FOCUS on Families - Lawford/Bourne Clan

Thursday, 5 May 2016

Belinda Lawford posted some fantastic results at the NOL weekend at Wilpena SA.
Following on from her good performances at Easter in the ACT, Belinda carried the flag for Abominables and the Cockatoos at Wilpena, winning both the Middle Distance race on Saturday and the Ultra Long on Sunday.

Belinda said after her win......... “I was really excited about the races heading into them - I’d run at the Flinders a few times before and it’s super fun because it’s really fast running but also can be vague and low-vis, so can be quite technical. I wasn’t feeling very confident about the ultra long to be honest, I hadn’t really focused on endurance training leading up to the races at all. So I was pleasantly surprised with my results! In the middle race I think I got a bit lucky because I did a lot of running fast on a rough compass and then stopping and looking left/right for the control, which meant I had quite a sloppy race but I guess lost less time than the others. The ultra long was really fun, I ran most of the race with Tash Key, and we came through the first and second loops together. But then early on the third loop I made a really really big mistake - I think I lost nearly 10min running up and down a hillside searching for a control!! I eventually found it though and continued on more carefully, feeling a bit down and thinking I’d blown the whole race away. So I was very surprised to come into the finish in the lead! It turns out Tash had also made a huge mistake further on, and I’d passed her somewhere on the way to the finish without realising it. So it was all really fun racing and a nice surprise to finish on top, though I am still really annoyed about making that massive mistake in the ultra!”