Members headed to Wynyard for Sunday’s race – the Findex 8 kilometre handicap. The scenic course takes in tracks beside the Inglis River with a short, sharp climb to the lookout at Fossils Bluff.
This race is normally very popular with runners but this year with a couple of competing events, the number of starters was a little down. Nevertheless, strong backmarkers and many in-form runners meant it would still be very competitive.
John Purton led the field away off the front mark of 0:40 with Isaac Troughton, from his mark of 25:25 last to commence his run.
Two frontmarkers, in Ken Williams and Roselyn Hendriks, had taken the lead with a couple of kilometres to run and were looking very hard to catch.
Smithton veteran, Ken Williams managed to hold on by just four seconds from a fast-finishing Andrew Rolls with Hendriks a close third, eleven seconds further adrift.
Williams, who will be 80 later this year, is the oldest member still running after commencing with the Club in 1985. He is sixth on the Club’s run tally list having started in 730 races and this was his eleventh win.
Simon Gates, Josh Febey and Karina Mason were all close up, indicating wins for each of them are just around the corner.
Fastest male and female were Jono Price and Lyn Saint-John respectively.
Earlier, nominated time winners were: Kaleb Turner, James Frankcombe, Thomas Ward and Lucy van Rooyen.