A cold, wet and windy day greeted runners for the final round of the Athletics Victoria XCR series.
National cross country runner-up Ed Marks was the fastest on the day around the 3.847km loop of Melbourne’s Tan, running the opening leg for eventual third-place finishers Glenhuntly Athletics Club.
Marks ran 10:36, 6 seconds faster than Olympic marathoner Andy Buchanan, with Jhye Hadfield and Matthew Buckell equal third fastest at 10:49.
Western Athletics took out the event in 66:54 for the 6 leg race, an average of 11:15 per leg. Bendigo Region (67:45) and Glenthuntly (68:37) took the minor placings.
| Rank | Name | Time |
| 1 | Ed Marks | 10:36 |
| 2 | Andy Buchanan | 10:42 |
| =3 | Jhye Hadfield | 10:49 |
| =3 | Matthew Buckell | 10:49 |
| 5 | Will Lewis | 10:51 |
| 6 | Ben Chamberlain | 10:59 |
| 7 | Zayd Al Sayd | 11:02 |
| 8 | Harry Norman | 11:05 |
| 9 | Cody Shanahan | 11:06 |
| =10 | Liam Cashin | 11:07 |
| =10 | Jesse Dunsmore | 11:08 |
Melissa Duncan was the fastest woman with a 12:09 clocking on the second leg for the victorious Box Hill Athletics Club team, with Amy Robinson (12:14) and Sarah Klein (12:35) next fastest.
Box Hill (65:59) recorded a comfortable win by over a minute-and-a-half over the five leg relay, with Sandringham (67:35) and Glenhuntly (70:23) finishing in the minor placings.
| Rank | Name | Time |
| 1 | Melissa Duncan | 12:09 |
| 2 | Amy Robinson | 12:14 |
| 3 | Sarah Klein | 12:35 |
| 4 | Katherine Downie | 12:40 |
| 5 | Imogen Baker | 12:48 |
| 6 | Erika Florez | 13:01 |
| 7 | Lilly Ellis | 13:06 |
| 8 | Izzy Cotham | 13:12 |
| 9 | Lucy Cleveland | 13:13 |
| 10 | Cassie Little | 13:18 |
