RUNNING isn’t even her first sport of choice but it hasn’t stopped Emily Watts from enjoying the title of first female home in Sunday’s Edgell Jog.
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The Lithgow native and Bathurst club competitor came home in a time of 31 minutes and 58 minutes to finish 26th overall.
Watts, 16, finished second in the race two years ago but had to sit out the 2016 edition due to injury.
She made the comeback race one to remember.
Considering Watts’ lack of time spent on running practice it was an impressive performance.
“I haven’t run in a little while actually. I’ve only been doing school athletics. That’s about it,” she said.
“I’m focusing on cycling a lot now so it’s been more about that than running.”
The race for the women’s crown was closely fought over the opening half of the race.
Watts led the way heading towards Mitre Street but had Nicole Williamson, young gun Renelle Donges and Amy Glenn all within half a minute of her.
They weren’t going to hunt down Watts.
“After the long hill I saw the next closest lady behind me so I started to pick up the pace a bit,” Watts said.
“I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have to sprint at the end.
“I just tried to give it my all today to see how I’d go.”
Williamson took the runner-up spot in 32:18 and Donges – racing in the under 10s age group – finished just a further 10 seconds away.
Glenn (32:32) narrowly missed the podium spot while Jodie Martin (33:31) rounded out the top five.