World Mountain Running Championships
Switzerland
Sunday 14 September
JUNIOR GIRLS STAR AT WORLD MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Australia's junior girls have performed very well in the World Mountain Running Championships in Switzerland on Sunday. The defending world champions finished a close fourth in the team's competition, after Canowindra's Veronica Wallington finished 6th in 24mins 26 secs for the 4.7 km mountain climb with 314 metres of climb and Madison Rutter of Batemans Bay was 23rd in 25:55.
Canberra's Jessamy Hosking and Vanessa Haverd finished 37th in 50:30 and 55th in 52:53 respectively in the women's 8.4 kms, which had 733 metres of climb. The junior men's championship was also over this 8.4 km course and Victoria's Kane Wille and Ashley Watson had very good runs to finish 18th in 44:28 and 24th in 45:11.
New Zealander Jonathon Wyatt won the men's championship for the sixth time to become the greatest mountain runner of all time. He completed the 12 km course with 1046m of climb in 55:04. Canberra's Scott McTaggart had his best ever world championship performance, finishing 29th in 58:45. Wollongong's Stephen Brown ran 64:22 to be 103rd in the record field of 158 competitors.
Men's 12 kms, 1046m climb, 158 competitors:
1 J Wyatt (NZ) 55:04, 2 M Toroitich (Uganda) 55:16, 3 A Arslan (Turkey) 55:27, 29 S McTaggart (Australia) 58:45, 103 S Brown (Australia) 64:22.
Women's 8.4 kms, 733m climb, 95 competitors:
1 A Mayr (AUT) 43:58, 2 R Rungger (Italy) 44:57, 3 E Desco (Italy) 45:29, 37 J Hosking (Australia) 50:30, 55 V Haverd (Australia) 52:53.
Junior men's 8.4 kms, 733m climb, 74 competitors:
1 S Buraas (Norway) 42:12, 2 R Sterni (Italy) 42:25, 3 M Savaser (Turkey) 42:44, 18 K Wille (Australia) 44:28, 24 A Watson (Australia) 45:11.
Junior women's 4.7 kms, 314m climb, 48 competitors:
1 L Park (England) 22:34, 2 E Gullu (Turkey) 23:08, 3 A Dunne (USA) 23:33, 6 V Wallington (Australia) 24:26, 23 M Rutter (Australia) 25:55. Teams: 1 England 8 pts, 2 Turkey 11 pts, 3 Switzerland 22 pts, 4 Australia 29 pts.