Malvern had a good start to the XCR season at the Jells Park relays on Saturday, with five teams entered for a total of twenty two runners. With the temperature hovering around 21°C, the two laps of the 3km cross country course were dry and the runners were sweaty.

Our women's division two team finished sixth. Eilidh Grigg, despite the warm conditions, improved on her time from last year, followed by a strong run from Amy Hessell, Tracey Austin with the fastest time of 23:16, and new president Michelle Jelleff.

Our best result for the day was in women's division four where our team finished third. This team was strengthened by the return of Melissa Clarke who took the first leg, followed by Nicki Macfarlane and Frances Albertyn.

Promoted to division two this year, our top men's team worked hard in what is a much more competitive table. It was great to have Jack Jones make his debut with an impressive 22:58. Damien Bertram, Marcus Boxall and Shaun Green continued on from last year, while Dan Halliday and Chris Rayment were bumped up to the first team.

Our men's division four team had a good day out finishing seventh. David Lau had a standout run with a time of 24:52, ably supported by Ashley Snowden, Steve Williams, Greg Berti and Chris Burnett.

The club's depth extended to a mixed division seven team comprised of Chris Scully, former president Jay Wright, Mark Bartholomeusz and Jono Rau. Despite feeling under the weather, Jono jogged around in 28:33 to ensure we had a complete team.

As is customary, the post race afternoon tea was well supplied, even though the author, who baked twenty four choc-chip biscuits but neglected to bring them, returned home to find one had been “saved” for him.

The socks were awarded to Marcus Boxall whose time of 22:03 was Malvern’s fastest of the day.

The club is now looking forward to the Nim Gorrie Handicap on Saturday 6 May, and then XCR Wandin Park cross country races on Saturday 13 May.