November is still classified as ‘spring’, but the hot conditions this year definitely did justice to the name ‘Summer’ Challenge. At times gravel was sticking to running shoes and in places the tar was melted. The mid day criterion in Warwick was particularly hot, with a few runners having the wobbles at the finish line.

The clear winner this year was the Victory Sports’ team, with no close rival to challenge them this year. It was still an exciting competition, with the mixed team trophy (minimum of 6 women) up for grabs.  It  was won by the Bushies the last two years, but Intraining  got a good team together and beat us this year, giving the Bushies an extra challenge for next year.

Neil Labinsky kept the Bushies honours high by having a fantastic run down the range from Toowoomba and recapturing the Robin Hood trophy, which is awarded to the fastest male runner down the range; this is about the 6th time Neil won this trophy, so the team is very proud of him!

The strength of the Bushies team is that it consists of a core of runners from the Ashgrove Rangers and friends, who come back every year. This is great for the team spirit and experience, so new people fit into the team easily.

This year, Russell had handed over the management of the team to his son in law Grant Coleman, who did an excellent job in organising the event for the team, ensuring for a smoothly run weekend with a minimum of last minute panic.

Though, a good relay never goes without a last minute shuffle of a runner into the water vehicle and to get him/her to the change over point. This year Kelly made it with only 20 seconds to spare to tag Neil.

Another highlight of the weekend was the American team called the ‘Yankee Pilots’ who won the team spirit trophy. It consisted of 10 service men and women from Florida who are temporarily stationed in Guam. They were over here for a couple of weeks for training and decided that the summer challenge was a good way to spend their spare weekend. Everyone was in awe to see how they worked through the weekend, in great spirit, running the criterions as a team and taking it relatively easy, (good strategy when you only have 10 runners) while many other teams had twice the number of runners. The best thing was that they did not come last!

We’ve already started training for next year! And while current members of the team have priority to be on next year’s team, if you are interested to run for the Bushies, we can take your name and contact details. Just contact Hubertien (0404 922 577)

Thanks to all enthusiastic competitors, officials and cooks for the great night at The University of Queensland Athletics Centre this Monday. We had a great turnout and because of the numbers we had to split up a few events, which made it a bit of a late night. The shot put and the long jump were a great start to the night as many competitors tested their muscle strength and technique by seeing how far they could throw themselves and the shot put (not at the same time though). I for one surprised myself by jumping 3.42m, which was a huge pb. I am sure it helped that I did not shuffle to an almost stand still before jumping, which I usually do.

Cherina’s Junior Training Squad turned out in numbers, and a few pbs were set on the night. Parents, siblings and friends were welcome to join in with the competition and the food, which made it a true family evening. The O’Donovan – Adams family were out in numbers, with grand dad Russell pacing his grand daughter Kirri during the 3000m, only to be outsprinted at the finish line.

For this 3000m race we invited a few runners from other clubs to make the competition even more exciting. However, the event was won by our own Wayne Heath, followed by Don Wallace, Gerard Goossens and Bruce Jones respectively.

As you may feel from the writing above, the Ashgrove Rangers club champs have some seriously contested events, but are otherwise all about trying events you normally do not enter into and doing your best at your favourite events. It is not always easy to back up from the previous events and competitors boast about the number of events they have entered. However, this year it was Vivienne Buss who competing in all events!

With the tent, registration table and food set up on the oval along side the track, competitors and families made themselves comfortable on their picnic blankets on the grass. This created a great atmosphere, and spectators could have a bite to eat while cheering on the competitors on the track. And yes, there was plenty of food to go around for those who competed in the later events. The catering was all home cooked with ham, eggs, different salads, bread and a drink for everyone.

The results were posted yesterday!

Female

Male