Bacchus Marsh Little Athletics

ATHLETES from around the state competed at the Little Athletics Victoria Cross Country Relay Championships at Cruden Farm, Langwarrin on Saturday.

First to represent the Bacchus Marsh Centre were the Boys Under 11 team consisting of Mitchell Tung, Joshua Askew and Harry Holland. Each athlete completed a lap of the 1.5km course.

In a pack start, it was Mitchell who led out for the Marsh. The undulating course tested many athletes. Mitchell had the team sitting in 9th place at the first changeover. Josh powered through the course, overtaking several competitors in the later stages to bring the team into 7th place.

Harry Holland put in a determined effort against some strong, tall boys. The team should be extremely proud of their 9th place in the state, out of 32 teams.

Next up were the Girls Under 13 teams, with each girl completing a 2km leg of the course. Elise Holland was a late call up, to fill in for the Western Metro invitational team to combine with athletes from the Werribee and Geelong centres.

Elise has shown vast improvement over the season and ran a superb race for the team. The team finished in an unofficial placing of 12th overall.

The Boys Under 15 3x2km race was our next to have athletes compete in. Caleb Hurst, who although does not compete in the regular cross country season, helped out to form a Western Metro Region representative team, along with Nicholas Ibrahim and Jujhar Tamber from the Melton City Centre.

Jujhar was the first runner and had the team sitting in 5th place for the first change over. Nicholas Ibrahim, an athlete who always shows grit and determination, again did not disappoint, putting in a fantastic effort to close the gap on his nearest competitor before handing over to Caleb for the final lap.

Caleb ran a superb race and should be very proud of his run. The boys finished a creditable 5th place in the state.

Harry Johansen teamed up with Melton City athletes, Harry Wark and Octavius Pirangi to represent the region in the Boys Under 10 3x 1km event.

35 teams toed the line and Harry led the region team out over the first leg of the course. Teams quickly strung out over the course while Harry tucked in mid-field at the halfway point before powering home for the team. Both Harry and Octavius ran well over their allocated legs and the boys finished the race in 18th place overall.

The next race on the schedule was the Girls Under 10 3x1km event. Nyah Halfhide also stepped in to fill a team for the Marsh. Nyah ran the first leg for the team and a conservative start saw her sustain enough energy to peg competitors off in the later stages of the race prior to handing over to Evelyn Grant.

Evie thrives in a team environment and was determined to hold her own in tough competition. Evie produced another great team performance before tagging Emilia Ibrahim for the final leg. Emilia is a little fighter over the long distance events and once again produced a wonderful race moving the girls into 12th place with a fast downhill run to the finish line.

The last to represent the centre were the Boys Under 9s – Hunter Robinson, George Jacobsen and Atlas Ferreira. Hunter ran the first 1km leg of the course, and a much-improved athlete produced another wonderful run for the centre before tagging George.

George powered up the hill and showed his strength over the entire course before handing over to our final runner, Atlas. Atlas maintained his placing before his well-known fast finish saw him overtake 3 competitors in the final 100 metres to see the boys awarded 16th place overall.

This Saturday athletes will return to the centre weekly competition, competing at the Bostock Reservoir, Ballan.