Two of Weston Creek Athletic Club ultra distance athletes have been selected to represent Australia at two upcoming World Ultra Distance Championships.

The Weston Creek Athletics Club Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday night (21 May) at the Canberra Irish Club. From the AGM the 2008-09 Executive, Committee and Officers of the Club were announced. Thank you for those who turned up to the AGM and who volunteered for positions.

Read more for details of the new Executive, Committee, and Officers of the Club.

The 2008 AACT and ACTMA Cross Country Championships are to be held on Saturday June 21 at Stromlo Forest Park. Please mark this in your diary.

The attached flyer contains further information about the Championships. The Championships are open to anyone who wants to have a run.

Event Schedule:
11:05am Under 12 Girls/Boys 2km
11:15am Under 14 Girls/Boys 3km
11:30am Under 16 Girls/Boys and Under 18 women 4km
11:50am Under 18 Men and Under 20 Women 6km
12:20pm Under 20 men, Open Women, Veteran Women, Veteran Men (60+)
1:00pm Open Men, Veteran Men (30-59)

Entry Fees:
Enter on the day, 60 minutes before the start of your event.
All Under 12 Athletes $2.00
All AACT Registered Athletes $5.00
All ACTVAC Registered Athletes $5.00

Unregistered Athletes $10.00

There are a number of Weston Creek athletes that will be heading overseas shortly to contest some international events, so I thought I would take this opportunity to wish them all the best.

Weston Creek athlete and 2008 Weston Creek Half Marathon champion, Brett Cartwright, will be heading to Japan to contest the Nagano Marathon to be held this Sunday (20 April 2008). This will be Cartwright’s final chance to try and run an Australian Olympic A qualifier for the marathon (sub 2:12:00). Only Lee Troop has run the A qualifier with Andrew Letherby and Scott Westcott running Australian B qualifiers (sub 2:14:50). The Australian Olympic Marathon team will be announced in early May. The Nagano Marathon website is: http://www.naganomarathon.gr.jp/contents/english/index.html

Weston Creek athletes Trevor Jacobs, Angela Bateup, and Fleur Flanery, will be heading to England to contest the 5th World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge. The Mountain Running Challenge is to be held in conjunction with the 54th Three Peaks Race in Yorkshire. They will be covering 37.4km with a total ascent/descent of 1,608 metres (so it won’t be too easy for them). Not only will these athletes be representing Weston Creek and ACT, but also Australia. The Official race website is at: http://www.threepeaksrace.org.uk/index.html

Good luck Redbacks. We hope you achieve your goals.

The Weston Creek Athletics Club Annual General Meeting will be held at the Canberra Irish Club, Weston Creek at 7:30pm 21 May 2008.

The AGM is the most important non-athletic event on the Club's calender and we encourage all Club members to attend.

A reminder will be sent to all Club members closer to the day.

ACT and Weston Creek athletes Martin Dent (also part of the ACT Academy of Sport – ACTAS) and Emily Brichacek have been selected to represent Australia at the 36th World Cross Country Championships to be held in Edinburgh Scotland on 30 March 2008. Phone calls from Athletics Australia were made this afternoon to the Australian Team that has been selected.

The 23rd running of the Annual Weston Creek Half Marathon got underway from Black Mountain Peninsula in near perfect conditions yesterday morning. Approximately 300 runners threaded their way out to Woden and back on the network of shared pathways. First to return was local Weston Creek athlete Brett Cartwright who was using the race as a lead-up to a marathon attempt in Japan in four weeks time, where he hopes to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Cartwright was followed in by three time Canberra Marathon Champion Gemechu Woyecha and another local Weston Creek Athlete, Irishman Michael Herlihy.

A talented field of female athletes were led home by Australian Cross Country representative Anna Thompson. Western Australian Lauren Shelley backed up from the World Cross Country Trial held Saturday evening at Stromlo Forest Park to take second from Yass Athlete Angela Bateup who held off Marathoner Karen Natoli. Thompson, Shelley and Natoli are in preparation for the Rotterdam Marathon where Thompson and Shelley hope to record Olympic A-qualifiers which should see them Beijing bound. Bateup is in heavy training as part of her preparation to represent Australia at the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in the UK.

First 5 Males
1. Brett Cartwright, 1:06:11
2. Gemechu Woyecha, 1:06:59
3. Michael Herlihy, 1:09:15
4. Chris Truscott, 1:11:17
5. David Byrne, 1:14:00

First 5 Females
1. Anna Thompson, 1:15:54
2. Lauren Shelley, 1:19:32
3. Angela Bateup, 1:20:18
4. Karen Natoli, 1:20:31
5. Fleur Flannery, 1:24:43

All results available.

As Canberra becomes the focal point for athletics in Australia this weekend with the Athletics ACT (AACT) and ACT Veteran’s Athletic Club (ACTVAC) Track and Field Championships, and the high quality World Cross Country Selection Trials, the annual Weston Creek Half Marathon has also attracted a number of high quality athletes.

The 23rd Annual Weston Creek Half Marathon, organised by the Weston Creek Athletic Club, will be held this Sunday (9 March 2008) commencing at 7:30am. Due to bike path closures, the Half Marathon’s traditional start and finish point at the Canberra Irish Club in Weston, had to be moved. The start and finish of this year Half Marathon will be at Black Mt Peninsula. Many athletes use the Half Marathon has a last hit out before a marathon, in particular the Canberra Marathon in mid April.

Dent's running brave - by Steven Lavell

Source: Athletics Australia

If Martin Dent doesn’t make this year’s Olympic team, it won’t be through lack of effort. The 29 year-old turned in a bold performance at Saturday night’s Sydney Grand Prix, winning in a B-qualifying time of 8:27.00 after maintaining his lead for most of the race.

Click here to read more.

Words provided by AMRA President John Harding

Weston Creek junior Emily Brichacek produced a world class performance to win Sunday's (17 February 2008) ACT Mountain Running Championship on Mt Tennent. After completing the first 2 kms in just over 8 minutes with fellow Weston Creek and ACT long distance mountain running champion Angela Bateup and NSW world junior mountain running bronze medallist Veronica Wallington, Brichacek built up a commanding lead over the 6km ascent of the mountain and reached the summit in 44 mins 12 secs.

Click here for further details.