This Sunday at 11am, athletes from across Victoria, including Bendigo, Melbourne and Stawell professional athletic clubs will contest for a prize pool of $2,500 in Country Victoria’s Richest Professional cross country race, the Flack Advisory Winter Classic.
This is the second year running of the event which was previously the Flack Advisory Eaglehawk to Bendigo. The Winter Classic will take place at the Woodvale reserve and the course will be run over the traditional distance of 6.4km. Athletes will start at the oval before heading into the bush before returning back again around the oval from where they started.
Bendigo athlete Josh Sait (pictured) will be trying to emulate a feat that his father Tony achieved back in 2010, by winning this prestigious race.
After a tough 12 months of injuries, Josh is back looking fit & has been running some strong races over recent weeks.
In fact Josh has been in sizzling form of late not only running fastest times but has also racked up three 2nd’s and a 3rd from his last four races!
Other main chances of claiming the $1,250 first prize in the prestigious event include Bendigo Athletic Club in form athletes, Greg Hilson, Kyall Brittain, Brett Gilligan, Michael Preece, Ingrid Douglass & Adam Parker.
Ingrid Douglass was last year’s winner and has been in some great form and could again feature at the pointy end of the race too.
Michael Preece has been in superb form, having notched up a couple of fastest times this year. Preece also won race 3 this year over the 6.5km at No 7 reservoir. A quality back marker that can never be written off.
Greg Hilson put in a solid effort to be the first Bendigo runner home at the 8km Caruana Cross Country Classic which was held at Woodlands in Melbourne a few weeks ago. Hilson has been running in consistent form and if he could find a bit he may test a few.
Both Kyall Brittain and Brett Gilligan are new runners to the Bendigo Athletic Club. Both athletes have shown good form since joining last year. Brittain, who has been churning out strong performances week in and week out, finished 7th in this event last year. While Gilligan seems to improve with each run. As well as winning a race last year he put in a strong performance in the Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery Handicap over the 6.5km, where he also finished 7th.
Adam Parker started the year well with a win but has since had some time off after getting married. Parker has good form in these combined races with the VCCL having placed in the top 10 in his last 8 attempts. With form and fitness returning he could be a smokey.
Of the Melbourne runners, Craig Harris looks to be well set for this event. Harris won this event back in 2013 when it was the Eaglehawk to Bendigo and clearly loves the big stage. He was second to his son at this year’s other big race, the Caruana Cross Country Classic.
Ian Cayzer has finished close up in his recent Melbourne outings and ran a good race at Bendigo last year finishing 9th.
Classy youngster Joel Donnar recently showed his best form too with a strong run in last week’s race finishing second.
Other Melbourne runners to keep an eye on include Mark Beavis, Adina Morrow, Andrew Lane, Mark Hipworth & Greg Foran.
Fastest Time honors’ should be fought out between Melbourne’s Cameron Clayton & Philip O’Brien along with Bendigo’s Michael Preece & Josh Sait.
Fastest Female will be fought out between Melbourne athletes Corina Kapusta and Laura Finnerty & the Bendigo pair of Ingrid Douglass and Demi Goodall-Hoffman.