Round 9 of Athletics Victoria's XCR'26 series is a 15km on the Yarra Boulevard at Burnley, run on Sunday 6 September 2026 out of Kevin Bartlett Reserve. The course is three laps of a level 5km loop on the river bank, and Athletics Victoria lists it as an AIMS certified course, which makes a time run here worth keeping.
The 15km goes off in two waves. Athletes expecting to break 60 minutes start at 8:05am and face a 65 minute cut-off; the 60 to 110 minute wave follows at 9:10am with a limit of 1 hour 50. A 4km race opens the morning at 7:45am, with age groups from under 14 through open and over-age. A drink station sits in the middle of the 5km loop and another at the finish, so runners reach water roughly every 2.5km.
XCR is a club competition first, scored across the season by Athletics Victoria clubs, but individuals can enter. For the 2026 round entry ran from $45 for a junior AV athlete member to $67 for an unaffiliated open runner, closing Wednesday 2 September. Athletes must be born in 2015 or earlier, and season package holders still have to enter each round separately through the AV portal.
