Warm and sunny conditions greeted the thirty-eight starters in the longest and hardest race of the season to date – the High on Penguin, Burnie to Ridgley “Mountain Classic” 16.5 kilometre handicap.

This event is one of the longest running in the club’s annual programme and is highly sought after due to its prestige and also the challenge – it needs a fit determined runner to take it out due to the almost constant uphill course.

The race proved to be an exciting one, and also a well handicapped one, as the placings were shared by runners starting from front, middle and back marks.

Devonport runner, Hayden Bishop, was the backmarker and ran a very strong race to break through for his second victory following a win in a 10 kilometre event at Burnie in 2017.

After joining the Club in 2016, having done little running, Bishop has taken to the sport with relish and is now recording great times over a range of distances, including the marathon.

The go-marker, David Wright, was second with Ellen Burgess, a previous winner of this event, in third.

Club champion, Tom Murton, started from the backmark (with Tom Winkel) and did a great job to catch all bar the placegetters. He recorded the fastest time – a stunning 57:53 – while Lyn Saint-John was fastest female (77:33).

Other excellent performances, indicating a win soon, were turned in by Gerard Lowry and Christine Wright.


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