Fine, sunny conditions but with a cooling breeze 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 the challenge the uphill course presents.
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.
Pre-race favourite, Latrobe runner, Ben Brockman, broke the finishing tape for his first Club victory after eleven years as a member. However, his number of starts has been limited for a variety of reasons so that he has only been able to average about five runs a season.
He credits the win to training regularly with a group of talented Latrobe runners. He has set his sights on doing well in the Club marathon at the end of May and saw this race as a chance for a good hard hit-out for that.
Rhian Miles continued her excellent form to take second while last year’s winner, Hayden Bishop after starting from the back mark, finished third, in front of David Murton and Jason Scott.
Josh Febey, Dan Yaxley, Ben Young and Kelly Baxter also produced great runs to finish close-up.
Bishop recorded the fastest time (63:46) while Miles was fastest female (76:17).
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