Cover image by Cooper Clarkson-Grigg
With pandemic pandemonium a thing of the past, Victoria’s distance runners were back in action with cross country relays in the opening round of Athletics Victoria’s XCR series at Jells Park.
The event catered for everyone from Olympians to dedicated club athletes and everything in between. Run over a 3km loop, the adult relays were 6km legs, while younger juniors sped around their 3km legs. 
St Stephen’s Harriers were the dominant force in the Open Men’s Premier division, with a sextet that included Stewart McSweyn and Ben Buckingham taking a convincing victory by over four minutes from Western Athletics and Glenhuntly. In fact, Division 2 victors, Bendigo Region, spearheaded by Andrew Buchanan, were the second fastest team on the day. 
It was marathoner Liam Adams that recorded the quickest split of the race. Adams is a strong supporter of his Athletics Essendon team and will frequently don the black and red to support the club, even if just putting in a threshold training effort (which at his level is still very competitive). It wasn’t just a threshold effort here, with a swift 17 minutes, 2 second leg being almost half a minute quicker than the rest of the field. 
Stewart McSweyn ran the fifth leg for St Stephen’s, with a relaxed 17 minutes, 39 seconds the third fastest of the day. Splitting Adams and McSweyn was Buchanan’s opening leg of 17 minutes, 30 seconds.
Five fastest splits of the day Rank Athlete Split 1 Liam Adams 17:02 2 Andrew Buchanan 17:30 3 Stewart McSweyn 17:39 4 Cody Shanahan 17:52 5 Tom Thorpe 17:55
In the women’s open Premier division race, Glenhuntly took line honours ahead of South Melbourne and Box Hill. Box Hill started strongly with a 21 minute, 5 second opening leg from Calli Thackery, which was the second fastest of the day, but just one second. 
Backing up after a bronze medal in the National 3000m titles on Thursday, Melissa Duncan was the fastest of the day with a 21 minute, 4 second split for St Stephen’s.
Five fastest splits of the day
| Rank | Athlete | Split | ||||
| 1 | Melissa Duncan | 21:04 | ||||
| 2 | Calli Thackery | 21:05 | ||||
| 3 | Karinna Fyfe | 21:38 | ||||
| 4 | Emilie Guy | 21:55 | ||||
| 5 | Simone McInnes | 22:03 |
Check out a few more of our 440 images from the day below.
Check out our new look website, with free high res downloads!
For a better storytelling and user experience, we are migrating our collection of over 20,000 photos to the Zenfolio platform. We’ve started with our full gallery from Jells Park. 
We’re also making our high resolution photos free to download. Just subscribe to our mailing list and you’ll receive the download password. You can subscribe for free here.
Check out our full gallery of 440 photos from Jells Park
Latest posts:
- Sandringham claims women’s title as Western Athletics prevails in men’s at Sandown Relays
The iconic Sandown Relays returned to the wide turns and long straights of Sandown Racecourse on Saturday, with overcast skies giving way to fine conditions by the afternoon’s close. In the women’s 5×6.2km relay, Sandringham claimed victory with a consistent team performance, turning the tables on their rivals from Jells… Read more: Sandringham claims women’s title as Western Athletics prevails in men’s at Sandown Relays - Oates smashes course record at NSW Cross Country Championships
The 127th edition of the NSW Athletics Cross Country Championships was held in glorious winter sunshine at the iconic Willandra course on the NSW South Coast yesterday, with Bronte Oates delivering one of the most dominant runs in the event’s recent history. Still just 20 years old, Bronte Oates from… Read more: Oates smashes course record at NSW Cross Country Championships - Linden Hall storms to Stockholm victory in career best 3000m performance
Linden Hall has added another chapter to her 2025 season, powering to victory in the 3000m at the Stockholm Diamond League in a personal best time of 8:30.01 to claim her first ever Diamond League win over the distance. In a race defined by tactics and tenacity, Hall surged to… Read more: Linden Hall storms to Stockholm victory in career best 3000m performance - Deep fields at inaugural Albert Park 5km
A thousand runners took to the road for Athletics Victoria’s inaugural 5km offering at Albert Park. Run over essentially the same course as the Lakeside10, except with just one out-and-back lap rather than two, the depth of Victorian club running was on show with 76 men breaking 15 minutes and… Read more: Deep fields at inaugural Albert Park 5km - Western Athletics and Box Hill take out Jells Park Relays
Western Athletics’s men’s team prevailed with a strong final three legs of the 6x6km relay to claim a convincing victory at the Athletics Victoria XCR Jells Park Relays. With three of the top 10 fastest performers of the day it was quality and depth that led to victory by 76… Read more: Western Athletics and Box Hill take out Jells Park Relays
