Former world cross country champion Benita Willis has beaten a strong field to take out the Australian world cross country trial this morning at Brimbank Park in Melbourne.
Willis (formerly Johnson) strode away from training partner Nikki Chapple on the final of four laps in the 8km race, winning by a margin of four seconds.
The performance came on the back of some mixed form at the end of last year, where Willis ran strongly over the 15km of the Great Australian Run to finish second, but struggled in the 10000m at the Zatopek:10 to finish only 9th.
"I've just put everything behind me from 2009 and I'm moving forward," said Willis after the race.
"I've had a fantastic training block up at Falls Creek and I'm really fit.
"I certainly wanted to run here today and try to win the race and really cement my position as Australia's number one cross country runner and get a really strong team over to world cross because I think we are a really strong chance at a medal."
Behind Willis and Chapple, Lara Tamsett ran gamely in the lead pack before being dropped, but held on to third place. Anna Thompson, who has been based in Singapore, made a welcome return to Australian soil with a fantastic run to place fourth, whilst Tamara Carvolth, in her first race in the senior ranks, finished strongly to pass a tiring Eloise Wellings, the Australian 10000m champion, to claim fifth.
"I think its really great for women's distance running in Australia," said Willis of the depth of the race.
"We're very isolated but I think we can still be one of the best countries in the world at distance running, I'm confident of that."
In the men's race national 10000m champion and record holder Collis Birmingham used his superior strength and speed to pull away from a pack of athletes over the final 2km of the 12km event. Her was chased strongly by national cross country champion Clint Perrett, but his victory was never in threat. Behind Perrett was Duer Yoa, Liam Adams and Jeff Hunt, with a slight gap further back to Russell Dessaix-Chin.
After the race Birmingham spoke of how he intends to juggle the demands of the summer track season with his world cross country duties.
"Obviously the timing [of nationals] is not perfect, but I guess you can't suit everyone. It's just a matter of making sure I recover well from the cross country and the flights and everything," he said.
"With my training not a lot changes. I'll do Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart and I'll get on the track a couple of times at the end of this month and then go back up to Falls Creek and do the same thing week in, week out.
"It was the same thing that I did last year."
As for what distances the man who ran personal bests from 1500m to 15km last season will focus on, Birmingham is keeping his options open.
"I think I'll enter everything and see what kind of form I'm in. Certainly I want to run a good 1500m this year and put myself up for selection."
Kevin Batt won the junior men's 8km race from David Ricketts and Ethan Heywood, whilst Demi Wood scored a comfortable victory in the junior women's 6km race.
Results are available here
Photos from the day (still being uploaded) are available here
Video coverage is available here courtesy of AthsVic TV.
