On a day when there were many chances, it was Mark Perdon who showed the most grit and steely determination to take out race 10 of the Bendigo Athletic Club cross country season. The 8km event kindly sponsored by Central Trophies promised to be a close finish and it certainly didn’t disappoint! Perdon was one of the many pre race favourites but certainly didn’t have it all his own way. Of the numerous challengers the strongest came from both Kane Ellis and Chook Stewart as both went about putting immense pressure on the rest of the field. After being run down whilst leading for a long way last week Kane Ellis again took the lead about halfway through the race and was looking the likely winner. However before Perdon could even worry about Ellis he had the wily old veteran Chook Stewart breathing down his neck with just under 2km to go. Ingrid Douglass, Kevin Shanahan, Austin Beamish & Rob McDonald were all running well at the end but Stewart was the one who pushed Perdon into a position to be able to strike on Ellis. As Perdon moved into second place with less than 1km to go it still looked for all money that Ellis would this time hold on for the win. But Perdon was not to be denied, as he dug in and fought his way right to the end where he and Ellis had a sprint to the line and Perdon proved to be too strong on this occasion to win by the narrow margin of just 4 seconds!
As well as the $250 first prize and the all important sash, Mark Perdon also claimed top points in the Flack Advisory Veterans Award just ahead of Kane Ellis and Chook Stewart.
In slower conditions at No. 7 Reservoir due to it being a little wet underfoot, it was Daniel Plowright who took out top honours in the Bendigo Bank fastest time award in 30.02 minutes just ahead of Adam Parker 30.14 minutes and Ben Goode 31.35 minutes.
Daniel Plowright also secured maximum points in the Bridge Hotel Open Award, with Rob McDonald second and last week’s winner Brett Gilligan in third.
For the women it was Ingrid Douglass who showed some class running to snare the major points in the Bendigo Original Pie Shop Ladies Award. Rhonda Schultz was second and it now means that both Ingrid and Rhonda are on equal top points for this award with two races to go!
While in the Liz & Mark Findlay sponsored U23 Award it was once again the ever consistent Reza Azimi who ran another impressive race today to take the points.
The Bendigo Athletic Club’s next race is the Rising Sun Hotel 6.5km handicap event on Sunday the 9th of August to be held at the Mandurang Cricket Ground. The main chances for the children’s 1km event look to be Ava Stewart, Isabella Ellis & Baxter Parker. The children’s race commences at 10AM and new runners are welcome. While in the main race there appears to be a host of challengers once again led by Kane Ellis, Chook Stewart, Ingrid Douglass & Daniel Plowright. This race commences at 10.30AM after the children’s event and new runners are also welcome.