Youth proved to be a winner at the fourth Rotary Fun Run on Sunday with young runners taking all the shine.

Fourteen-year-old Monique Morgan was the overall winner of the 5km race, while two more young runners took up the sec- ond and third sports in the men’s 5km event. Another 14-year-old Liam Tory came second and Philip Howard, only ten years old, surprised with the third spot.

With last year’s record breaking Olympian winner Scott Westcott not competing, the field was wide open and Monique became the first female to be the overall winner. Her time of 22:03 was well off Scott’s record of 15:10.50 he set last year.

The 10km event was won by Gavin Stephenson in 41:42 for the men and Ursula Wilson won the women’s race in 44:25.

The kids 2km race once again proved popular, although entries were down from last year. Spencer Draper and Sam Airey were first of the 72 entrants to finish with Isaac White and Paddy Williams in sec- ond and third respectively. The first girl over the finish line was Sharlia White fol- lowed by Tia Dunn and Ruby Smith.

A total of 187 athletes took part in the three events in beautiful autumn weather.

By Maggi Barnard

The newly established basketball club in Parkes had an extra special training session on Tuesday when two very important visitors dropped in.

Conrad Etchi, a professional basketball player from the US, and Rachel Herrick of Basketball NSW, attended the club’s second training session.

“This is a big deal for us,” said Debbie Lasserre, who started the club with the help of the PCYC. “There was nothing in Parkes for young kids wanting to play basketball, so I decided to start a club.”

She was very excited to get Conrad involved, who is currently on a six-month stint with the Dubbo Basketball Association. He is in his first year as a professional player after graduating from a college in West Virginia last year. “I love it in Australia and it is good to see the sport getting bigger.”

Rachel came from Sydney to introduce the club to Aussie Hoops, which is a program teaching young kids the basics of basketball. Debbie said kids could register online for the program and receive a basketball, bag and shirt.

“We train every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30pm and all primary kids can join.”

The 2017 Services Club Spacecats started the season on a high with a 56-0 win over the Narromine Jets on Sunday.

The Spacecats had a good pre-season build up with trials against Forbes and Dubbo Macquarie, as well as a positive showing at the Canowindra KO. With nine new players on the team, early combinations were important.

It was evident early that Parkes needed to control the ball to trouble the Jets’ de- fense. Rookies Tyannua Goolagong and India Draper combined within the first five minutes to produce a try for Draper, before Goolagong asserted herself on the game.

Scoring three tries and setting up count- less attacking raids, the young half was superb in helping Parkes score more than a point a minute in the first half. One of the features of the first half was a 70m try featuring an exchange of passes between 16-year-olds Emeline Lavaka, Alice Maier and Lauren Chester. The result was Chester posting one of her two tries for the match.

In the second half, a more determined Narromine emerged and troubled Parkes with determined play, however veteran players Sami Afele, Emma Bayley and Demi-Joyce Winter led a siege-mentality defense to stifle numerous Jets raids, and enable Parkes to keep Narromine to zero. Another rookie, Paige Hay totally controlled the second half, combining with skipper Claire Barber to push the final score to 56-0 and record a positive start to the new season.

Hay and Goolagong were judged by their peers as the players of the day, with the emerging Chester not far behind.

By Joseph Spicer