Athletics NSW Mountain Running Championships
Kedumba Track Run Up
Wentworth Falls NSW
Sunday 11 April
Kembla Joggers mountain running champion Stephen Brown had a comfortable win in the 10 km ascent of the Kedumba Track on Sunday to take out the NSW Mountain Running Championship at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains. Brown has represented Australia for the last several years at the World Mountain Running Championships and clocked 47.44. Daisake Hirano of Ryde was second in 50.14 with Dani Andres third in 50.32. The course had a climb of 902m. Brown said, “I found the course to be quite testing especailly between 2 – 8km as this was where the majority of the climbing took place. I would say this section had a similar gradient to that of Mt Tennent in the ACT. First 2km and last 2km was more undulating, but overall still happy with the way I ran the race. As there was no access to the start, we had to walk the 10km down the mountain to the start. This was very handy to get a feel for the course”.
The women’s title over 8 km with 787m climb went to under 20 runner Audrey Hall who has been a strong performer on the national stage in the last 12 months in triathlon, track running and cross country running. Hall clocked a good 45.40 and will be a strong contender in the Australian junior women’s championship up Mt Tennent in the ACT on 22 May. Second was Beth Cardelli in 52.08 and third Deborah Walsham of Asics Wests in 54.30.
The Championships were organised by Blue Mountains Athletics Club and ultra distance trail running and organisational guru Sean ‘Mr G’ Greenhill, on behalf of Athletics NSW. Prior to the Six Foot Track race in March, Sean organised training sessions of repetitions of the Kedumba ascent for runners wishing to condition themselves for the big climbs on the Six Foot Track route.
8 kms:
Males: 1 Charlie Brooks (U20) 42.04, 2 Ron Schwebel 45.41, 3 Michael Wilson (U20) 54.19, 4 Dennis Williams 54.26, 5 Rodney Bennett 56.17, 6 Michael Durrant 58.58.
Females: 1 Audrey Hall (U20) 45.40, 2 Beth Cardelli 52.08, 3 Deborah Walsham 54.30, 4 Nicolette Kenny 61.18, 5 Rachel Merton 64.16, 6 Deborah Roach 68.40, 7 Jodie Ince 69.58.
10 kms:
1 Stephen Brown 47.44, 2 Daisake Hirano 50.14, 3 Dani Andres 50.32, 4 Peter Conway 51.02, 5 Brendan Davies 52.11, 6 Earl O’Brien 52.40, 7 Jesse Beadman 53.38, 8 Brent Harris 53.52, 9 Noel Annett 54.54, 10 Nathan Hayes 55.18, 11 Martin Timms 55.49, 12 Brian Cardelli 59.42, 13 Phillip Murphy 64.06, 14 Roger Hanney 68.36, 15 Joshua Davidson 79.07, 16 Paul Chambers 87.32.