Walker running king
Cross country goes down to wire

By LEUT Moses Raudino

Sub Lieutenant Rowan Walker of the Training Unit Anzac Ship Support Centre (TU-ASSC) has claimed back to back titles with a win at the ADF Cross Country Championships held in August at Simpson Barracks in Watsonia.

The barracks, home to the Defence Force School of Signals provided a daunting challenge to the small contingent of Navy runners with a testing 8.5km course layout to negotiate in the heart of ‘hostile’ Army territory.

With only a small Navy presence to counter the Army in their bastion it was always going to be a tough day for the Senior Service.

It was therefore no surprise when hot favorite Army super star PTE David Whitehead, down from the Sydney based 4RAR (Cdo), the highest placed ADF runner at the recent Gold Coast Half Marathon, and the current ADF 10km Champion took off at a brutal pace.

Before the first kilometre was complete PTE Whitehead had stamped his authority on the race, opening up a large gap that threatened to consign the rest of the field to the also ran category.

However, the seemingly scripted scenario was to be thrown into doubt when the slow starting SBLT Walker began to make inroads into the daunting lead.

Although never assured, the capture after several kilometres of relentless chase seemed increasingly inevitable and signalled the next phase in the struggle.

The lead now alternated as each runner surged in an effort to break the opposition and exert their dominance.

Finally the deadlock was broken on one of the numerous inclines that make the Watsonia course such a supreme test and the steady, relentless pace of Walker broke the will of Whitehead.

Walker then forged ahead to secure victory by over a minute from the dogged but fading Whitehead.

Other notable Navy results included a win by LEUT Jeff Rayner in the veteran’s section and a second place by the President of the Defence Running Association CAPT Frank Kresse in the masters.

Despite the leg cramping drive down, the team from HMAS Waterhen managed a fine second place in the team category.

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