BALLARAT’S impressive distance running tradition continues in the Australian Cross Country Championships at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
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Ballarat Regional Athletic Centre will have 10 representatives in Victorian colours in the championships.
Stewart McSweyn and Nick Van Raaphorst line up in the open men division; Angela Williams in the open and 40-plus women; Jesse Fullerton in the under-20 men; Katherine Dowie in the under-18 women; Sam Williams and Nick Fidler in the under-16 boys; Tahlee Van Roosmalen in the under-16 girls; Matt Catterson in the under-14 boys; and Amy Canavan in the under-14 girls.
Dowie, Van Roosmalen and Catterson will be in Victorian colours at this meet for the first time.
Dowie (Eureka and Ballarat Clarendon College) makes her nationals debut after being 10th in the under-17 selection trials at Bundoora.
She has also had a strong fourth in the Athletics Victoria XCR’15 5km road race at Lake Wendouree and ran 24 minutes, 17 seconds in the BRAC lap of the lake.
Van Roosmalen (YCW and Ballarat High School) qualified for these titles with a seventh at Bundoora.
While this is her first Australian Cross Country Championships, she does have experience at national level having represented Victoria in the steeplechase at track and field titles.
She also ran third in the School Sport Victoria state cross country final and was third overall in the BRAC lap of the lake in 23 minutes.
Catterson (Wendouree and St Patrick’s College) is another emerging youngster in Ballarat ranks.
He is having a breakthrough season with a second place in the state championships, fourth in the AV XCR’15 5km road race at Lake Wendouree and personal best in the BRAC lap of the lake.
McSweyn (Eureka) goes into the championships as one of the favourites for the open men’s title.
A past Australian representative in the world junior cross country championships, he finished a close second in the prestigious Sydney’s City to Surf and ran a brilliant 17:00 in the BRAC lap of the lake.
Raaphorst (YCW) is also coming off a big season, which features a personal best in the Gold Coast Marathon and BRAC athlete of the year title, which he secured with wins in the Chas Suffren and Wal Brown, and third in the lap of the lake.
Angela Williams (Williams) will also be one top watch at MV.
She is leading the XCR’15 40-plus athlete of the year award and will be hard to beat in her age division.
Williams has run in seven national cross country championships, with ninth her best finish in Adelaide in 2012.
She won the 2014 and 2015 BRAC cross country athlete of the year award.
