Moama athlete Archie Reid marked a personal best on the track as he clocked 30:08.42 the Zatopek 10,000m classic at Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium on January 26.

The 20-year-old who is a member of South Bendigo Athletics Club raced in the training singlet of the Bendigo Bats, the region’s cross-country squad.
One of the youngest in the field, Reid was 13th in a race where Olympian Jack Rayner was victorious in 28:16.86.
Reid qualified for what was also the Australian and Victorian championship for the 10,000m when he ran 29.22 to be fifth in the 10km road classic at last year’s Launceston Running Festival.

Buchanan back on track

The field for the latest edition of the Zatopek:10 included Bendigo University’s Andy Buchanan. It was the 30-year-old’s first race on the track in many months after a year in which he put in a lot of time preparing for the Gold Coast Marathon and Melbourne Marathon. Buchanan did not start in either – Gold Coast was cancelled after a COVID outbreak, and a stress reaction in his thigh just weeks out from Melbourne’s race forced him to
scratch. The Bendigo University Athletics Club ace ran a time of 30:00.87 which was above a personal best of 28.26 run at Box Hill in December, 2019.
Buchanan and Reid were rapt to test themselves against a quality field in what were hot and humid conditions for the 25-lap contest.

The Bendigo Bats team-mates in Athletics Victoria’s XCR series are coached by Scott Westcott and Brady Threlfall respectively.

Jack Rayner’s link to Bendigo includes victory in the 2014 edition of the Bendigo Bank Dragon Mile run in the lead-up to the Bendigo Easter Fair gala procession. Buchanan is a three-time winner of his home city’s 1609m classic.

In the women’s Zatopek 10 it was Newcastle’s Rose Davies who claimed back-to-back titles in a time of 32:58.45.
Davies ran in the 5000m at the Tokyo Olympics. She is coached by Scott Westcott.

Woods soars in Steve Hooker Pole Vault Challenge

Pole vault star James Woods marked a hat-trick of victories in the Steve Hooker pole vault challenge.
A dual winner when at South Bendigo Athletics Club, Woods soared 4.85m in Wednesday’s contest to be runner-up in the men’s event to Dalton Di Medio, 5.05m.
These days, Woods is competing with Keilor St Bernard’s. He teamed with Lara Wittey who cleared the 3.65m mark.
The women’s pole vault was won by Cassidy Bradshaw, 4.05 metres.