Athletics: Hartigan shrugs off bridesmaid tag in Suffren

NATHAN Hartigan shrugged off his bridesmaid tag in the Ballarat Regional Athletic Centre's Charles Suffren cross country classic at Burrumbeet on Saturday.He raced away with the event after finishing second in the past two years.Hartigan from Ballarat Harriers covered the 6.4 kilometres in 20 minutes, 42 seconds ahead of Ashley Watson (Wendouree).Watson ran 21.20, with third-placed Aaron Green (YCW) stopping the clock at 21.56.Hartigan took the frontrunning from the outset and was never headed.Watson was the only runner to chase Hartigan while Green, Chris Beechey (YCW) and Sam Ellis (Eureka) had a battle for third.Green is having a consistent season and his performance secured him the under-20 division.Kellie Baird (YCW) showed her liking for the Burrumbeet course with a dominant performance in the open women's 3km event.Her time of 11.02 had her comfortably clear of junior teammates Lyra Meehan and Jemma Mirabella. Meehan also took out the under-18 section while Mirabella was first in the under-14s. Eureka was a surprise winner of the division one team race, with under-16 runners Stewart McSweyn and Laiton Sullivan having top 10 finishes with six and ninth respectively.The under-12 lap of the racecourse saw Mitchell Atkins street his rivals by a large margin from Josh Huggett and Zac Oliver, while Anna Zehrung also proved too good for Sarah Collins and Alex Willowhite. YCW won the Stuart Hunter Cup for teams.