Cass shows class in timely win
Jess Cass could hardly have picked a better time to celebrate her first win from 12 starts this season with Stawell Amateur Athletic Club – just two days after her 35th birthday and with wedding preparations well underway.
In the wake of a brace of race cancellations due to COVID-19, her win rounded off a perfect week after she enjoyed her fill of ‘running, cake and wine’ after the lockdown was lifted.
Due to marry Luke Maffescioni, her partner for the past four years, in October, Cass ran fastest of the 11 females who contested the eight-kilometre handicap on a sunny Saturday.
Surging to the lead from greybeards Gary Saunders and Terry Jenkins with an uphill 1.5 kilometres to run, she held on grimly to defy the fast-closing Drew Christian, who was just 12 seconds in arrears. Cass’s training mate, Michelle Dunn, was a brave third.
Cass’s sixth win since first joining the club in 2016 compensated for the race she thought she had won on July 12, but lost in extraordinary circumstances, before the lockdown.
She was first across the line in a 6.5-kilometre handicap, but Jakob Davis was the winner having started early, due to football commitments, and running overall fastest time in a solo effort.
Cass, a running enthusiast who injects speed and hill sessions into her training routine every week, had thought about a start in the Melbourne Marathon in October. But she settled on her priorities when locking in a wedding date.
“My goal now is to run every race on the club calendar this season because that’s something I’ve never done before,” she said.
In one-kilometre sub-juniors, Kade Santuccione was locked in a ding-dong battle with Mitchell Cass, which helped forge a win over Jerome Baker and Grace Monaghan who finally separated them on handicap.
The club remains in Stawell for a 10-kilometre Run for Ray Scott at Rifle Range Road on Saturday.
Fun runners are welcome.