Yarra Ranges Athletics

Australian Athletics Cross Country Championships 2026 – Results Recap! 🇦🇺
What an incredible weekend of racing at Victoria Park, Ballarat, with 12 Yarra Ranges club members competing, some proudly representing the Victorian Team and others racing for Yarra Ranges. 💚🤍💙

The conditions were nothing short of brutal! After rain and flooding swept through Ballarat in the lead-up to the event, Victoria Park was transformed into a mud bath of puddles, slippery surfaces and challenging footing. With the course made up of 2km and 1km loops, there was simply no escaping the mud. Our athletes battled through lap after lap, with plenty of slips and falls along the way, making every finish an incredible achievement.

🥇 Highlight of the meet – Micah Friend!�Micah powered his way to GOLD in the Men’s Under 15 Para event. An almighty effort in extremely tough conditions. Congratulations, Micah! 👏💪

🔥 Run of the meet – Ivy Ingle!�After finishing 16th at the State Championships and narrowly missing selection for the Victorian Team, Ivy arrived with fire in her belly and something to prove. She flew around the course to finish an outstanding 6th overall and 2nd Victorian!
Ivy is certainly one to watch for the future. What a performance!

Congratulations to all 12 athletes who battled through the horrendous conditions and produced some fantastic results. We couldn't be prouder! 💚🤍💙

Sunday saw two Yarra Ranges teams take on the Mixed Relay, with four 2km legs in the order of boy, girl, boy, girl.
🥈 2nd Place: Tynan, Zoe, James & Liv put together a fantastic run to claim an impressive silver medal!
👏 10th Place: Ryder, Brig, Dan & Lily who stepped up as a reserve with just 45 minutes notice and delivered an amazing performance to finish 10th!
An amazing weekend of racing from Team Yarra. We are incredibly proud of every one of you!

Now it's time to turn our attention back to the AV XCR season, with just two rounds remaining and plenty still to play for across all divisions.
📍 Round 9 – Burnley�📅 6 September�⏰ Entries close Wednesday 2nd September
Get those entries in and let's finish the XCR season strong!
Go Yarra! 💚🤍💙

Registrations for Community Officials Race Walking education session close tomorrow. A vital part of our Officials team, we strongly encourage community members to take part in this workshop so that we can continue to build our roster of Walks judges. This workshop will be held on Saturday 29th at Middle Park. We can't stress enough how important it is for Yarra Ranges walks program to see some community members attend this weekend.

Visit lavic.com.au/education/officials/ and click on "Community Officials Workshops".

It’s National Cross Country Week! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Team Yarra are super excited to be sending 13 athletes to Ballarat this week to compete at the Australian Athletics Cross Country Championships!

A huge congratulations to Harry, Liv, Zoe, Riley, Phoenix and Micah, who have been selected to represent Victoria at the Championships. This is a massive achievement, and you should all be incredibly proud to represent your state at the highest level. 💙

Yarra Ranges Athletics will also be proudly represented by James CS, Brigitte, Ryder, Bri, Lachlan, Cash and Ivy, who will compete in their respective age groups. 🩵💚🤍

And for the first time, Yarra Ranges has entered two Open Mixed Relay teams! The teams will go head-to-head with other club teams and states across four 2km legs. We can’t wait to see you take on the challenge!

We are all so excited to watch our athletes compete this weekend and wish every one of you the very best of luck.
Run hard, race proud and enjoy every moment!
GO YARRA! 🩵💚🤍

Round 13 is Handicap Day this Saturday the 22nd of August at Lillydale Lake. Our last run of the Cross country season for 2026!
What is it?:
A unique format of racing. Athletes are allocated a starting time beginning with 0:00 seconds and increasing depending on their times from the season so far.
Leaders will have to chase, and chasers get the opportunity to lead.
Hopefully....it means everyone finishes close together!!
Who can run?:
Athletes who have attended 5 or more rounds will be allocated at start time and are eligible for medals.
Athletes with less than 5 attendance can still run, we will estimate a time for them, but won't be eligible for medals.

Medals:
First 3 finishers in each distance. Girls and Boys awarded separately. Big kids in the 3km awarded separately to Little Athletes. We will present medals as soon as results are available on the morning.
How?:
Turn up closer to 8.45am and come to the registration/timing table to get your athletes starting time written on their hand.
Extra helpers will be needed to help organise athletes in order and monitor starting order.
Marshals will be vital as runners not used to leading may not be as familiar without someone to follow. Plus runners spread out more.
Please sign up for duty this Saturday as we have a lot of regular helpers away at National Cross Country Champs in Ballarat this Saturday. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094BADAF2AA7FDC16-64487129-cross #/

Race starts at: 0, runners depart in order when the clock matches the time on their hand.
It's lots of fun!!
Parents please try to help your athletes understand what to expect.
If you need more details, please ask in comments or send an email in [email protected].

Reminder - No dogs at Little Athletics please
More information is available on our website https://www.yarrarangesathletics.org.au

Go Yarra!

Three-peat for Mitch Pointon!

In Werribee last weekend, at the Australian and Oceania Laser Run Championships, putting behind him the disappointment of missing last years World Champs to injury, Mitch Pointon did what he does best in comprehensively winning the senior mens race for the third consecutive year to claim a hat trick of Australian senior titles and his first senior Oceania championship all while still under 18.

Running a technical course that involved a series of tight hairpin turns, Mitch built what ultimately proved to be an unassailable lead in the first of 5 laps and along with some accurate shooting he completely dominated the race to finish with a winning time of 11:35 matching his own Australian record.

Congratulations Mitch and Jamie Strudley, who through their ongoing partnership of hard work, skill, and carefully considered coaching, continue to place themselves well on top of Australia and amongst the world’s best in laser running.

Congratulations Micah winning Gold in the Boys 11-12 Multi-class at State Cross Country Championships today! Great racing! 💚💙🩵🤍

Bronze Team medal to our U11 Boys Riley, Phoenix & Lachlan at State Cross Country Championships. Congratulations! 💙🩵💚🤍

Congratulations Tori on placing 7th at State Cross Country Championships at Lake Dewar in the U16 girls! Great racing!

Congratulations to Ivy placing 4th at State Cross Country Championships in the U10 girls! Great running 💙🩵💚🤍

Gold Team Medal to our U13 Girls at LAVic State Cross Country Championships. Well done Maiya, Tess & Caitlyn!