St George Classic/Novice Championships: Run Crew Double

Published Sun 23 Apr 2023

23 April 2023

St George Classic/Novice Championships: Run Crew Double

The 2023 Athletics NSW winter season kicked off in magnificent weather conditions yesterday at the iconic Scarborough Park cross country course at Ramsgate in Sydney. The St George Classic, which incorporates the historic Novice Championships, and now in their 109th year, attracted over 350 competitions.

Run Crew club were strong across the open ages, claiming the two NSW State Championships on the line, the 109th Men’s Novice title through Gavin Eccles and the 42nd Women’s Novice title with Katie St Lawrence.

42nd NSW Women’s Novice Championships (7.5km)

Just four weeks after becoming a mum to daughter Goldie, Katie St Lawrence has won her comeback race – the NSW Novice Championship.

“Cross Country is a great way to easy back into racing with no expectations on racing or time as it is just you against the course,” said Katie.

“I was under strict instructions from my coach Gary (Howard), to not race, as I can somethings get carried away and put myself into a hole, so I tried to be conservative in the first two laps and then wanted to see where I was.”

Bankstown club teenager, Shayne Hargraves, a 9:52 3km athlete, was on paper the favourite. Shayne led the Novice section of the race early on comfortably ahead of Katie.

“I could see her (Shayne) coming back a bit on the second lap, but I was not sure where my fitness was right now so 7.5km was a bit of an unknown, so I thought I’d wait until we got back into the single trail section and then I would give it a nudge,” Katie said.

The course really suited Katie as she felt in her element.

"It felt like ‘home’ running the trails - both in the Blue Mountains where I live and where I grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota, where we had cross country races which went through single track trails. That is where I would get the edge.”

Pleased with her return to competition Katie ’s mapped out her journey over the last fourth months post child-birth.

“I’ve had my issues coming back from injuries, but you can keep your fitness up with cross training, but coming back after having a baby everything is thrown out of wack. I had six or seven weeks of hiking with her strapped to my chest – that counted as my training. Then easing back into running, the body wasn’t quite used to it. But probably about a month ago a light globe went off and the body remembered what it is supposed to do.”

109th NSW Men’s Novice Championships (10km)

Off a limited preparation of just a month’s training with Run Crew, Irish athlete, Gavin Eccles claimed a close NSW men’s Novice title. After arriving in Australia four months ago, Gavin Eccles, travelled for three months, before settling into Sydney, joining Run Crew and starting work as a data science in a bank.

Lining up for his first race with Run Crew, he definitely had an eye on the prize.

“I checked the times last year so I knew I’d be there about,” said Gavin.

From early on Gavin was sitting in behind the leading athletes of Luke Hince, Matthew Cox and Ben St Lawrence, all of whom were ineligible for the Novice title.

“I was looking at my watch the whole time and I could see I was running three minute kilometres so I knew I’m not in shape to run 30 minutes for 10km on this course, so I tried to be a bit more conservative for a few kilometres. The group I was with started to fad, so I decided to put a gap in mid-race, rather than wait until the end.”

It was a decisive move as Gavin then held that position for the next few km.

“Then with a mile to go I wasn’t going to lose that position,” recalled Gavin, who sailed home in 32:13 minutes, ahead of James Starkey (Gosford) 32:22 and team mate Patrick Hennessy with 32:37.

“It is actually a 10k PB so I’ll take it,” said Gavin.

“I wasn’t training a lot before that as I’ve been travelling Australia, but I thought I’d get back into training. I’m still not very fit at the moment, but I’ll definitely take the win.”

Gavin, who runs for an Irish club Raheny Shamrocks, has regularly won team titles with his strong club team, including a similar title.

“I was the Dublin Novice champion in 2020, so I’ve gone from the Dublin Novice champ to the NSW Novice champ.”

He felt to Scarborough course was fast.

“Back home the courses have way more mud and it would be rare to find one as flat as this. That is probably the fastest XC course I’ve run on. I Ioved the course.”

His running has been way of connecting with new people when he arrived in Sydney.

“Run Crew have been amazing, I’ve met so many people through Run Crew and they have a really good standard in the group and there is always someone to chase. They are also very social group - we go for a coffee afterways or a swim at the beach. Running has been an amazing way to meet people with common interests.”

Thanks again to the terrific host club, St George, who went about and beyond to make athletes welcome and conduct an enjoyable event for all.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Katie St Lawrence (courtesy David Tarbotton)

RESULTS

109th NSW Men’s Novice Championships (10km)

1.Gavin Eccles - Run Crew 32:13

2.James Starkey - Gosford Allstars Athletics 32:33

3.Patrick Hennessy - Run Crew 32:37

42nd NSW Women’s Novice Championships (7.5km)

1. Katie St Lawrence - Run Crew 27:44

2. Shayne Hargraves - Bankstown Sports Athletics Club 27:57

3. Emma O'Sullivan - Athletics Wollongong Inc. 29:12