Warrnambool's Josh Bail, Ballarat's Ebony Howes win 10km race at Warrnambool Running Festival

The 19-year-old long-distance runner crossed the finish line as the male winner on Sunday, September 17 after overcoming a serious knee injury in a sign he was primed for a successful summer campaign.

Bail won with a blistering time of 35:19.

"I've had a pretty mixed up period of training, so it was good to get across with my knee staying intact," he said post-race.

"The last six months have been tough with two knee injuries and I've sort of been up and down with rehab and recovery.

"It takes a lot to be disciplined and keep trying and I'm really happy to get the job done with the win."

He added it was a good "confidence boosting" race win leading into the season.

"It was good for my body to hold up over the 10km events," he said.

"Leading into the summer season, I'm looking at a lot of short distance races so it's nice to get that 35 minutes of consistent pace.

"I'd done about 55km in the lead-up, five runs, a session (with) about 13km run and had a spa yesterday to freshen me up for this one."

Ballarat's Ebony Howes was another athlete to shine on the day, crossing the finish line as the female winner with an impressive time of 46:12.

The 19-year-old said she was delighted with the result having worked hard in the lead-up for the event.

"It wasn't flat by all means but I got there. I did what I had to do and came out here with a time in mind and am really happy with how I've done," she said.

"I'm training for a half-marathon so my training did taper off a little bit which was nice actually, I would have had a really long run today so I wanted to race to see where I was at.

"Nothing really changed for me, bit of carb loading, but the training did taper off so the legs were fresh."

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