[see Results via tab above] in the last two races with some surprises and a very close finish in the men’s competition. Knox had a big lead going into the final event but with only three finishers they saw their margin nearly halved to finish 22 pts clear of Aberfeldie with Collingwood only 12 pts back in third place. With their gun runners competing in the half it was Coburg that was the highest scoring venue in the event and it shows what a good competition this would be if all venues could get their best runners to compete in all events.

I only have the results and have not caught up with the details but in the women’s section . . .Lavinia Petrie did not run which left Petrina Trowbridge a clear winner. Petrina put in another fine effort to score 81.38% giving her four races over 80% and her first win in this competition. Lavinia still took second place even though she only had three scoring races and Heather Gaunt of Collingwood had a very solid season to finish a clear third.

The men’s competition was a real thriller and even when calculating all of the points I didn’t know who had won until near the very end. I believe Ernie Stewart had an injury and wasn’t able to finish the half which left the door open for the others. Paul Twining was the leader after four rounds but did not run so could not improve on his score. Tony Dell always gives it everything he has got and just managed to pass Paul but Peter Black and Steven Barker outscored him in the half with Steven just pipping Peter by less than three points. This is Steven’s first win in this competition and well deserved as he always gives a strong effort in his races.

As in any cumulative competition it is important to compete in as many races as possible and there were a couple of others who would have been very near the top if they had run one or two more races. Overall the numbers for the season were fairly even in the women’s section compared to 2008 but down from 109 to 81 in the men’s division but I think they were better than last year. The most popular races were the 10k road race at Braeside and the half marathon even though this is the longest race and most expensive to enter.