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
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