Sixteen year old Kieran Ryan showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels in the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club Advance Bricks King of the Mountain, held last Saturday on the misty slopes of Mount Rosea.
Kieran ran a superb race to win by a clear margin of 41sec, and claim the title of King of the Mountain.
The race was run as a sealed handicap (all runners start together, handicaps are applied later), with a field of 18 senior runners setting off from the Mount Rosea car park for the 3km grueling climb.
Kieran, fresh from a week long school camp and training runs in the snow fields, set the pace right from the start, taking the lead and was never challenged, crossing the line in the great time of 11mins 49sec.
Jacinta Collier proved her strength and fitness to take out the Queen of the Mountain in a time of 14mins 5sec.
After handicaps were applied, well known hill runner Ray Scott claimed the race win, from Jacinta Collier, with Colin Barnett third. Ray also won this race last year.
Eleven juniors ran the same uphill 3km course, with Karl Scott setting a cracking pace to come home first in a time of 13mins 53sec and claim the title of Junior King of the Mountain. Karl was also fifth runner home overall, an excellent effort. Greta Duke was the fastest girl in 16mins 45sec.
After handicaps were applied Alice Torpy took out the race from Karl Scott and Greta Duke.
The sub-juniors ran a 1km race with Tobias Blair claiming his second victory for the season from Liam Scott, with Elly Barnett 3rd. Fastest time was Liam Scott with 4mins 28sec. The fastest girl was Heidi Sudholz in a time of 4mins 47sec.
A special thank you to the van der Hoek family for their very generous offer to use the Camp Acacia facilities for our afternoon tea, complete with a very welcoming open fire.