Big Foot veteran Michael Burton had eyes popping and tongues wagging after a blistering run in Metro League Round 3 at Centennial Park on Sunday.
Under sunny skies, the relatively easy navigational challenge of Sydney's great urban park meant this would be a battle of the speedsters, with the young guns tipped to prevail.
Not so, as 53-year-old Burton cleaned up the 7.4km Division 1 course (about 8.5km actual) in just 36m51s. That's a km rate of about 4m20s. Wow.
WHO club captain James McQuillan (39m37s) blew the chance at glory when he came unstuck on leg 14 up into the sandstone ridge and dropped three minutes.
Big Foot maintained their lead in Division 1, with Garingal nipping at their heels.
In Division 2 the GO Dragons maintained their perfect run with a narrow 28-27 win over SHOO, for whom Angus Shedden again had the fastest time (37m54s) over the 6.9km. Big Foot and Bennelong also had wins to keep it close among the first four teams.
In Division 3, IKO rookie Simon Louis smashed the field by 5 minutes as the southerners called on two Garingal fill-ins to beat Uringa-Central Coast.
Youth prevailed in Division 4 as Tom Kennedy, just 14, had the fastest time of 26m43s for the 4.4km. However, his Garingal team went down to a strong KNOX outfit that looks set to contest the silverware in August. Eleven runners in this division went under 35 minutes.
Likewise in Division 5, where 18 runners went sub-35. Margaret Jones (UR-CC) was quickest in 26m15s, and we should give a mention to Garingal's Clare Jessup, 15, who on her ML debut picked up 7 points and beat her dad!
The trial of entering via Eventor was a success and it appears will become the norm for MetrO League. Thanks to SI guru Ron Pallas for his efforts there. Thanks also to the Jones family for organising.
Results are up on our MetrO League webpage - with links to head-to-head scores, splits and match results.
There's little rest as next Sunday we are back in action at Cataract Scout Park for Round 4. It's off Appin Road - which runs from the Princes Highway to the Hume Highway. Alas, park management have decided to end our contra arrangement and charge us $4.50 per person - so fees for this event will be $13 per adult and $9 per junior.
