Eight cross country teams lined up for the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club Dugdale Family Relays, held last Saturday over an 1800m undulating bush circuit. The annual relays are a great novelty event and are eagerly looked forward to by all runners.
Each team consisted of 5 runners, one sub-junior running a single lap, two juniors and two seniors all running 2 laps. Teams are composed using individual handicap times, so that all teams are as close as possible in overall race time, at least on paper!
Sub-juniors headed off first, with Liam Scott grabbing an early lead for his team, closely followed by Stacey Faravoni and Richard Dugdale. At the half way mark it looked as if three teams had a chance to win.
With the lead changing a couple of times in last half of the race, it came down to the last runners to battle it out. Veteran Stan Watson held a narrow lead from the young and fast Aaron Van den Hoek, with Patrick Ellis only 50m away in third.
But Watson held on for a great team win (his third successive as team leader), with the first three teams finishing within 15 seconds. A great effort by our handicapper!
The winning team members were Stan Watson, Susie Ellis, Emily Parnaby, Hugh Scott and Stacey Faravoni.
Fastest sub-junior was Liam Scott with 8.09, fastest junior was Aaron Van den Hoek in 6.57 and fastest senior was Colin Barnett with 6.17.