Sydney University Athletics Club (SUAC) men’s 4x4km team finished second to the highly regarded Randwick-Botany line-up at the NSW Cross Country Relay Championships, held at Miranda, on Saturday.
The SUAC men’s team put in a dogged performance, challenging a Randwick-Botany team which has remained unbeaten at this event for many years mainly due to the efforts of their two Australian representatives Jeremy Roff and Jeff Hunt.
The SUAC team had some standout performances. Ben Liddy the first runner for SUAC shaved more than 20 seconds of his best time on the course, Australian Junior cross country rep Hugh Williams did much the same ripping nearly 20 seconds of his best time while holding his own against Australia’s best marathoner Jeff Hunt. Ronan Casey, who ran the second leg, was running at the 4km distance for the first time and delivered an inspirational performance. SUAC’s James Nipperess ran the anchor leg and put in a strong performance to seal the silver medal for the club.
On Sunday at the Balmoral Burn Anneliese Rubie ran second collecting a $1500 cheque for her efforts. Rubie was pleased with her race considering she had battled the flu most of the week. SUAC’s Joanna Cubis finished sixth. Rubie will now go into a heavy training block to prepare for World University Games and potentially the World Championships later in the year.
This weekend will see a number of SUAC athletes competing both here and abroad. At the ‘Adidas Ten’ (which doubles as the NSW 10km Road Championships) on Saturday Lara Tamsett is the favourite to take out the women’s event. Hugh Williams will contest the men’s event where he is expected to be in the mix.
Meanwhile, Lachlan Renshaw will contest his biggest race of the season at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon, USA, where a quality field has been assembled. Renshaw has been based in the US for some weeks in preparation for the event and looks ready for a big performance.
