Third in the first race of the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club season and second in the next it didn’t seem likely that Jess Cass would have to wait seventeen races before breaking through in the sixteen kilometre Life Members Handicap, her first win in over two years. In the forty starts since winning Best’s Cross …
Veteran cross country runner, Terry Jenkins, spent late Saturday afternoon in recovery mode sitting on a book rueing the thought of yet another race that had gotten away. Winless so far this year after nine weeks of seconds, thirds and fourths, Jenkins led the ten kilometre Stawell Sportspower Handicap for most of the last quarter, …
Two sessions of acupuncture helped propel Nathan Baker to a surprise win in the ten kilometre Run For Ray Handicap at Stawell last Saturday, his first ever in a race of that distance. A dedicated trainer and competitor, Baker was crestfallen when a hamstring strain forced him to rest and to miss three races with …
For 6.4 kilometres of the 6.5 kilometre Concongella Vineyards Handicap last Saturday it was a war of attrition between a fresh-faced rookie and a wily veteran…and it came down to a 100 metre sprint that finally blew the greybeard away. Michelle Dunn’s first win with the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club was well overdue after her …
Caught on the run with telephone in hand taking care of business in the Advance Bricks and Pavers Handicap at Stawell last Saturday, Meghann O’Brien dashed from the course not realising she had won on debut. A locum radiographer, O’Brien was on call in case of emergency and was anxious to finish the Stawell Amateur …
The Stawell Athletic Club’s oldest runner, Gary Saunders, defeated one of the newest in the five kilometre Stephen Baird Handicap on Saturday, and then offered some helpful hints to runner-up, Michelle Dunn, who is still to break through for her maiden win. The Bonnie Dundee course on the edge of the Ironbarks is notorious for …
After years of flirting with running clubs, but lacking the confidence to join, Rebecca Hurley finally connected with the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club and broke through for her first win in any sort of foot race last Saturday. “I’m really not a runner,” she insisted after the five kilometre Stan and Karen Watson Handicap, but …
Rookie Kate Field broke through at only her third official run with the Stawell Club, edging out fellow novice Michelle Dunn who was unlucky not to win the week before after mistaking the course. Seventy-seven-year-old greybeard Gary Saunders was a gallant third. “This is a real surprise to me,” an excited Field said. “I never …
In a week in which Stawell received an overdue deluge, Nathan Baker emulated Peter Barham’s drought breaking-win of the previous week in posting his first cross-country win since 2014 in the five kilometre Axis Employment Handicap last Saturday. Like Barham, whose appearances with the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club have been spasmodic over the past few …
Peter Barham broke through for his first race win since 2013 with the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club last Saturday and then was embarrassed to accept his prize. “I don’t know if I deserve this,” the Stawell insurance broker said sheepishly after the five kilometre Mitre 10 Handicap. “I haven’t run in enough races! I haven’t …
