James Murphy
CLOSE to 500 runners converged on the coastal town of Robe for the inaugural Robe Run event on Saturday.
Entries reached a staggering 498, with the event run by Adelaide Trail Runners and offering four distances and some cash prizes for the top competitors.
Adelaide Trail Runners founder Brett Crosby said it deemed an ultimate success with positive feedback from all involved.
“We couldn’t have been happier with it for a first year event,“ he said.
“It was fantastic and all of the feedback was nothing but positive.
“People loved the event and they loved the course.“
From a local perspective the best performance came from Robe’s Hannah Regnier, who won the women’s half marathon event.
She completed the 21.1km course in 1:40.40 to beat Michele Hayman to the line by eight seconds.
Just one second further behind was Erin Parker who rounded out the podium in a thrilling finish.
The men’s half marathon was won by Millicent’s Owen Williams, followed by Ben Princi and Jackson Laycock.
The feature event was the full marathon, with the men’s race dominated by Adelaide runner Fraser Darcy.
His time of 2:49.28 for the 42.2km event was impressive and gave him a 16-minute buffer to runner-up Leif Christensen, while Cameron Graetz finished third for the men.
“Fraser Darcy’s winning time was just incredible,“ Crosby said.
“He is one of our gun runners from Adelaide and he wins pretty much everything he runs in.
“To run that time on a course like that is just incredible.“
Madison Hurley was the quickest marathon runner for the women and she topped the field with a 3:42.39.
She was 27 minutes quicker than runner-up Megan Semczuk, with Vienna Tran a further two minutes behind in third.
Further local interest came in the 13km event, with Mount Gambier’s Josh Cameron claiming line honours from Jack Webster.
Robe’s Zac Deane also made the podium for a third-place finish.
The women’s 13km race was won by Nikki Smart from Leanne Cameron and Emma Grant.
Mount Gambier’s Joel Bryant claimed the men’s 5km win, while Robe runners completed the podium with Jordan Hentschke in second and Thomas Wachtel third.
The women’s 5km was won by Ashlie Webber, followed by Karina Pascoe and Naracoorte’s Belinda Sinclair.
In all it was a successful day, with plenty of onlookers cheering on the runners at the finish line along the Foreshore.
“The crowd support was incredible too,“ Crosby said.
“There were heaps of family and friends hanging around.
“Not even a little bit of drizzly rain could dampen things.“
Crosby said the support from the town was another positive.
“And all of the locals were on board,“ he said.
“We had so much support from so many people in Robe.
“There were so many great volunteers – it took a huge team to pull it off.“
The date for next year’s event has already been pencilled in, with it to be held on February 10, 2024.
