The Tasmanian Middle Distance Championships resulted in wins to Lee Andrewartha in M21A and Grace Elson inW21A on a day of perfect Tasmanian spring sunshine. Held on the little used north eastern section of the Risdon brook reserve map near Hobart, the championship course setter Patrick Saile produced a very technical and challenging set of courses. The terrain consisted of a vague, undulating hilltop with a range of complex sandstone cliff lines falling away down the hillside back to the dam & reserve. Many runners came unstuck on the critical fourth leg across and over the side of a hill by drifting out to the right.
In W21A Grace Elson had a comfortable victory over Hanny Allston in the excellent time of 34.48 for the tough 4.1km course. Elson’s run was one of the highlights of the day in all age groups and shows she has very much thrown off her injury problems of last year. In M21A Lee Andrewartha had a good margin of 5 minutes from veteran Bernard Walker with fellow veteran Mike Dowling a further two minutes back.