously something had gone wrong. I still felt very strong and in control, and now in 3rd spot so things were going very well. at turnaround at top, was surprised to see Stephen was still so close behind me as I thought I'd well and truly dropped him.

I flew down the mountain as fast as possible and was really surprised that Stephen actually caught me on the downhill! We then had a ding-dong battle from the 9k mark onward. With 500m to go I was just ahead of him, but I was interested in running the fastest time possible rather than trying to jockey for 3rd and 4th spot, and I remembered some pre-race advice from Puffy which was "don't leave anything in the tank". So I belted as fast as I could upwards and with about 40m to the top I totally went lactic and wondered if I'd actually make the top. With 10m to go I was sure that I'd clinched 3rd place (thinking Stephen was miles behind me) and then to my utter surprise (and horror) he comes rushing past me just before the line! Bugger!

I'd like to think if I'd looked back and seen him coming I may have been able to pull a short sprint out of somewhere to fend him off, but I didn't, he did and a wonderful finish from him as well, so well done to him. But most importantly, I quickly wanted to find out my time (which seemed the far most important thing at the time) and was over the moon when Stephen told me he'd done 58:10, meaning I'd done about the same, and totally exceeded my wish of getting the 47 seconds I'd wanted. I was over the moon that I'd taken 2 and a half minutes off my ACT champs time.

Very happy with the race and a great way to start our trip in NZ (which has already had me running 112km of mountains in the past week with Goubs, Davo, Velcro including a very solid session with Wingebury up Mount Luxmore yesterday). Some great runs on the day, congrats to Goubs for another outstanding race, congrats to Scotty McT on a blinder and Trev for another world class performance and all other efforts on the day. Thanks to John and all helpers for putting on anther great race.

Dr R reporting from the land of never ending mountain runs...
New Zealand.

A great new season for SCT!

The winter season for the 2007/08 athletics year has kicked off brilliantly for SCT! The Anzac Relays have often been a tough one for us to crack, with Weston Creek often bringing out their big guns such as Marty Dent. This time, the Creek didn't have Marty and we took a great victory. We were so far ahead at the end, that we probably would have still taken it out even if Marty had run.

We had three young guns in our team - Michael Hosking, Mark Shepherd and Nick Walshe - and one slightly older gun - Aussie Mountain running rep Stu Doyle. It was a great victory, and showed SCT's awesome teamwork. It was the perfect way to kick off the season. Let's see a flood of gold and black SCT uniforms out there during the winter, showing the other clubs how to do it!

Australian mountain running representative Stuart Doyle of SCT shattered both the 6.5 kilometre King of the Mountain and 13 km Up Down records on Mt Tennent on Sunday 18 February. Doyle clocked 36 minutes 17 seconds for the mountain ascent, with former champion David Osmond 2nd in 38:15 and veteran Australian long distance mountain running representative Trevor Jacobs 3rd in 40:41. Doyle ran 60:12 to better the Up Down record by two minutes. Alex Kearns was 2nd in 85:59 and Sydney runner Thomas Tse 3rd in 87:16. Carol Baird won the Up Down in 87:27 from Anne McNeill and Julie Colbran.
The Queen of the Mountain title went to Vanessa Haverd in 44:04, only six seconds slower than her previous best. Yass runner Fleur Flannery was 2nd in 47:32 and veteran ultra distance champion Carol Baird 3rd in 52:27.
David Osmond was just outside his course record for the Bushfold Flats 19.3kms, running 89:05, with Trevor Jacobs 2nd in 93:28 and Tim Sawkins 3rd in 97:15. Vanessa Haverd ran 102:25 to be first female, only two minutes slower than the course record by world champion Emma Murray, currently out of racing with a hamstring injury. Fleur Flannery was 2nd in 107:38 and Cathy Newman 3rd in 199:58. [report - John Harding]
SCT Results:
King of the Mountain 6.5kms: Males: 1 Stuart Doyle 36.17 (record), 17 Nick Mesher 54.43, 20 Jim White 55.35. Mt Tennent 13kms up down: Males: 1 Stuart Doyle 60.12 (record). Bushfold Flats 19.3kms: Males: 15 Jim White 124.46, 17 Nick Mesher 127.44.

SCT fielded two teams at the Parliament House Relays, on Tuesday 12 December, held using the 1.77km Questacon course. Our 'A-grade' team of 10 placed third to Woden Harriers and Weston Creek. We were in contention for victory for much of the race. It was an excellent result considering our team contained 5 female, 3 junior and 3 veteran athletes. Our 'B-grade' team contained 4 very young juniors and finished ahead of a number of other 'B' teams.
Individual times: A-grade (64:03) - Kelly Roberts 5:56, Emma Murray 6:36, Stuart Doyle 5:24, Paul Torley 6:08, Nick Walshe 5:22, Eu Ho Siew 6:46, Kayler Torley 6:24, Catriona Windsor 6:46, Jim White 7:10, Nicola Torley 7:31.
B-grade (58:15) - Joshua Torley 7:53, Katie Thorton 8:16, Brianna Briggs 8:05, Nathan Cassilles-Southgate 8:09, Ewen Thompson 7:57, Kelly Roberts 6:24, Nick Walshe 5:41, Stuart Doyle 5:50.

Stuart Doyle has won the annual Woden Harriers Black Mountain Challenge on Sunday 11 December. Stu won the 5km race from Black Mountain Pennisula to the summit of Black Mountain in 19:07, 42 seconds ahead of James Barker. This was Stu's first race as an M40, having spent the previous evening celebrating his birthday. The 4 hours of dancing and 3am finish proved an excellent warm-up.

Australian mountain running representative Stuart Doyle won the innaugural open race at the new Stromlo Recreational Facility on Saturday 2 December. As the grass on the national-standard cross country course was still a bit fresh, the races was held on the cycling criterium course.

1200m Run: 1 Patrick Horan 4.38, 2 Rebekah Sawkins 4.40, 3 Fairlie Hawke 4.58, 4 Nathan Cassilles-Southgate 5.18, 5 Ellery Young 5.31, 6 Vanessa Way 8.51, 7 Hannah Sawkins 8.51.

4800m Run: 1 Stuart Doyle 16.04, 2 Dave Osmond 17.19, 3 Trevor Jacobs 17.25, 4 Geoff Hawke 17.37, 5 Tim Sawkins 17.44, 6 Louis Young 18.06, 7 Mick Horan 18.42, 8 Felix Booth 19.54, 9 Michael Hanbury 19.57, 10 Ross Gregg 20.02, 11 Jim White 20.14, 12 Greg Mitchell 20.22, 13 Belinda Gilchrist 20.50, 14 Jeff Collins 21.33, 15 Demetrios Pandouras 21.50, 16 Russell Wenholz 22.13, 17 Ineka Booth 22.45, 18 David Booth 23.44, 19 Doug Fry 28.41, 20 Geoff Moore 28.42, 21 Hannah Sawkins 30.53, 22 Jenny Sawkins 30.53, 23 Barney Jacobs 30.53.

The 10th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was held in Athens on the 16th and 17th of September. SCT's Angeline Blackburn was a late inclusion in the Oceania 4 x 400m Relay Team. This was Angie's first senior international representation. The Oceania team of Rosemary Hayward, Caitlin Willis, Angeline Blackburn and Rebecca Irwin placed 8th in a season's best time of 3:36.36. The relay was won by the Americas team in a world leading time of 3:19.84.

SCT's Emma Murray was the first female in the Fitzroy Falls Fire Trail Marathon held in the Southern Highlands on Saturday. Emma ran the 42.195 kilometre course on a warm, sunny morning in 3 hours 9 minutes, breaking Vanessa Haverd's race record of 3:25:52. The race sponsor, Man Financial, offered generous prize money with bonuses for records. All the category records were broken on the day. Emma won a total of $1,000 which "is going straight to Mum. I owe her lots of money for my flights and accommodation in Colorado". Emma also finished fourth outright. The race was won by Barry Keem in a time of 2 hours 41 minutes, which broke the male record by ten minutes.

Emma's win at Fitzroy Falls comes soon after her win in the inaugural "Run the Great Whitsunday Walk" - a 28.7km trek through the rainforest along a recently opened walking track in the mountains on the mainland adjacent to the Whitsunday Islands. Again Emma finished first female and fourth overall, ten minutes behind race winner David Osmond (NCG) who ran 2 hours 5 minutes. Each runner was named after one of the 74 Islands of the Whitsundays. Emma was Moon Island and David was Perseverance Island. Emma said that the organisation of the event "was no mean feat as water had to be dropped into aid stations using helicopters; the national parks had to be convinced we wouldn't ruin their new track; and enough sponsors were needed to pay for all the logistics including buying all the camping and walking permits for the track over the weekend of the race."

The traditional Labour Day Sri Chinmoy 4 and 10 km Fun Runs were held on Monday 2 October. Once again, SCT runners featured prominently in the results:
10k Fun Run:
Under-50 male: 3rd Geoff Monro 39:10, 39th Don Roach 50:22. 50-59 male: 3rd Jim White 43:36.
4k Fun Run:
Over-17 male: 2nd Keith Cassilles-Southgate 14:02, 4th Robert Torley 15:02, 5th Paul Torley 15:27. Under-13 male: 2nd Joshua Torley 18:42, 3rd Michael Torley 19:30, 5th Aidan Herstik 30:18. Under-13 female: 1st Catriona Windsor 16:23, 2nd Nicola Torley 16:29, 3rd Dimity Herstik 19:01, 7th Emma Windsor 20:58. Under-17 female: 1st Kayler Torley 19:40.

The 2006 Canberra Times Fun Run was held on September 17 on the traditional AA-Certified 10km course from Woden to Commonwealth Park. There were many SCT runners competing with Mark Shepherd our first finisher in 5th place with a great time of 32:25. Our first female finisher was Kathy Southgate who placed 4th in 39:10, also winning the female 50-59 years category. Kathy and daughter Anne won the parent and child 14-19 category. In the brothers to 20 years category, the winning team was 'Cassgate' with the 'Dunkley Brothers' in second. The fun run was won by Anthony Haber from North Canberra Gungahlin in 31:01 and Lisa Corrigan from Weston Creek in 34:27.Here are the SCT results:

5th Mark Shepherd 32:25, 7th Michael Hosking 33:02, 10th Gareth Candy 34:23, 43rd Greg Regester 37:49, 55th Hugh Jorgensen 38:42, 56th Keith Cassilles-Southgate 38:45, 63rd Kathy Southgate 39:10, 106th Robert Dunkley 41:20, 133rd Kerrie Tanner 42:23, 138th Craig Shepherd 42:34, 145th Jim White 42:46, 195th Hannah Flannery 43:47, 214th Jay Reid 44:14, 264th Alisa McDonald 45:23, 268th Anne Southgate 45:27, 378th Don Roach 47:30, 475th Susannah Churchill 49:08, 508th Marlene Reid 49:39, 605th Christina Ivansson 51:02, 804th Maria White 54:34, 807th Karen Daniels 54:40, 1,038th Nathan Cassilles-Southgate 58:29, 1,068th Christo Dunkley 58:59, 1,350th Jennifer Ivansson 65:09, 1,662nd Amanda Butler 75:42.

The 2006 IPC World Championships were held in Assen, The Netherlands from 2 to 10 September. Greg Hibberd from SCT competed along with Hamish McDonald in the men's shot put (F34). McDonald secured the gold medal with a throw of 10.52m while Greg took the bronze with a distance of 10.07m. National Throws Coach Alison O'Riordan said, "I'm really pleased with the boys, they both did very well indeed. Hamish retained his world title and it was the first major international medal for Greg."

SCT had three members in the Australian Team which contested the 22nd World Mountain Running Trophy in Bursa, Turkey on September 10. In a brief email, Stuart Doyle reported that the championships were the most competitive ever with 36 countries represented by 150 males and 80 females in the senior races.
Stuart was talking to the Irish runners who had done 33 world championships between them who said it was easily the strongest field they'd ever seen and they both finished about 40 places lower this year despite feeling like they were in the same form as last year. City to Surf winner Anna Thompson finished 15th which showed the quality of the field and demonstrated the difficulty of elite level mountain running. Results in brief:

Senior men's 12kms: 1 Rolando Ortiz (Columbia) 56.16, 2 Jonathon Wyatt (NZ) 56.22, 3 Tesfay Telfele (Eritrea) 56.39. Australians: 29 Ben du Bois (NSW) 61.22, 39 Scott McTaggart (ACT) 62.26, 70 Barry Keem (NSW) 65:23, 85 Stephen Brown (NSW) 66.41, 101 Stuart Doyle (ACT) 68.51. Senior women's 8.5kms: 1 Andrea Mayr (Austria) 47.11, 2 Martina Strachl (Switzerland) 47.29, 3 Isabella Guillot (France) 47.43. Australians: 15 Anna Thompson (VIC) 51.08, 43 Emma Murray (ACT) 54.52, 53 Jessamy Hosking (ACT) 56.32, 55 Cindy King (NSW) 56.53.

Ben Dawson won the MS Fun Run on Sunday September 10 for the second year in a row but was pushed all the way by Weston Creek's precociously talented Emily Brichacek. Ben recorded 21:44 to equal the course record for the 6.5 kilometre run around Lake Tuggeranong. Emily was just 2 seconds behind.
Other SCT runners did very well on a sunny, windy and cool morning. Former winner Noni Clarke placed third female in 24:13. Keith Cassilles-Southgate ran well, thinking that Paul Torley was on his tail, but he need not have worried as Paul finished more than a minute behind. Nicola Torley ran 27:30 to win the under-12 girls category. Jim White finished just ahead of Nicola but missed out on a place in the over-50s. Jim did win a barrel draw prize as he usually does. Catriona Windsor took out the under-18 girls event while Nathan Cassilles-Southgate showed his big brother how to win trophies in the under-18 boys category. Joshua Torley rounded out the trophy winners by taking out the under-12 boys category.

Overall placings (top 3 and SCT results):
Female - 1 Emily Brichacek 21:46, 2 Anne Liddell 24:04, 3 Noni Clarke 24:13, 9 Catriona Windsor 28:14, 12 Alisa McDonald 28:32, 19 Marlene Reid 30:39.
Male - 1 Ben Dawson 21:44, 2 Scott Imhoff 22:29, 3 Paul Considine 22:53, 7 Greg Regester 23:58, 9 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 24:05, 18 Paul Torley 25:33.

Actsport has announced the winners of the ClubsACT Sportstar Awards for August. SCT's Emma Murray has won the female award for "defending her World Long Distance Mountain Running title this month in the USA by winning the event for the second year in a row". The winner of the male award was Patrick Johnson who "sped to a new personal best and ACT Resident Record in winning the 200m at the MAI-Galan meeting in Sweden. A week earlier, Patrick won the 100m event at the Grand Prix in Estonia. Patrick has since been selected in the Oceania Team to compete at the 10th IAAF World Cup to be held in Athens in September and is now the sixth fastest Australian track athlete".
The team award went to the ACT Cross Country Men's Team for their brilliant performance at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Hobart. The team was lead by Martin Dent placing 2nd, Erwin McRae placing 4th and Scott McTaggart placing 9th. It also included SCT's Michael Hosking as a scoring runner for his 25th place. Also in the ACT team were Mark Shepherd and Stuart Doyle from SCT. The winner of the Master Award was Emma's training partner Trevor Jacobs (Weston Creek) who "was the first runner in the M55 category to cross the finish line at the grueling World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships held earlier this month in the USA".

The Yarralumla Relays was the final event for winter season. SCT fielded four teams made up of young juniors and experienced veterans as most of our top runners were resting after the Nationals or preparing for the World Mountain Running Championships. Our Senior Male 'A' team were the 2nd 'official' team behind Weston Creek (NCG who finished ahead of us had a team of two runners). Our Senior Female 'A' team placed fourth which was commendable as three of the runners were juniors. Our Junior Mixed 'A' team were the second junior team to finish!

After the Yarralumla Relays, the awards for the winter season were presented at the YMCA Yacht Club. Weston Creek and Woden Harriers dominated most of the awards. Our junior females won the junior team category. Winners of individual 'Cundy Cup' age-group medals were Courtney Kennedy, Christo Dunkley, Catriona Windsor and Hannah Flannery. Gareth Candy won the male 'Novice Champion' trophy while the female winner was Weston Creek's Emily Brichacek.

Mark Shepherd and Catriona Windsor are the winners of SCT's winter competition after the Yarralumla Relays, the final event of the winter season. Keith Cassilles-Southgate and Hannah Flannery placed second while our winning veteran runners were Geoff Monro and Kerrie Tanner. Congratulations to all who ran for SCT during the winter season!

The City to Surf was held on August 13. For any of you sprinters, throwers and jumpers, the City to Surf is a 14km fun run from Hyde Park to Bondi. The hills are bigger than any you'll find at the AIS track. SCT's Stuart Doyle ran a big PB to crack the top-50. Stu was 34th in 46:40, a mere six minutes behind race winner Dickson Marwa from Tanzania. The first female was Anna Thompson, 40th outright in a time of 47:15. Here are the full SCT results:
34 Stuart Doyle 46:40, 176 Geoff Monro 51:39, 376 Nick Mesher 54:09, 394 Greg Regester 54:24, 588 Hugh Jorgensen 56:36, 780 Hannah Flannery 58:14, 1516 Jim White 62:06, 2324 Gordon Nightingale, 6058 Ewen Thompson 73:20 and 7254 Don Roach 75:24.

This year the Australian Championships and All-Schools Championships were held at the Pontville Equestrian Park & Sporting Complex, Brighton, near Hobart in Tasmania. The ACT team selected to compete in the Championships on 26 August included a number of runners from SCT. Declan Wilson won the silver medal in the Boys 13yrs 3k. Well done Declan!

Here are the results for all SCT runners:

Boys 3k CC 13 Years: 2nd Declan Wilson 10:02, 13th Christo Dunkley 10:33 [1st Tom Symmons-Buchana QLD 9:57], team bronze medal for the ACT.
Boys 4k CC 14/15 Years: 65th Robbie Dunkley 15:30 [1st Cameron Page NSW 13:06].
Men 8k CC Under 20: 20th Benjamin Dawson 27:49 [1st Chris Hamer 18 VIC 25:31].
Men Under 23 12k: 5th Michael Hosking 39:32, 11th Mark Shepherd 40:43 [1st Collis Birmingham VIC 37:37].
Men 12k CC Open: 25th Michael Hosking 39:32, 43rd Mark Shepherd 40:43, 47th Stuart Doyle 41:31 [1st Lee Troop VIC 36:36], team silver medal for the ACT.
Girls 3k CC 11 Years: 29th Dimity Herstik 13:39 [1st Courtney Scott VIC 11:21].
Girls 3k CC 12 Years: 18th Catriona Windsor 11:53 [1st Jenny Blundell NSW 10:37].
Girls 4k CC 14/15 Years: 23rd Courtney Kennedy 15:52, 30th Sarah Dobbie 16:03 [1st Ashleigh Gentle QLD 14:31]. Girls 4k CC 16/17 Years: 40th Anne Southgate 16:57 [1st Rachel Green VIC 14:25].
Girls 6k CC 18/19 Years: 26th Hannah Flannery 25:50 [1st Ashlea Gilfillan QLD 22:25].
Women 8k CC Open: 28th Jessamy Hosking 33:34 [1st Anna Thompson VIC 27:45].

Emma Murray has won the WMRA Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge held at Manitou Springs, Colorado, USA on 20 August. She successfully defended her title won last year at Cauterets in France. This year the race was held in conjuction with the Pikes Peak Marathon which follows a course from Manitou Springs to the summit of Pikes Peak and return.

The net elevation gain on the course is 2,381 metres. It commences at an altitude of 1,918 metres (a similar altitude to Mt Crackenback) and the half-way point of the race at the summit is 4,299 metres. Emma's winning time was 4:21:09 comprising an ascent time of 2:46:28 and a descent time of 1:34:41. She placed 11th outright in a field of approximately 700 runners. She broke the 25-29 age-group record from 1981 by just over 10 minutes in winning the race, 4 minutes 35 seconds ahead of local runner Danelle Ballengee. Emma missed the female course record held by Lynn Bjorklund by just under 5 minutes (4:15:18).

Weston Creek's Trevor Jacobs won the M50 category in 4:49:38 and reported that coming back down the mountain Emma "looked just fine as she always does! Even after the race it was as though she hadn't been in a race - looked totally normal, if you know what I mean, while the rest of us were a sad crumbled massy heap".
The winner of the race was local runner Matt Carpenter, 42, in a time of 3:33:07. Matt also holds the course record of 3:16:39 set in 1993.

On the first day of the 11th IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, Angeline Blackburn qualified for the semi-finals of the 400 metres. Drawn in Heat 4, Angeline ran a season's best of 54.76. In the semi-finals on Wednesday August 16, she ran in heat 3 and placed 4th in a personal best time of 54.03. The winner of Angie's semi was Sutherland Sonita from Jamaica who was also the fastest qualifier for the final with a time of 51.67. Sonita was the 400m silver medalist in the 10th World Junior Championships. On Saturday, August 19, Angeline ran in heat 2 of the 4x400m relay for Australia. The team of Angie, Suzie Knight, Lauren Boden and Jacqueline Davies placed 7th in a season's best time of 3:40.90. The team from the United States won the heat in 3:34.83.

Our School's Cross Country program at Fadden Pines concluded on Sunday 6 August with the 'championship day'. It was a perfect day for running and the club was very pleased to have in attendance Commonwealth Games steeplechaser Martin Dent. Marty fired the starter's gun for the 2000 metre race and then the presented awards at the conclusion of all the races. The awards for individuals were embossed ribbons for 1st to 6th places with certificates for all finishers. Perpetual trophies were presented to runners from the winning school teams for the season. Marty was very generous with his time, having his photo taken with many participants and signing autographs for the young runners who may one day follow in his footsteps and represent Australia.
A free BBQ of sausage sandwiches and soft drinks was provided to all in attendance [thanks go to Mike Sexton for organising and cooking the BBQ]. There are a few photos from the day here. Full results are on the 2006 page, but here are the winners: Grace Unwin, Emily Davey, Emma Windsor, Emma Papantoniou, Nicola Torley, Catriona Windsor, Susan Phair, Thomas Davey, Connor Brice, Brendan Tanks, Ben Anido, Ben English, Michael Torley, Samuel Tickle, Christo Dunkley, Robert Dunkley and Robert Torley. The SCT committee hopes everyone enjoyed the season and we'll be back again in 2007. Tell your friends!

This 'fun run' is held in the country town of Albury down on the Victorian border. On May 7, cold, wet and muddy conditions were faced by the enthusiastic crowd of about 800 runners. SCT's Michael Hosking was in contention for a win - leading the race early before having a long battle with eventual winner Jeremy Horne from Albury. Michael lost ground on the final descent of Nail Can Hill and finished second in 38:59 for the 11.3km course with Horne not far ahead in 38:45. SCT's Ben Dawson placed 4th in 41:34 while Jillian Hosking was the 9th female to finish in 54:22. The first female was 8-time winner Julie Gollan-Foard in 46:51. In the category results, Jillian Hosking was 3rd U20 female, Ben Dawson 1st U20 male and Michael Hosking 2nd 20-39 male. The Hoskings won the family category with Michael, Greg, Jillian and Garry running 202:05. Results:

2 Michael Hosking 38:59, 4 Ben Dawson 41:34, 25 Nick Mesher 47:10, 92 Greg Hosking 52:14, 133 Peter Hosking 54:08, 139 Jillian Hosking 54:22, 141 Charlie Modrak 54:31, 154 Jim White 55:19, 168 Garry Hosking 56:30, 261 Ewen Thompson 60:56, 269 Pat Scammell 61:10.

The Terry Fox Fun Runs were held on Sunday June 18. Only the top 25 finishers are recorded in both the 5k and 10k events. SCT runners again performed well and here are the results:
5km Female: 1 Marnie Ponton (WH) 17:03, 3 Kelly Roberts 18:30, 6 Kathy Southgate 19:13, 7 Anne Southgate 19:27, 10 Hannah Flannery 20:21, 12 Catriona Windsor 20:38, 13 Kerrie Tanner 20:44, 15 Nicola Torley 21:37, 16 Sarah Dobbie 21:44, 18 Elizabeth Hosking 22:00.

5km Male: 1 Mark Thompson (Vic) 15:08, 3 Mark Shepherd 15:20, 4 Michael Hosking 15:34, 6 Ben Dawson 16:47, 8 Philip Turini 16:58, 9 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 17:03, 12 Ashley Colquhoun 18:23, 13 Robert Torley 18:35, 16 Peter Hosking 18:59, 17 Hugh Jorgensen 19:18.
10km Female: 1 Joy Terry (WH) 35:26.
10km Male: 1 Scott McTaggart (NCG) 30:20, 5 Chris Williams 34:35.

The famous Sri Chinmoy multi-lap (13 x 1 mile!) half marathon also includes shorter events of 2 miles and 5 miles. Sunday 7 August was a great morning to have a run and yet another pancake at the free post-race breakfast. Jim White edged closer to the sub 1:30 barrier and just needs a one lap handicap. Rob Torley firmed up our friendship with the Bega runners and hopefully some will be joining SCT for the athletics season which will boost our already high stock of talent. In the 5 mile Rob did the right thing and let them finish ahead, or so he said! Josh and Nicola Torley both recorded great PBs in the 2 mile event.
Results: 2 mile U13 Boys 1st Joshua Torley 15:34, U13 Girls 1st Nicola Torley 12:53. 5 mile 1st Bart McPherson 27:08, 2nd Andrew Law 29:01, 3rd Robert Torley 30:33, 4th Keith Law 30:39, 5th Paul Torley 32:16. Half Marathon 50-59 5th Jim White 1:35:56.

SCT's Angeline Blackburn has been selected in the 53-strong team of athletes to compete in the 11th IAAF World Junior (U20) Championships to be held in Beijing China, next August. Angeline will compete in the 400 metres and the 4 x 400m relay. Other ACT athletes in the team are Brandan Galic, Zoe Buckman and Lauren Boden.

The Championships were held on Saturday 22 July at Weston Park. Many SCT athletes took part and following are their results, along with the winners of each race:

Girls U12 2km: 1 Nicola Torley 9:14, 2 Elizabeth Hosking 9:41, 7 Caitlin Hosking 10:29, 9 Emma Windsor 12:21.
Girls U14 3km: 3 Catriona Windsor 11:49. [1st Anna Brichacek 11:19].
Girls U16 4km: 3 Courtney Kennedy 16:18, 4 Sarah Dobbie 16:35. [1st Rebecca Henderson 15:32].
Women U18 4km: [1st Emily Brichacek 13:57].
Women U20 6km: 2 Hannah Flannery 26:47. [1st Hillory Davis 24:52].
Women Open 8km: 5 Jessamy Hosking 33:10, 10 Kerrie Tanner 34:55. [1st Marnie Ponton 28:20].

Boys U12 2km: 7 Joshua Torley 10:25, 8 Rowan Dunkley 10:39, 10 Andrew Hosking 11:01. [1st L Calvert 8:47].
Boys U14 3km: 1 Declan Wilson 10:36, 4 Christo Dunkley 10:52, 8 Greg Hosking 12:04, 10 Nathan Cassilles Southgate 13:51.
Boys U16 4km: 3 Robert Dunkley 14:40, 6 Peter Hosking 15:13. [1st B Robinson 13:23].
Men U18 6km: [1st Mitchel Lamb 20:19].
Men U20 8km: 1 Ben Dawson 27:02, 3 Keith Cassilles Southgate 30:07.
Men Open 12km: 5 Michael Hosking 39:09, 10 Stuart Doyle 40:58, 12 Mark Shepherd 41:17, 22 Geoff Monro 44:58, 23 Greg Regester 45:41, 24 Nick Mesher 45:48, 26 Chris Newton 46:49, 49 Brian Wenn 51:56, 60 Paul Torley 53:44, 61 Jim White 53:52, 64 Charlie Modrak 54:46. [1st Scott McTaggart 37:32].

Jessamy Hosking, Stuart Doyle and Emma Murray have been announced as members of the Australian Team to compete in the World Mountain Running Championships. All three are members of South Canberra Tuggeranong Athletics Club! The Championships are being held on September 10th over an uphill 8km course on My Olympus in Turkey. Emma competed in the 2005 World Championships in New Zealand and this year is joined by club mate Jessamy Hosking who was the second finisher in the Australian championship on Mt Tennent, and Sydney's Cindy King (Randwick Botany) who was third. Hosking smashed the course record in winning the Black Mountain Run Up on Tuesday 18 July in 14 mins 49 secs and is representing Australia for the first time in Turkey.

Stuart Doyle has been in fine form, setting a new course record of 11 mins 37 seconds for the 2.6km ascent in winning the Black Mountain Run Up on Tuesday 18 July. He also ran a personal best time in the ACT Cross Country Championships placing 10th in 40:58 for the 12k course. The other members of the Australian men's team are Scott McTaggart (North Canberra Gunghalin), Jeremy Horne (Randwick Botany), Ben du Bois (Kembla Joggers), Stephen Brown (Kembla Joggers) and Barry Keem (Illawarra Blue Stars). The junior men's team includes outstanding national junior cross country and track runners Ryan Gregson (Kembla Joggers) plus David Mainwaring and Dominic Perry (Gosford Athletics Club).

Emma will also be defending her World Long Course Mountain Running Championship title on 20th August at the 42 km Pike's Peak marathon in Colorado, USA. There is a gruelling 21 km climb to a snow-covered, boulder-clad summit over 4000 metres in altitude before the tough 21 km descent back to Colorado Springs. The other Australian representative is Canberra ultra running legend Trevor Jacobs of Weston Creek Athletics Club. Both have been doing 2 or 3 sessions a week either on a treadmill or a bicycle in the AIS altitude training tent under the supervision of Dr Philo Saunders to prepare themselves for the high altitude. At the summit they will experience 25% less oxygen than at sea level.

ACT Athletics has announced the 'Laurel Wreath' registration numbers for the 2006/07 season. These numbers go to the best athletes from the previous season. Just 25 numbers are awarded, with Commonwealth Games athletes well represented such as Patrick Johnson (2) and Martin Dent (6). Congratulations to the two SCT athletes who have been awarded these numbers - Emma Murray (8) and Angie Blackburn (16).

A number of SCT athletes travelled up to Bankstown for the championships held on Saturday 15 July. Here are their results:
U12 1500m Girls - Nicola Torley 6th 6:28. U14 2000m Girls - Catriona Windsor 6th 8:37. 2k Fun run - Joshua Torley 12th. 4k Fun run - Robert Torley 1st 15:00, Paul Torley 2nd 15:52. Michael Hosking TBA.
"The course was the slippery all the way after the rain. It was so muddy everyone was sliding. Down hill running took a new form of caution with runners grabbing trees to round corners and stay up-right. The conditions made for an exciting dirty weekend for all. Excellent performances considering the conditions with SCT doing a solo effort at representing ACT with great results."

The 2005-06 ACT Athletics Award ceremony was held on Tuesday 30 May. The award for the most outstanding athlete, the Globe Award, was presented to Commonwealth Games champion hammer thrower Stuart Rendell. Stuart was chosen ahead of a vastly talented field of athletes including Patrick Johnson, Kerrie Taurima, Martin Dent, Jackie Fairweather, Emma Murray (SCT), Amanda Fraser and Murray Goldfinch.

The Senator Margaret Reid Trophy for the outstanding junior athlete was chosen from a field of all female nominations, all of whom who had achieved World Junior qualifying times during the season. The field included Angie Blackburn (SCT), Lauren Boden, Emily Brichacek and Zoe Buckman. The winner was Lauren Boden who competed recently at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

The Summer Season age champion awards were presented to the most outstanding male and female athlete in each age group taking into account performances at international, national and state/territory events. The U18 awards were presented jointly to Zoe Buckman and Angeline Blackburn (SCT) for the female and Brendon Reading for the male. The U14 male award was also a joint presentation to Declan Wilson and Liam Dwyer, both members of SCT with Hayleigh Wortley taking out the female award.

The awards night also recognised achievement during the winter season, or Out of Stadium season. Winners in each of the categories were: Men: Open - Martin Dent; U20 - Scott Tomlinson; U18 - Brendon Reading; U16 - Mitchell Lamb; U14 - Liam Dwyer (SCT). Women: Open - Jackie Fairweather; U20 - Jillian Hosking; (SCT) U18 - Anne Southgate; (SCT) U16 - Emily Brichacek; U14 - Courtney Kennedy (SCT).

This year the Junior Carillon Relays were held over a new course because of construction works near Kings Avenue. Each runner covered a lap distance of approximately 2.15km and there were three in each team. SCT fielded five teams and our male and female teams both placed second to Woden Harriers. Our fastest runners were Phil Turini (7:04) and Anne Southgate (8:11). The course was bone dry, but more easily navigable than the old course, so well received by the runners. Here are our results:

ACTSport has announced the ClubsACT Sportstar of the Year winners for April. SCT's Emma Murray has won the female award for her outstanding win in the Australian Mountain Running Championships held on Mount Tennent near Tharwa. The announcement said that Emmma won "in a world class time of 49 mins 27secs for the 8.3km course with 850m in elevation gain. South Canberra Tuggeranong clubmate Jessamy Hosking finished second in 52:32 after running hot on Murray's heels during the first few kilometres."
The male winner was professional cyclist Rob McLachlan. Ex-SCT distance runner and high jumper Stuart Shaw who is now a cyclist received a mention: "Sunday's 150km last stage proved to be the critical point in the race with Rob and Canberra super talent and Drapac Porsche Team mate Stuart Shaw initiating an attack and establishing a break early in the Stage." Speed skier Michael Milton won the AIS Award.

The Canberra Half was a Cross Country Club pointscoring event for seniors. A good number of SCT runners were competing, but only one female. Noni Clarke placed second outright in 82:46, a minute outside her PB and 2 minutes behind race winner Joy Terry (80:22). Chris Williams placed 5th outright, over two minutes ahead of his previous best time with 75:42. Nick Walshe placed 10th and Gareth Candy 13th. The race was won by Gareth Halverson in 71:13.
SCT Results:
5 Chris Williams 75:42, 10 Nick Walshe 77:12, 13 Gareth Candy 78:26, 15 Geoff Monro 79:34, 20 Greg Regester 81:51, 24 Noni Clarke 82:46, 44 Chris Newton 87:18, 60 Nick Mesher 89:15, 63 Hugh Jorgensen 89:30, 129 Jim White 96:51, 341 Don Roach 1:58:00.

This year the championships were held at Bruce in Canberra on 22 April. In perfect conditions, SCT middle distance runner Liam Dwyer was the best performed member of the ACT team, winning two medals in the one day event. Liam won silver in the 1500m in a PB of 4:31.1, a time which broke Declan Wilson's under-14 club record. In the 800 metres, Liam won the bronze medal in 2:10.1, erasing Chris Williams' name from the record books.
Liam's training partners also performed well at the championships. Tom Lonsdale placed 5th in the 1500m (4:41.1) and 9th in the 800m (2:19.0). Sarah Londsdale placed 7th in the 1500m (5:03.5) and 8th in the 800m (2:31.6). Siobhan Andrews placed 5th in the 1500m (5:00.4) and 6th in the 800m (2:28.5).

For 2006 the Victorian Championships were held over the weekend of 17 February on the new track at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a trial of the facility for the Commonwealth Games. A number of SCT athletes took part and here are their results:
Women's 800m - Kelly Roberts, Round 1, 2nd 2:18.89, Round 2, 2nd 2:13.45, Final, 7th 2:12.66. Men's 800m B-series - Gareth Candy 5th Heat 7, 2:02.48. Men's 5000m - Mark Shepherd 16th 14:36.40. Mixed Seated Shot Put - Greg Hibberd 1st 9.56m (1102pts).

Was held on Wednesday 17 May. The committee for 2006/07 largely remains the same as the one which served SCT in 2005/06 with the addition of Chris Williams to the general committee. Geoff Monro is President, Mike Sexton Treasurer, Gordon Nightingale Secretary and Paul Torley Registrar. Kayler Torley is Uniforms Manager with assistance from Jim White.Awards were presented for Winter 2005 and Summer 2005/06 competition. Jim White won the prestigious President's Trophy. If you won an award and weren't able to attend the evening, please contact Jane McGlew.

On Sunday 7 May, 91 runners took part in the 10km and 4km fun runs at Acton Ferry Terminal. SCT runners were out in force with Geoff Monro taking out the 10k and Robert Torley the 4k. Here are the results for SCT runners: 10km Fun Run: 1 Geoff Monro 37:59. 4km Under-13: 1 Michael Torley 17:57, 3 Joshua Torley 19:33. 4km 17 and over: 1 Robert Torley 14:18, 3 Paul Torley 15:33. Girls 4km Under-13: 1 Catriona Windsor 16:41, 2 Nicola Torley 17:08. Girls 4km Under-17: 1 Kayler Torley 18:05.

The 2006 Australian Mountain Running Championships were held at Mount Tennant on Saturday 29 April. SCT's Emma Murray took out the women's title, an improvement on her 4th placing from last year. The following is from AMRA president John Harding's report:

Mt Tennent, ACT. Saturday 29 April. Weather: Overcast, still, about 16 degrees.
World long distance mountain running champion Emma Murray won her first Australian mountain running title with a three minute victory in today's Telstra Australian Mountain Running Championships on Mt Tennent near Tharwa in the ACT. Murray clocked a world class 49 mins 27secs for the 8.3km course with 850m in elevation gain. The surprise of the race was her South Canberra Tuggeranong clubmate Jessamy Hosking who finished second in 52:32 after running hot on Murray's heels during the first few kilometres. Third was Sydney runner Cindy King of Randwick Botany in 53:01.
North Canberra Gungahlin Athletics Club's Scott McTaggart successfully defended his 2005 Australian title when he took out the men's 12 kilometre race in 54:50. Sydney's Jeremy Horne was second in 56:23 and Wollongong's Stephen Brown third in 58:10. Stuart Doyle finished a very close fourth in 58:13, his best ever performance in an Australian Championship. Gareth Candy placed 9th in 64:49 while SCT president Geoff Monro ran 69:15 to place 16th and second in the Veterans' M40 category.

The SCT senior women's team held off a fast finishing Woden Harriers to win the 2006 Anzac Relays held at Campbell Park on 25 April. Emma Murray, Noni Clarke, Hannah Flannery and Kelly Roberts won in great style ahead of a Harriers squad which included former Australian representative Joy Terry and national medallist Sarah Salmon.Our senior men's team ran an excellent second after leading Weston Creek into the third leg. Unfortunately Ben Dawson running the third leg was unable to hold off Australian cross country champion Martin Dent. In finishing second, our 'A' team ran 46 seconds faster than last year. The closest finish was by our 'B' team lead by Brian Wenn which finished one second ahead of our 'C' team when Michael Hosking beat Keith Cassiles-Southgate in a sprint finish.
Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day, especially Mike Sexton, Paul Torley, Jane McGlew and all the 'parents' who assisted with lap scoring. We managed to field a record ten teams, two up on last year. Here are the SCT results:

The Canberra Marathon on April 9 was blessed with the best weather for running since last century. A low of 1 degrees celsius at 7am rose to a comfortable 12 for the 4 hour finishers. The humidity was low and there was zero wind. In short, it was a spectacular day for running or watching.
Emma Murray was one of the main subjects of pre-race publicity as this was to be her first road marathon. She has dominated all long trail races in Australia and last year won the World Long Course Mountain Running Championships. Emma ran a steady, somewhat conservative race, starting in second place and maintaining this all the way to finish in 2:45:42. She took ground off race winner Shireen Crumpton in the second half but the experienced New Zealander had too much of a gap and won in 2:42:55. Emma is now targeting the Australian Mountain Running Championships to be held on an 'up' course at Mount Tennant.
Our male marathoners also performed well taking out the gold medal for the ACT club championships. Greg Dutton-Regester ran a PB with 2:52:41 (34th) while 20-year-old Chris Williams was not far behind in 2:53:59 which was a 2 minute PB. SCT's third placed runner was experienced veteran Nick Mesher in 3:20:18. Nick is now training for a sub-3 attempt at the Sydney Marathon in September. Chris Newton ran 3:26:40 to place 238th. There were 866 finishers in the marathon which was one of the biggest fields since 1984.

The 5 and 10 kilometre fun runs were held on Saturday 8 April. Once again SCT runners performed exceptionally well as the following results show:
5km Fun Run:
4th Mark Shepherd 15:11, 5th Michael Hosking 16:16, 11th Keith Cassilles Southgate 17:27, 20th Peter Hosking 19:26, 21st Greg Hosking 19:44, 51st Elizabeth Hosking 22:55, 52nd Garry Hosking 23:00, 64th Caitlin Hosking 24:06, 75th Nathan Cassilles Southgate 25:23, 109th Dianne Shepherd 28:25, 110th Conrad Shepherd 28:31. There were 223 finishers in the 5k.
10km Fun Run:
8th Nick Walshe 34:54, 42nd Hugh Jorgensen 41:24, 77th Jim White 44:44.

For 2006 this prestigious event was held in Algiers on Friday 24 March and SCT had two runners competing. Mark Shepherd placed 40th and first Australian in 30:19 while Michael Hosking placed 46th in 30:38 (2nd Aussie). There were 68 runners in the championships with Moroccans filling the first 4 places. The race was over a distance of 9.4km and the winner's time was 27:59.

The 20th anniversary ACTEWAGL Women and Girls' 5km Fun Run and Walk was held on Sunday 2 April. The race was won by Woden Harriers' Joy Terry in 17:19. SCT's Noni Clarke placed 2nd while Kathy Southgate was 7th. Kathy and Anne Southgate easily won the mother and daughter category. Here are the results for SCT members:
2 Noni Clarke 17:28, 7 Kathy Southgate 18:34, 9 Kelly Roberts 18:57, 13 Anne Southgate 19:26, 17 Jessamy Hosking 19:58, 21 Kerrie Tanner 20:26, 22 Jillian Hosking 20:32, 55 Libby Hosking 22:59, 83 Christina Ivansson 24:05, 98 Karen Daniels 24:45, 133 Caitlin Hosking 25:38, 221 Dianne Shepherd 28:01, 223 Jennifer Ivansson 28:10, 245th Christine Hosking 28:47.

Emma Murray broke her own course record at the Six Foot Track 45km Marathon held on March 11 2006. Emma lead from start to finish to win in an astonishing 3 hours 37 minutes 28 seconds, taking over six minutes from her 2005 winning time. She also finished fourth overall in the race which doubles as the Australian long course mountain championships. There were 718 finishers in 2006, an increase of 133 on the previous year. Ewen Thompson made it from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves in 675th place taking 6hrs 56 minutes 9 seconds, almost twice as long as Emma to complete the distance.

Three SCT athletes were approved for membership of the VEADF at the last committee meeting. Congratulations to Angeline Blackburn and Emma Murray [Gold Membership] and Mark Shepherd [Silver Membership]. Once a letter is submitted outlining the athletes' plans for the next 12 months, cheques from the fund will be issued by the treasurer. The VEADF is a scheme supported by the Tuggeranong Valley Rugby Union Club. The club matches funds raised by SCT one to one for the VEADF. If you have any fund-raising ideas for the VEADF, please contact the secretary Gordon Nightingale or Mike Sexton.

The Championships were held from the 24th to the 26th of February at the AIS track, Bruce. Following are the results for SCT athletes. Congratulations to all who competed and thanks to our hard working officials!

Men
Open 5000m Walk - 1 Ashley Colquhoun 23:06.99.
Mixed Shot Put Seated - 2 Frederic Periac 9.67m. 3 Gregory Hibberd 9.49m.
Under-20 400m - 4 Philip Turini 52.50.
Under-20 1500m - 1 Benjamin Dawson 4:08.47.
Under-16 100m - 7 Adam Cunningham 15.20.
Under-16 1500m - 6 Lucas Attwood 4:48.36. 7 Peter Hosking 4:56.12.
Under-14 100m - 1 Kiefer Martyn 13.32.
Under-14 400m - 1 Declan Wilson 1:02.12.
Under-14 1500m - 1 Declan Wilson 4:38.65. 2 Liam Dwyer 4:41.35. 4 Daniel Frecker 5:08.02.
Mixed Discus Seated - 1 Frederic Periac 30.55m. 4 Gregory Hibberd 26.91m.
Open 800m - 6 Philip Turini 2:01.91.
Open 3000m Steeplechase - 4 Darryl Hill 11:25.60.
Open Javelin - 2 Wade McMahon 41.92m.
Under-16 200m - 5 Adam Cunningham 31.83.
Under-16 800m - 6 Peter Hosking 2:22.28. 7 Lucas Attwood 2:24.12.
Under-16 Long Jump - 4 Adam Cunningham 3.79m.
Under-14 200m - 1 Kiefer Martyn 27.99.
Under-14 800m - 1 Liam Dwyer 2:17.12. 2 Declan Wilson 2:18.10. 4 Daniel Frecker 2:30.89.

Women
Open 100m - 8 Eowyn Osborne 15.56.
Open 400m - 1 Angeline Blackburn 54.64. 3 Kelly Roberts 58.62.
Under-20 1500m - 1 Hannah Flannery 5:16.10.
Under-18 400m - 1 Anastasia Havlat 1:01.52. 4 Courtney Wilson 1:06.30.
Under-18 1500m - 3 Anne Southgate 5:08.51. 4 Kayler Torley 5:13.41.
Under-16 400m - 1 Courtney Kennedy 1:03.38. 2 Siobhan Andrews 1:03.74.
Under-16 1500m - 1 Siobhan Andrews 4:57.64. 2 Courtney Kennedy 5:02.91.
Under-14 400m - 5 Catriona Windsor 1:07.21.
Under-14 1500m - 4 Catriona Windsor 5:22.73.
Open 200m - 5 Eowyn Osborne 34.29.
Open 800m - 3 Kelly Roberts 2:10.73.
Open Long Jump - 1 Eowyn Osborne 3.69m.
Under-18 200m - 1 Angeline Blackburn 25.24. 6 Courtney Wilson 29.70.
Under-18 800m - 2 Anne Southgate 2:23.86. 4 Kayler Torley 2:37.14.
Under-18 2000m Steeplechase - 1 Anne Southgate 8:10.92.
Under-18 High Jump - 2 Anastasia Havlat 1.55m.
Under-18 Long Jump - 3 Courtney Wilson 5.11m.
Under-16 800m - 1 Siobhan Andrews 2:26.04. 2 Courtney Kennedy 2:28.30.
Under-16 2000m Steeplechase - 1 Catriona Windsor 8:20.28.
Under-14 800m - 4 Catriona Windsor 2:32.61.

The Tuggeranong Valley Rugby Union & Amateur Sports Club held their annual awards night on Friday. SCT nominated 3 members for awards. All were successful in being 'nominees' - Emma Murray, Angeline Blackburn and Dot Mills.

To the delighted surprise of all SCT members (and guests) in attendence Angie won the Retravision Junior Shield for the being the best junior sportsperson. Dot unfortunately didn't win the 'volunteer' award but received a nice plaque and $50 as did all successful nominees.
We all had our fingers crossed when the list of nominees and their achievements were read out for the 'big one' - the Sportsman's Warehouse HR Heher Shield for the best individual sportsperson in 2005. Mike Sexton had done a great job compressing Emma's many achievements into the one page nomination including her World Long Distance Mountain Championship.
Our table errupted in cheering when the master of ceremonies said "the winner of the HR Heher Shield for 2006 is Emma Murray, South Canberra Tuggeranong Athletics Club".

There were eight races in the 'Summer Series' for 2006. Many SCT runners took part and our top four finishers in the long races are listed below:

Race 1, Weston Park 5k (31 January): Female: 4 Noni Clarke 19:51, 6 Jessamy Hosking 20:56, 9 Kerrie Tanner 22:17, 17 Kerrie Bremner 24:46. Male: 6 Nick Walshe 17:42, 11 Allan McGlew 18:54, 16 Chris Williams 19:22, 21 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 19:44.

Race 2, Eddison Park 5.3k (7 February): Female: 2 Noni Clarke 19:20, 5 Jessamy Hosking 20:25, 11 Kerrie Tanner 22:02, 19 Dominique Wilson 24:30. Male: 4 Nick Walshe 17:44, 6 Chris Williams 18:21, 12 Allan McGlew 19:10, 16 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 19:52.

Race 3, Stage-88 5k (14 February): Female: 2 Noni Clarke 18:36, 5 Jessamy Hosking 20:13, 11 Kerrie Bremner 22:31. Male: 4 Nick Walshe 16:59, 6 Chris Williams 17:49, 15 David Wilson 19:26, 16 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 19:26.

Race 4, Lake Ginninderra 7k (21 February): Female: 8 Kerrie Tanner 30:35, 10 Kerrie Bremner 31:33. Male: 7 Nick Walshe 25:35, 14 Greg Regester 26:41, 18 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 27:31, 20 Darryl Hill 27:53.

Race 5, Reconciliation Place 5k (28 February): Female: 2 Noni Clarke 18:06, 3 Emma Murray 18:32, 7 Jessamy Hosking 20:24, 14 Kerrie Tanner 21:21. Male: 16 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 18:14, 33 Colin Bridge 20:05, 36 Paul Torley 20:11, 46 Hugh Jorgensen 20:44.

Race 6, Boat House 5k (7 March): Female: 2 Emma Murray 18:45, 3 Noni Clarke 18:57, 7 Jessamy Hosking 20:22, 9 Hannah Flannery 21:17. Male: 4 Chris Williams 17:33, 12 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 18:27, 26 Greg Regester 20:10, 27 Peter Hosking 20:20.

Race 7, South Curtin 5.3k (14 March): Female: 2 Jessamy Hosking 21:39, 12 Nicola Torley 27:58, 13 Dimity Herstik 27:58. Male: 5 Nick Walshe 18:47, 12 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 20:12, 15 Robert Torley 21:12, 24 Colin Bridge 22:48.

Race 8, Acton Ferry 5k (21 March): Female: 2 Noni Clarke 18:18, 6 Jessamy Hosking 20:18, 8 Kerrie Tanner 21:10, 13 Catriona Windsor 22:34. Male: 15 Keith Cassilles-Southgate 18:16, 23 Robert Torley 19:29, 24 Peter Hosking 19:30, 31 Colin Bridge 20:10.

The surprise ACT Championship win by Stuart Doyle at the ACT Mountain Running Championships was featured in an article in the Canberra Times. The article was titled 'Swiss crashes ACT party with mountain know-how'...
"David Schneider, the orienteering champion of Switzerland, a country renowned for both its stunning mountain scenery and its elite mountain runners, caused a major upset in leading from start to finish to defeat an ACT men's field containing four of the top five members of the Australian mountain running team. Dual Australian champion Ben Dubois of Wollongong was second in 58:56, with fellow Australian team members from Wollongong, Barry Keem and Stephen Brown, next in 59:06 and 59:49. South Canberra Tuggeranong Tour de Mountain champion Stuart Doyle caused a boilover by taking out the ACT resident title in 60:47 from North Canberra Gungahlin's Australian representative David Osmond who ran 60:47, with veteran orienteer Anthony Scott third in 63:09. The Australian Championships will be conducted over the same courses on Mt Tennent on 29th April." SCT Results: 5 Stuart Doyle 39, 60.47. 25 Hugh Jorgensen 40, 91.04.

The trials were combined with the 84th Australian T&F Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park from 2 to 5 February 2006. Here are the results for SCT athletes:
Males:
10,000m - 8th Michael Hosking (1st U23) 31:47.47. 20k Race Walk - 12th Ashley Colquhoun (4th U23) 1:44:05. Pole Vault - 11th Scott Dziubinski 4.80m. 100m Ambulant - 6th Adam Cunningham 15.30. 200m Ambulant - 7th Adam Cunningham 31.29. Long Jump Ambulant - 5th Adam Cunningham 3.66m. Discus Wheelchair - 6th Frederic Periac 32.71m, 7th Greg Hibberd 25.22m. Shot Put Wheelchair - 2nd Greg Hibberd 10.08m, 6th Frederic Periac 9.09m.
Females:
800m Heat 1 - 7th Kelly Roberts 2:12.02. 10k Race Walk U20 - 4th Jillian Hosking 52:03. 100m Ambulant - 5th Eowyn Osborne 15.30. 200m Ambulant - 6th Eowyn Osborne 34.46. Long Jump Ambulant - 3rd Eowyn Osborne 3.48m.

A competition for promising Australian U18 athletes was held at Sydney Olympic Park on 4 and 5 February. SCT had three female representatives in the ACT team and here are their individual results:
Kayler Torley - 800m 6th 2:30.44, 1500m 5th 5:14.16. Anne Southgate - 3000m 3rd 11:04.70, 2000m Steeplechase 2nd 7:25.07. Angeline Blackburn - 400m 1st 55.74.

These were held at Interclub on 7 February. In the female race Kayler Torley won the silver medal in 11:45.61 and Catriona Windsor the bronze in 12:26.01. The winner of the race was Weston Creek's Emily Brichacek in 9:26.54. In the male race Peter Hosking won the silver medal in 10:44.40 behind Woden Harriers' John Boden in 10:11.59. The 4x1500m relay was held during the 31 January Interclub. The SCT team won the female race easily in 21:16.09. Our males placed second in 18:31.67.

We now have a good supply of a freshly designed club tracksuit. They are available from Mike Sexton who will be at Interclub track & field competition from 4pm on Saturday afternoons. The price is $100 for the full tracksuit or $60 for the top and $40 for the pants.

It's been over 12 months since the last Tuggie Athlete was produced. The information in Tuggie Athlete is available on the web. Go to www.sctathletics.com/ta_links.html and select the number at the top of the page of the Tuggie Athlete you wish to read.

I believe it's still important to stay in contact with members of SCT using a paper newsletter. If I'm elected as Editor/Web Developer at our AGM, I intend to publish future Tuggie Athletes in the version you are now reading... just a one or two page summary of the information that's already produced on the SCT website.

Doing this will achieve a couple of important aims: It will reduce the amount of work for the editor (having to produce both paper and web versions of the same information). It will save money on printing costs (about $500 per year if we produce four editions). It will be easier to have newsworthy information posted to members on a regular basis - perhaps every two months, rather than every three or four months.

Finally, I'd like to encourage members to attend our AGM and Awards night on Wednesday 16 May (Erindale Club). We need a few new faces on the committee. All positions will be declared vacant, but there are a few important ones we need volunteers for: Secretary, Registrar and Uniforms Manager. See you there, and good running for the winter season!

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