Australian Trifecta of Championships
Published Thu 12 Sep 2019
This weekend, running fans are lucky to witness a plethora of Australian Championships across the country.
- Australian Marathon Championships – Blackmores Sydney Running Festival, Sydney (15 September)
- Australian Road Running Championships – Westpac City Bay, Adelaide(15 September)
- Australian Mountain Running Championships – Australian Mountain Running Championships, Brisbane (15 September)
The Australian Marathon Championships are being hosted in the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival. With 38,000 participants and record entries for both the half marathon and marathon events, only those that are a registered member of Athletics Australia are in line to win the Australian Championship.
The ones to watch out for are Isaias Beyn from QLD who ran 2:14 at the Gold Coast Marathon earlier this year and he also has a couple of 65min Half Marathons to his name this year.
Victorian Dion Finocchairo is likely the next best Australian in the men's field with a run of 2:21 this year. Brendan Davies will be looking to lead the NSW men to a team victory over QLD.
In the female field - Western Australia's Kathryn Watt posted a recent 1:22 Half Marathon and may be one to look out for while Leigha Wills from NSW will be chasing a sub 3hr performance.
In the Australian Road Running Championships, Adelaide’s City Bay event will once again play host to a quality field of Australian distance runners all chasing the title of Road Racing champion for 2019.
World Championships bound Harry Summers headlines the men’s field with his recent 27:54 10,000m track performance indicating he is in career best form and should handle the 12km distance in Adelaide well.
Australian Cross Country champion David McNeill will have his first outing since the win at Kembla Grange and will look to bring his cross country form over to the fast road course from Adelaide to Glenelg.
World Half Marathon representative Dejen Gebreselassie makes the trip from Hobart in search of an Australian title and if in form could be in a position to trouble Summers and McNeill.
Local Michael Roeger was a stand out performer at this event in 2018, placing third behind Jack Rayner and Liam Adams.
Can Roeger make the podium again or will others such as Queenslanders Jack Bruce and Louis McAfee, Victorians Jack Davies and James Coleman or Adelaide’s own Riley Cocks challenge for what will be highly prized medals in this super competitive field.
Lisa Weightman will be looking to continue her record breaking ways as she eyes the course record of 37:54. After dominating the Australian Half Marathon Championship on the Sunshine Coast and bettering her own fastest time by an Australian in Australia, Weightman will use this race as important lead up to the Chicago Marathon in October – her first tilt at Olympic qualification.
Weightman will also line up alongside good opposition in Rio Olympian Milly Clark who has been steadily improving through 2019.
The local hopes will lie with Sydney City to Surf winner Tara Palm and World Cross Country representative Caitlin Adams. Palm has transitioned from track to road nicely since returning from Europe, with the Sydney win no doubt being a career highlight for her.
The Adelaide City Bay starts at 8:00am ACST with close to 30,000 participants expected to toe the line in the various running and walking events.
The Australian Mountain Running Championships are on Sunday in Brisbane and with positions on the line for the World Mountain Running Championships in Argentina this November, a lot of interest will be focussed on Camp Mountain.
The open competitors will contest a 14km up and down course incorporating 800m of vertical ascent and descent whilst the Under 20’s will rise and fall 500m over their 9km journey.
Returning to defend her uphill 2018 title will be Victorian Simone Brick, who went on to place 44th at the World Championships in Andorra. Preferring the up and down to all up configuration, Brick took out the New Zealand championship earlier this year against a strong line up of local competitors, before taking time off due to injury. Likely to challenge will be four-time World Mountain Running competitor and two-time Australian Champion Elizabeth Humphries. Also known for her downhill skills, Humphries’ best performance on the world stage came in 2017 when she placed 29th overall in Premana, Italy.
Renowned Skyrunner Ben Duffus will also be back to defend his 2018 title from Mt Wellington. The Queensland local will enjoy the familiar trails of Camp Mountain, and the relatively shorter distance compared to his many ultra distance exploits over mountains around the world.
Duffus’ main opposition will come from dual Australian Champion Michael Chapman who went to four consecutive World Championships from 2014 to 2017. With his best world performances coming in the up/down years, there’s no doubt Chapman will be a major factor in the 2019 Championship race.
Although bushfires have been ravaging South East Queensland, the Parks authority have given the all clear for the event to proceed as planned this Sunday. Racing will start from 8:00am AEST at Bellbird Grove, via Mt Nebo Road.
