Tahlee Vanroosmalen ran well in her first run with the YCW Junior Athletics ,winning the 2k handicap at the Gong Resevoir on Saturday . Tahlee won by 19 seconds in 8m35 from Lachlan Simpson who raced through the field off a 5m35 handicap to 2^nd place in 7m19 , after getting past the 3^rd placegetter Yual Reath in the last few metres. Eliza Lepair , Morgan Shillington , Michael hayes ,Jemma Peart and Josh Huggett all finished close together ahead of a bunch of runners racing hard for the finish line . Natalya Hall-Dekleva 7m34, Josh Huggett 7m44 , Samuel Parkinson 7m49 ,and Yual Reath 7m51 were fast .

Jamila Jones ran well to win the U/10 1k handicap by 5 seconds .Rory Ludeman 2^nd had to sprint hard to hold off fast finishing Ruon Reath who ran the fastest time of 4m11 to 3^rd place .Halle Martin , Alana Peart ,Ted Archer and Fraser Saunders all finished within seconds of the placegetters . Halle Martin 4m19 was the fastest girl                      .

Rupert Archer had his first u/8 win in the 600m handicap 4 seconds clear of a battle that raged behind for the places . Backmarker Archie Caldow took 2^nd in the sprint from Ashlee Gleeson and Hamish Jones in eq 3^rd ,followed by  Ryan Otto ,Ziggy Lee , Axel Caldow and Scott Peart ,all close behind .

Samara Zakkam ran a good race to win the U/6 300m handicap in 5m05 . The boys winner Jonti Lee was 2^nd overall  ,with Madilyn Dawe coming from behind for 3^rd in a race with Jorja Tallent to the line ,and Jessica Dawe next only a metre away .Madilyn Dawe 1m48 was fastest .

Girls U/6     1^st Samara Zaakam . 2^nd Madilyn Dawe , 3^rd Jorja Tallent .

    “    U/8     1^st Ashlee Gleeson . 2^nd Alice Lepair .

    “     U/10   1^st Jamila Jones .  2^nd Halle Martin . 3^rd Alana Peart .

    “     U/12   1^st Tahlee Vanroosmalen , 2^nd Eliza Lepair . 3^rd Morgan Shillington .

    “     U/14   1^st Talia Martin .

    “     U/16   1^st Natalya Hall-Dekleva .

BOYS U/6     1^ST  Jonti Lee . 2^nd Hayden Gregg .

BOYS  U/8     1^st Rupert Archer . 2^nd Archie Caldow. 3^rd Hamish Jones .

    “      U/10   1^st Rory Ludeman . 2^nd Ruon Reath . 3^rd eq T Archer – F Saunders .

    “      U/12   1^st Riley Berrigan . 2^nd Callum Parkinson . 3^rd Will Martin-Block .

    “      U/14   1^st Yual Reath .  2^nd Michael Hayes . 3^rd Josh Huggett .

    “      U/16   1^st Lachlan Simpson .  2^nd Samuel Parkinson .

On Saturday 30 runners braved the inclement weather conditions in the Walsh Family 6k handicap. The event was held over the Yarrowee Creek trail and paths around the Gong Gong Reservoir car park. Bec Walsh led the field away, while Nic VanRaaphorst was last to start. Rachel Mahar, who has been in good form recently, went to the lead early and with a kilometre to go would have been confident of a victory. However, Jarrad Turnbull had other ideas and for the second time in three years past a race leader with 300 metres to go to record a handy victory in this event. Jodie Berrigan continued her strong form to finish third, while Melissa Burgoyne followed up her second place last week with a fourth place this week. Louise Wood (24.18) ran fastest time for the girls while Nic VanRaaphorst (20.39) was fastest overall

YCW Junior Athletics ran in wintry conditions for their Cross Country races at Delacombe on Saturday .

Hayden Gregg got the aggregate points and the win in the U/6 300 metres race ,and was followed over the line by the girls winnerMay Lynch who was fast in her first run .

Archie Caldow 2m27 and Axel Caldow 2m33 led the U/8 600 metre field to the line with Ryan Otto  2.36 and Ziggy Lee 2m37 battled it out for 3^rd place in a race runj as a sealed handicap due to the rain . Ashlee Gleeson 2m43 and Matilda Myers 2m44 had a close race for the girls win ,with Ashlee just getting there .Archie Caldow was the handicap winner from Tyler Cowan ,Ryan Otto and Axel Caldow ,all on the same handicap time .

Ruon Reath and Jack Vanroevan went straight to the front of the U/10 1000 metre field of 16 runners ,but Jack Vanroeven broke away to take the win in 3m58 from Ruon 4m05 .Tyler Weickhardt 4m08 and Halle Martin 4m09 and the girls winner ,had a close finish , with Fraser Saunders 4m11 hot on their heels in 3^rd for the boys .Mia Lepair 4m20 and Evie Caldow 4m4m24 were the girls placegetters . Charlie Condemi  and Ruby Saunders were the handicap winners.

Ruby Caldow led the U/12 1500m field away ,running strongly all the way to win well in 6m18 ahead of Keely Reid who run second all the way for a 6m29 run . Third place was hard fought with  Macey Ludeman 6m43 just there from Eliza Lepair 6m44 and Matilda Hill 6m45 in good racing from all three girls .

Geordie Hayes U/12 ran well in the 3k handicap to take out the win in fine style ,running 14m03 .Making it a double for the family ,Michael Hayes U/14 ran second in 14m05 ,Just holding off the junior backmarker Natalya Hall-Dekleva U/16  who ran an impressive 11m09 to take out fastest time honors for the juniors .Josh Huggett 12m01 and Felix Oliver 12m14 both ran good personel times ,as did Talia Martin 14m14 for the U/14 girls .

On Saturday, Ballarat YCW runners competed in the Wal Brown memorial 8k handicap. This is one of the most prestigious races on the cross country program, with runners running along the Yarrowee trail, from Magpie to the Dynamite Hut hill and back. Dianne Bowes led the field away with Jamie Huggett last to start.

Bowes ran a strong race and after negotiating Dynamite Hut hill, was unchallenged as Gavin Parkinson and Sara Tucker chased hard, but were not able to close the gap. Bowes won the race in an excellent 30.41, while Parkinson was second in 39.07 and Tucker third in 34.40 and fastest female for the day. Jamie Huggett ran sensationally to finish seventh and record a time of 25.59.

YCW Junior Athletics held their ‘Wal Brown  Memorial’ Junior 4k handicap race at Magpie on Saturday ,with 2012 winner Liam Berrigan repeating his victory again,with another win .

Running off the same handicap ,Lim Berrigan and Wren Dreger ran together for much of the 4k ,before Berrigan broke away near the finish to win by 6 seconds from Wren Dreger. Bailey O’Keefe started 2m30s behind the leading pair , and missed second place by one second in a fine run through the field ,recording fastest time of 15m43 along the way .Also running well was Natalya Hall-Dekleva ,second fastest in 15m49 ,and sixth place .

The U/12 2k handicap , Eliza Lepair  ran her fastest race in 8m37 to easily take out the win ,but Anika  Jones had to work hard to hold second , just holding off the backmarker Felix Oliver who had stormed through the field in 7m47 in a fast run to 3^rd place ,and the boys win by 2 seconds from Callum Parkinson who had a good run also .

Frontmarker Callum Shillington had to work hard for the win in the U/10 1k handicap , three seconds clear of the girls winner Kayla Bridges in 2^nd place , and a similar gap to the backmarker Jack Vanroevan who passed 9 runners on his way through to 3^rd place ,and running a fast 3m53 time ,his fastest for the season .

Just three second separated the placegetters in the U/8 600m handicap in good runs from all , with Alice Lepair winning in 2m39 from a much improved Hamish Jones and Ziggy Lee in 3^rd . Axel Caldow was fastest in 2m32 from Archie Caldow 2m35 and Ryan Otto 2m37 .

Erica Jones came from behind to take out the win in the U/6 300m handicap in 1m36v,the fastest time of the day . Madilyn Dawe ran 1m38 on her way to 2^nd place ,just ahead of the boys winner Hugh Myers ,1m37 and third overall ,with all three placegettere close on  times .

GIRLS U/6     1^st Erica Jones ,  2^nd Madilyn Dawe .  3^rd Jorja talent .

    “      U/8     1^st  Alice Lepair . 2^nd Ashlee Gleeson . 3^rd Matilda Myers .

GIRLS U/10     1^st Kayla Bridges . 2^nd Mia Lepair .  3^rd Halle Martin .

    “     U/12     1^st Eliza Lepair .  2^nd Anika Jones .  3^rd  Jessica Bridges .

    “     U/14     1^st Wren Dreger .

    “     U/16     1^st Natalya Hall-Dekleva .

BOYS U/5       1^ST Hugh Myers . 2^nd Jonti Lee .

    “     U/8       1^st Hamish Jones . 2^nd Ziggy Lee . 3^rd Scott Peart .

    “     U/10     1^st Callum Shillington . 2^nd Jack Vanroevan . 3^rd Ted Archer .

    “     U/12     1^st Felix Oliver . 2^nd Callum Parkinson . 3^rd Rory O’Keefe .

    “     U/14     1^st Liam Berrigan , 2^nd Bailey O’Keefe . 3^rd Josh Huggett .

YCW Junior Athletics had a successful day of cross country events at Victoria Park on Saturday ,competing with the other three Ballarat Clubs.

Hayden Gregg blitzed the U/6 400m field,winning by over 30 seconds in a good run of1m44.Hugh Myers and Jonti Lee filled the places for YCW. U/6 girls saw Lilly Clayworth successful in 2m11 from Madilyn Dawe 2^nd in 2m17 and Erica Jones 3^rd in 2m28 . Hugh Myers and Isabelle Kilborn were handicap winners .

Archie Caldow( YCW) and Chevy Smart (Wendouree) battled out the finish of the U/8 800m race,with Archie a narrow winner in 3m11. Axel Caldow showed his true form with a 2^nd in 3m16 ,and a handicap win ,and Ryan Otto ran well for 3^rd for YCW in 3m21 . Ziggy Lee , Brodie Tallent and Brodie Reid were others to run well .For U/8 girls,it was close with Matilda Myers ,1^st in 3m38 from Ashlee Gleeson 3m39 and Alice Lepair 3m41 in a good girls race .

The U/10 1200m race saw Ruon Reath break away to win in 4m50 from Jack Vanroevan in 4m57 and Tyler Weickhardt in 5m03 . Lochie O’Keefe 5m08 ,Zac Leith 5m09 , Rory Luderman 5m14 ,Ted Archer 5m16 and the handicap winner , and Justin Lang 5m20 were all good runs . For the U/10 girls ,Lily Gilbert

Stood out in her first run to win well in 4m57 ,from Halle Martin 5m01 and Mia Lepair 5m07 3^rd for YCW..

30 starters in the U/12 2k race ensured a good race ,and it was YCW,s Felix Oliver running strongly out in front for a good win in 7m45 .Jared Olsen was 2^nd in 8m14 ,and 3^rd in 8m21 was exelent effort from Rory O’Keefe ,an U/10 runner .Jayden Lang and Geordie Hayes both recorded 8m48 over the line together,and Callum Parkinson in 9m03 was a good run also .

The U/12 girls race was hard fought with Wendouree’s Kate Macauley winning in 8m05from ycw girls Ruby Caldow 8m07 and Keely Reid 8m09 and Eliza Lepair 8m09 equal over the line .Other good runs came from Amy Collins 8m55 ,Hannah Toohey 8m57 and Matilda Hill 8m58 .

The 5k road race saw Natalya Hall-Dekleva( U/16) the leading runner for YCW in 4^th overall in the good time of 18m58 . Bailey O’Keefe (u/12) was next in 19m10 ,followed by U/14 boys Yual Reath 19m59 and Josh Huggett 20m09 . Liam Berrigan 22m41 and Liam Parkinson 23m37 ran well and Talia Martin ran 24m05 ,a good run from the only YCW U/14 girl to run .