News
Brisbane set for a weekend of championships
Athletics Australia heads north this weekend as Brisbane plays host to the 2010 Australian Cross Country Championships and 2010 Australian Road Walking Championships on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Held in conjunction with School Sport Australia at St Paul’s College in Bald Hills, more than 600 athletes are expected on the start line as the Australian Cross Country Championships celebrates its 100th anniversary.
In 1910, Andrew Wood of New South Wales was the first winner of an event that this year attracts Commonwealth Games marathon nominees Jeff Hunt (NSW), Martin Dent (ACT) and Michael Shelley (Qld) in the open men’s field and Jessica Trengove (SA), Emily Brichacek (ACT) and Tamara Carvolth (Qld ) in the open women’s open event.
“The course at Bald Hills is relatively flat and this should make for some pretty quick racing,” said Athletics Australia National Distance Coordinator Tim O’Shaughnessy.
“For guys like Jeff (Hunt) and Marty (Dent) the champs provide a great lead-in event to the Commonwealth Games and with the added incentive of state supremacy it will be a great duel.”
While the first across the line will be crowned Australian cross country title-holder, the championships also include a state-versus-state team competition whereby the first four runners to finish will combine the total of their places for a team score, the lowest score being crowned victor.
With the first event to get under way at 9.00am AEST, the schedule for the day will include the Under 14, Under 16, Under 18, Under 20 and open men’s and women’s events, with athletes covering distances between 3km and 12km.
Relocating to St. Lucia (Qld) on Sunday, the Australian Road Walking Championships will be held on the grounds of the University of Queensland as teams battle it out for the Glover Shield (men’s 20km) and Carrington Cup (women’s 10km).
A joint venture with Racewalking Australia and Athletics Australia member associations, Commonwealth Games-bound athletes Chris Erickson (Vic), Cheryl Webb (NSW) and Claire Tallent (SA) will headline a day of racing that includes championship events for walkers aged Under 12 through to the open category.
A trio of recent world junior championships representatives will also compete, with Dane Bird-Smith (men’s Under 20 10km), Rhydian Cowley (men’s 20km) and Regan Lamble (women’s Under 20 10km) making their return to competitive walking after placing eighth, 17th and eighth respectively in the 10,000m walk events at last month's IAAF titles.
Full coverage of the Australian Cross Country Championships and the Australian Racewalking Championships, including results and post-event reports, will be available here at athletics.com.au.
Good luck to all athletes competing this weekend, we look forward to seeing you in Brisbane.
Australian Cross Country
Championships
Saturday, August 21
St Pauls College, Bald Hills (Qld)
For more information on this event, follow this link to the
Australian Cross Country Championships event page.
Australian Road Walking
Championships
Sunday, August 22
University of Queensland, St Lucia (Qld)
For more information on this event, follow this link to the
Australian Road Walking Championships event page.
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletters to keep up to date with Athletics in Australia.
More Headlines
_stack_WEB_4e0d093feac62.jpg)
