King of the Mountains 2016 Handicaps
This Sunday, members of the Professional Cross Country Club will head to Burnie for the race which is arguably the toughest of the season. It is also the second “blue ribbon” race for 2016. The High-on-Penguin Burnie to Ridgley “King of the Mountains” is a hard, challenging 16.5 kilometres which starts at Burnie Park and makes its way to Ridgley via Mooreville and West Mooreville Roads. But this sort of challenge is what most endurance runners relish and a big field is expected.
The winner is likely to be a runner who has been training in similar conditions and doing big kilometres and Sally Haynes fits the bill. Haynes ran second last week over a hilly 10 kilometre course and looks even better suited this week. She has been consistently the fastest woman this year so her fitness cannot be questioned. Women have quite a good recent record in this race, winning three of the last six runnings. Other women with great chances include the two Rebeccas – O’Garey and de Groot – along with Anna Murton.
Mark Saint John won the event two years ago and a second win would not surprise, while other strong chances include Gerard Lowry and Matthew Greenhill who was a strong third last week.
Evan Brett was well fancied last week but didn’t end up competing. He is another with a strong chance if he is able to run on Sunday.
Club champion Thomas Murton has been starting from the extreme backmark and passing nearly every runner, week after week. This Sunday it would not surprise if he were to pass everyone and take out the prestigious event.
Entries for the race, which will commence at 9:30, have already closed but there will be nominated time events a little earlier this week at 9:00 sharp.
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