Pleasant conditions greeted runners in the Hobart run the bridge, which hosted the Oceania championships for the second year in a row.
The conditions made for some fast running, with the Men’s race record being broken by Brett Robinson. The Olympic finalist lead home 3893 entrants across all events, to set a new 10km course record of 28minutes 30seconds, to finish ahead of Harry Summers and four time winner Liam Adams, who both also bettered the previous record of 28:57 set by Dave McNeill two years ago.
While Launceston Olympian Milly Clark spearheaded a Tasmanian trifecta in the women’s race, in 34:28, ahead of Mel Daniels and Karinna Fyfe.
“I was happy to get the course record today. I planned to go hard and Harry Summers kept up with me the whole way, so we pushed each other and both ran quick actually,” Robinson said.
“I knew it was a pretty hilly course and I’m not too good on the downhills. So I pushed hard on the uphills and got a gap, but I couldn’t drop Harry and he was just smashing me on the downhills. Luckily he got a bit tired with 3km to go so I was able to get a gap, but I couldn’t get any more. I couldn’t go any quicker, I was stuffed at the end,” he added.
Giving the lead women a 3:44 head start, the unique concept appealed to Robinson, as he also banked $2000 for winning the battle of the sexes.
“I could see the girls and I was catching them one by one, so I knew we running pretty quick. We were thinking we would catch them around the 8-9km mark, but we actually got them just off the bridge closer to 6km because we went out so hard,” Robinson confirmed.
Clark dominated the race early, opening up a sizeable gap by the time they approached the first drink station at Kangaroo Bay. From there on it was a matter of holding off the men as long as possible and she was surprised with the victory.
“It was a bit of a shock to the system that one, as I’ve had a bit of an injury for 18months and it is the furthest I’ve raced in a long time. It was just really fun to be out there, as I’ve missed those pre race jitters,” said Milly Clark.
“It was really fun to be around everyone again, so I’m very very happy with the win. It was a slow start, but I just tried to hold it together before the bottom of Rosny Hill, then pushed on the way up and see what happened,” she said.
Word and Pictures by Epic Events and Marketing
