Bendigo Athletic Club members assembled on Sunday morning at Keith Noden's property in the Whipstick Forest for the 6.5k event sponsored by his son Phil.  Metres after the start of the race Rhonda Schultz had taken the lead and didn't surrender it for the entire distance.  In an impressive display of bold front-running Rhonda hit the finish line 5 seconds clear of the second placegetter.

To make her victory even sweeter the second place-getter was Rhonda's husband Richard.  After combining last week to win the Club relays this event was very much an individual event and may the best woman win - and she did!

Richard was unable to make any impression on the winner over the last few hundred metres, and at one stage looked like he might lose second.

Backmarker Michael Preece powered home over the last half of the race to grab third, also snaring Fastest Time for the 6.5k distance with a swift 21:45.  Fastest woman on the day was Ingrid Douglass, who claimed fourth place, setting up an intriguing three-way battle next week between Richard, Michael and Ingrid.

After the race popular sponsor Phil Noden hosted a morning tea featuring a fine array of baked goods which gave runners an opportunity to share a cuppa and make wildly exaggerated claims about how well they'd run. 

Next week the Club assembles at the Mandurang Cricket Ground for the running of the inaugural Vin Drechsler Memorial 5k Handicap, to honour the memory of Vin who passed away last year.  Vin was a long-time very generous sponsor of the Club.