Bacchus Marsh Little Athletics

Cross Country runners competed at two different venues last Saturday.

Athletes represented the Centre at the State Little Athletics Cross Country Relay Championships held at Cruden Farm, Langwarrin while the Centre’s regular weekly competition was held at Caledonian Park, Ballan.

At the State Championships Bacchus Marsh athletes Evelyn Grant and Emilia Ibrahim combined with Melton’s Sofia Anikeev to form a Western Metro Region Girls Under 9 team, producing a good solid team performance, finishing in 10th place. Harry Johansen, Auden Sundqvist and Cohen Mills formed a Under 9 BMLAC team and in a hot contested event finished in 11th place.

Under 10 athletes Joshua Askew, Angus Norman and Mitchell Tung formed a BMLAC team while Liam Way and Miller Clark were part of the WMR team combining with Melton’s Octavius Pirangi. The BMLAC team finished in 10th place with the Region’s finishing place to be confirmed (final results to be released early this week).

Lyla Clark and Anni Clarke advanced in age groups to form an Under 11 BMLAC team with Iyla Robinson. All girls produced excellent legs and the team finished a creditable 9th overall.

The final event for the Centre saw Under 12s Elijah Sundqvist combine with promoted athletes Logan Simons and Zeke Horne. In some very tough conditions, the boys finished in 14th place.

Athletes competed in blustery conditions at Caledonian Park in the Ballan, the course was quite wet in patches and slippery on the downhill finish.

With a large contingent of Under 9 & 10 athletes at the State Champs, a small field contested the 1500m course. Ballarat’s Archer Morris relished the opportunity to control the race and led from start to finish. Returning from injury, Melton’s Harry Wark crossed the line in 2nd place with Sam Ainsworth (BM) the 3rd placed Under 9 athlete. Ayla Preddy (Melt) finished ahead of teammate Bebe Williams with Bac- chus Marsh’s Scarlett Wake in 3rd place.

In the Open Age 3km event Melton athletes Jujhar Tamber and Mia Preddy were the clear winners for the boys/girls category.

The Under 6 athletes competed over their usual 500 metres. While these young eager athletes anticipated the start, a recall was required to get the race underway. After a quick start, athletes settled into their run and all produced great results. The top 3 placegetters were awarded to Judy BrodyWall (BM), Sahib Cheema (Melt) and Jack Ainsworth (BM) while Zyah Cameron (Melt) finish 1st for the girls with Mil- licent Johansen (BM) in 2nd place.

The final event for the morning saw the Under 7 & 8 athletes racing over a 1km loop. Melton’s Chayse Johnson ran a wellcontrolled race, sitting in on the leaders, prior to heading along the gravel path, where he was able to pull away from the group and claim a well-deserved victory. George Jacobson (BM) and Fletcher Reid (Melt) took the minor placings. Arijana Brown (BM) was the first girl across the finish line.

**This Saturday’s competition will be held at Bullengarook Reserve.