LOCAL athletes took on the challenge of the annual 3 Bays Running Festival in Portland last weekend with great results across the board, claiming two first place finishes and a further podium placing.

Brendon Patterson, Claire Hilsdon and David Hilsdon impressed at the annual event, each taking home a special memory from the weekend.

Patterson won the half-marathon in a time of 1:23:16.7 that saw him beat the other 52 competitors in the event by more than five minutes in a dominant performance.

Having been a runner all his life, Patterson is in training for the upcoming athletics season where he competes for the Werribee club in middle distance races.

“I have been running since I was three years old, but I didn’t start competitive races until I reached school and had my first race as a seven-year-old,” Patterson said.

“I put in about 60km a week in training and when I umpire, I usually cover 12-15km in a game, so it all adds up and helps keep me fit.”

Claire was successful in winning the women’s quarter-marathon, crossing the line in a time of 51:05.6, a full minute in front of her nearest competitor.

The local rates herself as a recreational runner and not a competitive runner, but as a member of the Hamilton Running Club, she is covering between 50-90kms per week in training.

“I have been running for about five years,” Hilsdon said.

“I have competed in five marathons with a best time of three hours and 32 minutes, but that is not something that drives me, as I like to just run and I do it up to six times a week.”

David finished on the third level of the podium in the Hybrid Fool event.

The race is a combination of two events - an Ultra Marathon of 60km on Saturday where the race started at Bridgewater Lakes and follows the Great South West Walk back to Portland via the Blowholes, Bridgewater Bay, Cape Nelson and Portland, then the runners back up for a traditional marathon on the Sunday - hence the term ‘fool’ being used.

This event is for those runners who are at an elite level and he began his race at 4am on Saturday and ran the 60km course in 6:17:24.0 to finish fourth across the line.

After a good night’s sleep, he toed the start line in the marathon and posted a time of 3:19:27.0 to cross the line in eighth place.

His combined time of 9:37:07 saw only two other competitors cross the line ahead of him, leading to an outstanding result over the course of the weekend.

“The first time I ran in this event was in 2019, but I am very happy with my time for the combined events,” Hilsdon said.

“My best time for the marathon is two hours 51 minutes but that wasn’t after running 60km the day before.”

On the track Hilsdon is a middle-distance runner in events ranging from 1500m to 10,000m.