Sri Chinmoy Centennial Park Half-Marathon, 7km & 4km cross-country runs, Monday 1 April 2024
During the pre-dawn set-up, a scant layer of mist hung coyly over McKay Sportsground, only nominally masking the brazen glory of the impending morning. There have been soggy, sodden races at Centennial Park, and others dry and thirsty: today was postcard perfect, with every needle on the dial pointing to optimum.
In the feature event of the day, Craig Gilbertson ran a controlled race to claim the outright win in 1:25:00, from John McCormack in 1:26:31 and Ryan Beattie with 1:27:58. Bianca Pietrass-Wong took out the women’s race, clocking 1:42:37, from Wenying Zhou with 1:47:09 and Allison Lemar in 1:48:08. In the F50-59, it was Brigitte Jefferson winning with 1:46:38 from Margriet Wooldridge’s 1:53:00 and Annabel Hepworth’s 2:13:51; while on the men’s side, Steve Johnston claimed first M50-59 in 1:34:46 from Jeremy Smith with 1:35:47 and Michael Power in 1:42:02. Kieron Blackmore won the M60-69 convincingly with 1:44:07, from Steve Kibble’s 2:07:00; and Pamela Blaikie took home the F60-69 prize in 2:32:07. Ben Dall’Amico won the M70+ with 2:47:48.
James Icanovski and Olivia Ghisoni led the men’s and women’s 7km races from the start, and were both never challenged: Olivia winning in 27:59 and claiming 3rd overall in the race; while James won the race outright in 25:31. 2nd Male Under 50 was Chris Vallely in 27:50, from Anthony Lobo’s 29:39.
David Carson was fastest amongst M50-59 today in 31:08, from Ben Corkill’s 31:42 and Aaron Francey with 32:56. The M60-69 category saw Marc Jarman triumph with 49:12, not far ahead of Hugh Langshaw’s 49:31; while Rob Ellis took out the M70+ with a fine effort of 34:27.
Meanwhile, 2nd place in the women’s race went to Georgina Pembroke with 29:43, from 3rd placed Madeline Playford’s 32:59. Roisin Boyle returned to her winning ways in the F50-59 with a fine 34:15, from Zoe Melling in 37:49 and Anne Conlon with 44:19. Carolyn Hinds took out the F60-69 with 51:31; and the flying Mieke Masselos won the F70+ with 44:23.
In the 4km race, Olivia Boulton won the Girls Under 13s with her excellent 16:48; Gabi Sukh took out the Girls Under 17s in 21:38; while Jane Kagotich-Parish was first among the Female 17 and Over with 17:56. First place in the Boys Under 13 saw Julius Dyer with 17:07; Sol Martinez claimed the Boys Under 17 crown as well as winning the race outright with a fleet-of-foot 14:41; while Andrew Dyer won the Male 17 and Over in 17:13.