SUNDAY'S Orange Colour City Running Festival 10 kilometre race was a run of Olympic proportions, and put truth to claims this was the fastest 10km field in the event’s history.
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Both the male and female categories were won by former Olympians - Martin Dent in the men’s and Victoria Mitchell in the women’s.
As the heat rose so did the runners’ speeds, with both winners putting on a clinic in medium distance running.
Dent crossed the line first in both his division, and overall, in an Olympic standard time of 30.36.
Mitchell, the first female past the post, finished in 35.36 - fifth overall.
Dent beat out Youcef Abdi, a two-time Australian Olympian who originated from Algeria, but switched allegiance to his adopted home-country.
Abdi ran in 33.19, inching ahead of the ACT’s Joshua Torley (33.41) in the final stages.
Orange’s Christine Wolfson showed her talent, finishing second behind Mitchell in 40.02, from Mel McDonald in 40.39.
Dent said despite it being his first time running in Orange, and having a lack of course knowledge he was happy with his run.
“I ran pretty well today,” Dent said.
“It’s a great course, it’s a bit different to a normal course on a road run, in terms of gravel and dirt roads. It’s also fairly undulating.”
“I tend to handle gradual rises pretty well though. But it is fairly difficult really. I thought my time was good considering. I was hoping to go under 30, but once I was told it was fairly hilly I rethought my goals, and I just wanted 30 something today, which I got.”
Dent confirmed the claims about the field speed, and said the race was good preparation for his next event.
“It was a pretty incredible field really,” he said.
“Obviously Vic has been to the Olympics, and was the first female past the post but Youcef who came second behind me has also been to the Olympics. He was a finalist in the steeplechase. It’s great to see so many good runners here, and the locals are great too. I’m using this as a preparation for the Six Foot Track Marathon. It’s not the same, but hopefully I’ve worked out a good pace for that event, I’ll just need to go four times as far.”