Warrandyte runs again

by James Poyner
7th March 2017

Saturday Market means the first weekend of the month is always a busy time for Warrandyte, but last Sunday Warrandyte was a-buzz with runners of all shapes, sizes and ages as the Sports Club hosted the annual Run Warrandyte fun run.
A slightly overcast morning made for perfect running conditions, the run organising committee were excited to report their best participant numbers ever with over 600 registered runners.
The run attracted many regular runners, including the Wooten family who had the whole family at the event.
Even the footy players were involved in the action.
“It’s a community event so we get the footy players involved in participation, one club one community,” said Pete Muskat, a member of the Warrandyte Football club.
The weather and the general condition of the participants was particularly good this year with
super-speedy times set in the four endurance distances.
The 15K winner, Brynton Ashton, set a time of 1:02:21 which given the hilly nature of the course is impressive.
But the day was more about families having fun through exercise, as young Henry Bate (pictured left) demonstrated when he took on the 2.2K run with his family.
Henry managed to run the course —with the help of his dad— in 23 minutes.
This year, as well as the marshals and the CFA, runners out on course were entertained with live music on the corner of Pound Bend Road; volunteer marshal Ben Treyford expressed his delight in having the addition of a live band on course.
“They were awesome, we clapped after each song and even the less serious runners had a bit of a dance as they came through,” he said.
Run Warrandyte also featured “The Gift” for its second year.
The 100m handicapped heats were,
once again, a great success and have established themselves as an integral part of the Run Warrandyte experience.
The calculated handicapping by Gift organiser, Peter Sharpe, saw competitors run their hearts out in a thrilling grand final, which saw all seven competitors finish in under 12 seconds.
The winner of the Gift was Nicolas Sharpe who ran the 100 meters in 11.335.

Commentator Craig Davidson took a few minutes to speak to the Diary and reflect on the event.
“As far as coming down here at 6am on a Sunday morning, I cannot think of any other place to be, it’s sensational.
“My fellow commentator Tim, who has commentated on a number of these events, he was astounded with the times in which the runners were coming through — especially in the 10 and 15K events.”
Our Diary photographers were out and about on the day taking some awesome snaps of the running action, check out our Run Warrandyte page on the Diary website for a selection of pictures from the event.

Full race results for the endurance distances can be found on the Run Warrandyte page of the Warrandyte Sports Club website.