Canberra’s Brad Croker and Sydney’s Elizabeth Pittaway-Burnell etched their names into the history books on Sunday morning, becoming the first runners to win a leg of the NSW Regional Distance Running Championship.
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Croker and Pittaway-Burnell were strong through the 21.1km course and crossed the timing mat first in the Orange Running Festival’s Athlete’s Foot Half Marathon, both winning their respective men’s and women’s races by over a minute.
Along with the $800 winners’ cheques they claimed, Croker and Pittaway-Burnell both earned 10 championship points heading into the next leg.
Both said they’re likely to turn out at not just Bathurst, but the rest of the legs too in Mudgee, Dubbo and Carcoar.
“There’s certainly more incentive to run in the other legs now I’ve won the first one,” Croker said.
“The goal for me (in Orange) was to just come out and run at marathon tempo because I’m doing the Canberra marathon this year and my end goal is the Berlin marathon in September … but most of the [regional championship races] seem to fit in between them, I’ll certainly look into it.”
“It’s a good start for the Regional Distance Running Championship, I can’t wait for the other legs. The Carcoar Cup looks really good, I’m really looking forward to that one,” Pittaway-Burnell said.
Croker clocked one hour, nine minutes and 57 seconds to win while Pittaway-Burnell crossed the mat in one hour, 23 minutes and seven seconds.
The former won from Vladimir Shatrov and Josh Torley in second and third respectively, the latter won last year’s 10km event, while Emma Brown and Dubbo’s Jane Fardell claimed the minor placings in the women’s race.
Fardell was gunning for a sixth straight win.
“It was really good, Vlad went out really hard and he was always that 100, 150 metres out in front so with about seven kilometres to go I decided to pin the ears back and try and catch him,” Croker said.
“He made me run a little bit harder than I wanted to, but I’m happy to get the win.
“I’ve run this before, I’ve run basically between 71 minutes and 73 minutes before so to run it in 70 flat is the quickest I’ve done it here.
“The conditions were perfect, I don’t run as well in the hot weather so I was hoping for [a cooler day] which worked out well,” Pittaway-Burnell, from the Sydney Striders club, said.
“This is my third Orange half marathon, I went third, then second and finally took the win.”
With 300 entrants, the 2017 half marathon was Orange’s biggest yet. The Bathurst leg is on May 7.