Karri Cup a success in spite of COVID scare

One of the biggest events on the Lower South West’s sporting calendar went ahead last weekend despite the COVID-19 scare across the Perth and Peel regions. The 27th annual Karri Cup started from the Northcliffe Recreation Centre grounds about 8am on Saturday. Thomas Ford took out the men’s event after finishing the 100km distance with a time of 3hr 43min. 01sec., narrowly edging out second-placed Jon Gregg by two seconds. The winner for the women’s 100km race was Stefanie Van Amerongen who crossed the line at 4:20:03, a full 20 minutes ahead of runner-up Sabine Bird. The total number of cyclists participating was 389 with 212 taking part in the 100km circuit, 139 in the 50km and 38 participants in the 25km race. One of the day’s most heartwarming moments was when cyclist Matthew Rodier finished third in the 50km bracket after only recently undergoing a full hip replacement. One of the rising stars of the event was 17-year-old Calum Milne who, despite being a junior, finished 12th overall in a time of 4:08:57. Sunday’s Karri Kids race was a lively event with 40 competitors aged between three and 14 assembling at the federation track in Northcliffe. Karri Cup race organiser Jim Sale, who has been a part of the competition since 2010, described it as a good turnout despite the COVID-19 lockdown in Perth. “We had over 450 riders registered as of last night, we’ve had a few withdrawals because of the COVID lockdown, but yeah it’s been a good turnout,” he said. The Northcliffe Visitor Centre extended its thanks to the dozens of volunteers putting in thousands of hours work to make the competition run as smoothly as it did. Full results for the Karri Cup can be found on the Karri Cup website.