After filling second, third and fourth places in last week’s 8km event Woodvale Michael Preece, Glenn Roulston and Ben Goode thought the only question was which of them would win the Purtill’s Nursery 6.5km race at Huntly on Sunday.  However there was one small thing they didn’t allow for.

That small thing was determined first-year runner Kerry Ellis.  Kerry, whose times have improved by more than 30 seconds per kilometre this season, led the race from start to finish and never looked seriously threatened, cruising to the finish 18 seconds clear of Glenn Roulston.

Although Glenn was unable to catch Kerry he convincingly relegated Ben Goode and Michael Preece to 3rd and 4th places respectively, so at least Glenn won bragging rights amongst the boys.  Michael’s time of 22:11 earned him the Bendigo Bank Fastest Time award, and the fastest woman in the race was a close affair, with Demi Goodall-Hoffman edging out race winner Kerry Ellis by a mere 10 seconds.

The Senior race next week is another 6.5km event.  With Glenn Roulston unable to run due to work commitments, Ben Goode is the logical favourite.  And as last Sunday’s fourth-place extended Michael Preece’s run of top-10 finishes to 16 in a row he’ll probably be Ben’s greatest competitor.

However after a slow start to the season the wily Club President Mark Perdon appears to be quickly finding better form.  With a reputation as a late-season specialist it’s possible there’ll be another surprise winner for the second week in a row.