King of the Mountain Fun Run:
With the Edgell Jog a run-
With Peter Hutton only 7sec from breaking the 20minute barrier around the Mt Panorama Circuit the King of the Mountain race rec.ord received a boost in profile and before the end of the 1980’s a number of runners had gone inside 20minute around the famous motor racing circuit
The 25th Anniversary King of the Mountain event in 1989 drawing a super field which included 2 times Edgell Jog winner Rodney Higgins from Canberra and 1987 Edgell Jog winner Geoff Donges however both were soundly beaten by the flying Robert Spilling who lowered the race record to 19min 17sec. Patricia Taylor (Trundle) won the Queen of the Mountain from Cath Hill (Eastwood) in the 25th Anniversary Event with exciting junior runner Greg Cusick defeating Mark Windsor for the Garner Trophy, Anne Letcher winning the Lovell Trophy from Sonya Robinson.
25th Anniversary King of the Mountain – 16th April 1989
Top 10 Overall – 1. Robert Spilling (Springwood) 2. Rodney Higgins (ACT) 3. Geoff Donges (Springwood) 4. Greg Cusick (Bath) 5. Rod Cornick (Holsworthy) 6. David Biczo (Blaxland) 7. Michael Young (Lithgow) 8. John Turner (Hazelbrook) 9. Marco Zammarrelli (Hurstville) 10. Mark Windsor (Bathurst).
Female Placegetters: – 1. Patricia Taylor (Trundle) 2. Cath Hill (Eastwood) 3. Tracy Raines (Fairy Meadow)
Mitchell College 1000 Footrace:
Consisting of 1 lap of Mt Panorama and organised by the Charles Stuart University (or more accurately Mitchell College), The Mitchell College 1000 footrace often drew bigger fields than the King of the Mountain due to its close ties to the education system.
Bob Sweet was the holder of the race record in the early 70s until Canberra’s Brian Lenton recorded 21m 19sec in 1976 to set a new race record with a multi winner of the King of the Mountain Dennis Barrett finishing 3rd. The Canberra had strong ties to the Mitchell 1000 event with the ACT Cross Country Athletics Club having plenty of success at the 1 lap dash around the mountain. It is believed that NSW Champion Athelete Peter Hutton took the race record in the 1980’s.
The Last Mitchell 1000 Fun Run was believe to be run in 1987 when Mark Windsor defeated around 150 runners, the top female was Mandy Walker and Clayton Bolt defeat Daniel Went in the Junior Category.
Bishop Norton Cup
The most historic event to be held on Mt Panorama was the prestigious Bishop Norton Cup. It was linked to Bathurst’s pioneer days by it association with Bathurst’s St Patricks Sports Day which dates back to the mid-
This huge Sports Day would attract over a thousand people and included a variety of sports including Caber Tossing, Sack races, Apple racing and the earliest Cycling Events with Mr Clifton winning on the Pennyfarthing at the 1881 St Patricks Sports Day prior to the colony’s Cycling Administration body, the NSWCU forming. The Grand Handicap running race was always a major draw card at the annual sports days, as too the Walking Events that would pave the way for the Bishop Norton Cup. In fact 3 men (Mr Maguire Mr Woods and Mr Asher) were sent to goal for 3 days during the 1880 St Patricks Sports Day for betting on these events.
Mr E M Dermott and D Ferguson were among the best competition walker in the 1870s and early 1880s but working the handicap system it was Mr Menary and Mr S Ferguson that took the winning prize in the early walking matches.
Yet it was not only the competition walking that was a feature of the sports days but also Competition Marching which would attract contestants of all ages for almost 100years of St Patricks Sports Day at the Local Sportsground. It was around this time in the early 1950s that the Catholic Bishop of Bathurst, Bishop Norton took an interest in the Walking and Marching events at the St Patricks Sports Day presenting the prizes to the winning marchers and then in 1954 donating an impressive trophy to give some extra significance to the historic Bathurst Walking events.
His plan worked, as NSW Walking Champion at the time John MacDougall thrilled the crowd with an impressive win over Botany teammate L Irwin and P Waddell from Sydney’s Western Suburbs Club in the 9km Marathon Walk event. Reported as the premier event at the 1954 Sports Day the Bishop Norton Marathon Walk consisted of 4 laps of the sportsground oval before racing 3.5 miles in the cities street before returning to the oval for more laps of the oval. When MacDougall returned to the oval he was 220yds in front of Irwin and the large crowd jumped to their feet and cheered him to the finish line. MacDougall responded to the cheers and extended his lead as he circled the oval to the finish.
It was the classic start to Bathurst latest major sporting event, as the event had also been backed-
After such a successful start the Bishop Norton Cup grew quickly with Australian Olympic reps Ron Crawford and Frank Clark regular winner of the prestigious cup. However in the late 1960s, sadly it was the demise of the historic St Patrick Sports Day which threatened the existence of the Cup when after around a century of wonderful events at the sportground the annual sports Carnival disappeared.
It was then that the Bishop Norton Cup (and for that matter the historic St Patrick Sports Day) become linked to Mt Panorama.
The top walkers in Australia, shocked that the Bishop Norton Cup could be lost, pushed that the marathon walk event be continued and Olympian Frank Clark led the field home for the first event on Mt Panorama in 1969.
Eventually the event was taken over by the Blue Mountain in the 1970s with Faulconbridge, Valley Heights and Wentworth Falls all hosting events before the cup returned home to Bathurst, where a Mitchell College Course was used before the Cup was established itself on a 8km loop outside Kelso High School (using Marsden Lane, Gilmour Street and Boyd Street) in 1984 when running events returned to the Bishop Norton Cup Day.
Sadly the Bishop Norton Cup has disappeared, but the Kelso High School loop was the venue for another major multi-
Bishop Norton Cup Winners List >>>