Sixteen-year-old student Tonks and thirty-nine year old teacher Reynolds live adjacently on top of the hill overlooking the race start and finish at the bucolic Rhymney Cricket Ground, now mostly inhabited by sheep.

The course is notorious for the bone-shaking corrugations along Pentlands Creek Road that seem treacherous to the unwary runner, out and back, on a landscape that includes a steep uphill... and fast downhill if you dare.

Despite sage advice from Reynolds that runners "stick to the soft edges" it was no surprise that he and his young protégé recorded fastest times, with Tonks benefiting from helpful guidance from "Sir" when the youngster attempted to go the wrong way.

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Once pre-race handicaps were applied, Tonks was the clear winner in only his fourth club run, with Reynolds relegated to sixth, enabling returning talent Rhonda Rice to slip into second place, ahead of the gritty veteran, Julie Hertz.

Tonks, who trains with Ararat coach Sue Blizzard, has a promising distance-running career ahead, after first realising his potential in five-kilometre Fun Runs.

The tousle-haired teen said he was "never much of a sprinter."

"I go alright in three kilometre cross country at school level, but I think I'm better at five kilometres. I hadn't run that distance until Park Run."

From Rhymney, the club ventures to Stawell for the five kilometre Shane and Robyn Young Sportspower Handicap on Sunday.

Fun runners are welcome.

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