Australian Masters Athletics Championships 2021 Cancelled ; BBQ Stakes 6km XC 22:18

On Tuesday afternoon an announcement that Australian Masters Athletics Championships 2021 to be held in Canberra had been cancelled. It wasn't unexpected with state borders closed or problematic due to Covid. That means no Australian or World Championships in 2021. In 2022 Australian Masters are due to be held in Hobart, Tasmania and the World Masters Athletics Championships are due to be held in Tampere Finland and uncertain. Who knows how 2021 will pan out and the same heading into 2022. Either way my next Australian or World Championships won't be until 2022. On a positive side I will have just entered the M60+ age group.

Fortunately there is no Covid in Canberra and smaller local events on track, road XC and Parkrun are being held as normal, I will focus on those and be grateful. I am still free to travel interstate with conditions and some exclusions. I'll make the most of those opportunities in 2021.

Today at lunch I ran BBQ Stakes 6km community XC handicap run in 22:18. Time is equal to my fastest in 2019. Course in reverse to normal direction. Both directions are undulating, mostly up first half, mostly down second half, XC middle 3km. I ran one lap of the course plus strides as warm up, 4km warm down. Splits (500m):1:56,1:39,1:55,2:03,2:00,1:49,1:46,2:07,1:56,1:39,1:43,1:38.