Athletics New Zealand Media Release - 4th October 2010
New Zealand Road Relay Championships – 2 October 2010
University of Canterbury easily retained their senior men and senior women’s titles at the New Zealand road relay championships held in Inglewood on Saturday.
For the men’s team it was University’s fourth win in a row and their fifth victory in the 34 year history of the event. For the women it was their second win in a row and their sixth overall.
Andrew Davidson gave the men’s team a good start carving out the first lap of 7.8km in 24m 8s to put them 45 seconds ahead of New Brighton with a further four seconds to a surprised Hayden Shearman running for the Wellington Scottish B team. Scottish’s A team runner Rees Buck came in sixth just over a minute behind Shearman.
Hayden McLaren, back in the country from his American athletic scholarship, took New Brighton into the lead over the next stage. Phil Costley held University in second with national cross country champion Alex Parlane bringing Pakuranga into contention with his time of 31m 34s for the gruelling 10.4km.
Dale Warrander, who had crossed the Tasman to help his Pakuranga team, ran a blinder on lap three rocketing over the 11.3km in 35m 6s to sweep Pakuranga into a six second lead over Jason Woolhouse competing for New Brighton. University at this stage had slipped to third, Luke Hurring clocking 37m 4s for the lap.
The turning point for University came in the fourth stage with Matt Harris charging through to take a three second lead over Pakuranga.
Brett Tingay followed by Jason Lawrence and Malcolm Hicks maintained University’s advantage handing Rowan Hooper a commanding lead to anchor them home in 4h 4m 39s for the 76.1km distance. Pakuranga were nearly four minutes back in second with New Brighton third and Scottish finishing fourth and fifth with their A and B teams.
Davidson said that it was nice to get a bit of a lead on the first lap.
“I am a bit surprised as it was my first race since I ran at Stanford in April. I’ve done a bit of training, running 90km a week and I did a session last Friday to try and get myself into some sort of shape,” said Davidson.
“A few of the guys were not available and we have shown our depth as we never have had everyone available in any one year – it’s been the key to it really. Only Rowan and I have been in all the last four teams,” he added.
Hooper said running the final leg was special to him.
“I went to primary and intermediate school here and I have very fond memories of the country and it was great to come back and run with such a strong team and enjoy being back in the hometown as such and seeing the mountain without clouds is nice,” said Hooper.
“It was just a real strong team, just a bunch of guys who train hard, race together and no weak links in it and it showed today that we had the depth to pull away in the middle stages,” he added.
Hooper has only just got back into running following being sidelined with deep vein thrombosis after a flight to the UK where he was going to compete in a half marathon. Hooper will now compete in the Auckland half marathon at the end on the month.
Costley said that his role was to help the younger guys.
“My job was to keep in contact so that our king pins could do the work when they had to do it and when you can unleash Rowan Hooper with a three minute lead too much can’t go wrong. It’s nice to run with a bunch of guys that get out there and enjoy it and I’m there to help them through I guess,” said Costley.
Craig Motley manager and coach of the team said they did have some anxious moments during the race.
“When Dale Warrander took out that big margin on lap three, but we knew that we had great depth throughout and the boys would come through and sure enough Matt Harris on the next lap turned it all around and then we just stretched it out from there. We knew some teams had big guns on laps two and three and it was a matter of holding them and show our depth for the rest of the race,” said Motley.
“We were not at full strength and we are looking forward to bringing it on next year in Auckland where we will be going for five in a row to tie with North Harbour Bays,” he added.
Warrander, who is aiming for a 2h 17m marathon in the Auckland marathon at the end of the month, said he was stoked with his lap.
“I felt good today, I like relays and it was good to chase someone rather than have someone trailing you.
“Our team just ran out of gas towards the end. I thought we might hang in there a little bit longer but we gave them a good run for their money over the first six laps,” said Warrander.
“We made it competitive it was just those last couple of laps we sort of let ourselves down a little bit but overall it was still a good result, we’re happy,” he added.
The Canterbury women’s team led throughout the women’s relay winning in 4h 53m 16s, to beat Pakuranga by ten minutes.
Whitney Greig had a good buffer going into the final lap back to the athletic stadium in Inglewood.
“I had seven or eight minutes as everyone had run really, really well on all of their laps before hand. Tracy Crossley, a master, ran an awesome first lap and from then on all the girls just dug it in and really did good laps,” said Greig.
“It’s really good to hold the title again, good for the University Club. It was a really good atmosphere, really well done relay, really scenic and a nice relay to run, and some really tough laps. It’s great to come in and finish on the track with everybody around, so you get lots of encouragement and cheering,” added Greig.
North Harbour Bays led from start to finish in the junior women’s relay, Danielle Trevis setting them on path to victory after a superb first lap. Auckland City Athletics were second. Aaron Pulford sealed a win for his Hamilton City Hawks team over the final lap of the junior men’s relay. Auckland City Athletics took out another second.
Auckland University won the masters men over 50 relay, a title that they last won in 2007 in Timaru. Wellington Scottish won their first masters men 40-49 title. Scottish had a great battle with Papanui TocH right up to the final lap. Don Greig running the last stage for Papanui succumbed to the pressure, having to slow down after feeling nauseous.
Hamilton Hawks stamped their authority over Wellington Scottish in the masters women contributing towards their win for the second year in a row for the top club overall honours.
Men.-
Senior 76.1km: Canterbury University (Andrew Davidson, Phil Costley, Luke Hurring, Matt Smith, Brett Tingay, Jason Lawrence, Malcolm Hicks, Rowan Hooper) 4h 4m 39s 1, Pakuranga 4h 8m 14s 2, New Brighton 4h 10m 47s 3.
Senior B Grade: Hamilton City Hawks 4h 30m 8s 1, Lake City Athletics 4h 32m 23s 1, Wellington Harrier Athletic 4h 33m 7s 3.
Senior C Grade: Hutt Valley Harriers 4h 50m 5s 1, Hawera Harriers 4h 53m 18s 2, Energy City Harriers 4h 54m 33s 3.
Masters 76.1km: Wellington Scottish (Peter Stevens, Greg Mitchell, Todd Stevens, Jim Jones, Joseph Bulbulia, David Kettles, Craig McLean) 4h 28m 52s 1, Papanui TocH 4h 31m 11s 2, Hamilton City Hawks 4h 39m 50s 3.
Masters over 50 76.1km: Auckland University (Keith Proctor, Brett Katterns, Gavin Stevens, Tony King, Graham Macky, Dave Harkness, Clive Henderson, Ian Richards) 5h 0m 11s 1, Tasman Tigers 5h 3m 24s 2, Hamilton City Hawks 5h 9m 53s 3.
Junior 37km: Hamilton City Hawks (Cory Whiting, Kieran McPherson, Mohamed Ali, Ollie Smith, Scott Hilliar, Aaron Pulford) 2h 0m 35s 1, Auckland City Athletics 2h 2m 52s 2, Wesley 2h 3m 7s 3.
Women.-
Senior 76.1km: Canterbury University (Tracy Crossley, Nicki McFadzien, Fiona Crombie, Alex Williams, Kellie Palmer, Julieana Findlay, Aine Hoban, Whitney Greig) 4h 53m 16s 1, Pakuranga 5h 3m 12s 2, Wellington Scottish 5h 9m 23s 3.
Masters 76.1km: Hamilton City Hawks (Tracey Greenwood, Lee-Ann Sharp, Bridget Deverell, Anne Bradley, Kirsten Milne, Dot Larsen, Bridget Ray, Marion Millward) 5h 13m 43s 1, Wellington Scottish 5h 16m 24s 2, Pakuranga 5h 37m 47s 3.
Junior 37km: North Harbour Bays (Danielle Trevis, Maddie Dillon, Kimberley Burke, Pip Brown, Natasha Bowyer, Annika Pfitzinger) 2h 23m 42s 1, Auckland City Athletics 2h 24m 35s 2, Hamilton City Hawks 2h 30m 37s 3.
Composite 76.1km.-
North Harbour 5h 11m 17s 1, Feilding Moa 5h 19m 43s 2, Wesley Harriers 5h 20m 53s 3.
Walkers 37km.-
Taranaki Race Walkers 3h 36m 30s 1, Wellington Scottish 3h 56m 26s 2, Taranaki Race Walkers 4h 7m 33s 3.
Top Club on points: Hamilton City Hawks.
GERMANY
Hochfelln Berglauf, Bergen – 26 September 2006
Jonathan Wyatt scored his eighth win in the 8.9km +1001m mountain running race in 43m 7s. Antonio Toninelli of Italy was second in 43m 50s with Robert Krupicka of Czech Republic third in 44m 21s. Antonella Confortola of Italy was second in the women’s race.
SLOVENIA
Smarna Gora, Ljubljana – 2 October 2010
Jonathan Wyatt finished a close second in the 10km 730m+ 300m- mountain running event in 42m 38s. Ahmet Arslan of Turkey won in a race record 42m 28s.
Anna Frost was sixth in the women’s race in 55m 13s, won by Andrea Mayr of Austria in 48m 48s. Antonella Confortola-Wyatt of Italy was second in 51m 9s.
USA
Notre Dame Invitational cross country, South Bend Indiana – 1 October 2010
Lucy Van Dalen running for Stony Brook won the women’s 5km in 16m 22s. Her twin sister Holly was sixth in 16m 33s. Paula Whiting (Stony Brook) was 12th in 16m 53s, Annie Keown (Stony Brook) 24th in 17m 10s, Katie Wright (Tulsa) 32nd in 17m 21s and Haley Green (Stony Brook) 39th in 17m 23s.
In the Gold race for men over 8km Terefe Ejigu (Eastern Michigan) was second in 24m 52s and Harry Dixon (Eastern Michigan) eighth in 25m 20s. In the Blue division Carl Mackenzie (Villanova) was 84th in 25m 21s.
Main Line Invitational, Haverford Pennsylvania – 23 September 2010
Carl Mackenzie (Villanova) won the 4 mile cross country race in 19m 53s with Mathew Mildenhall (Villanova) third in 19m 54s.
Mason Invitational, Oatlands Plantation Leesburg Virginia – 2 October 2010
Laura Sinclair (George Mason) won her second race in a row taking out the 6km cross country event in 20m 46s.
AUCKLAND
Sri Chinmoy 12 hour race, Sovereign Stadium North Shore – 2 October 2010
Val Muskett set a number of world age group 55-60 records during the run.
50km was 4h 30m 46s now 4h 28m 30s.
6 hour was 64.800km now 66.041km.
80km now 7h 25m 17s.
50 mile now 7h 28m 03s.
100km was 9h 41m 31s now 9h 31m 45s.
12 hour was 114:00km now 121:938km.
Viaduct Harbour 5km Series – 28 September 2010
Jonny McKee won in 15m 06s, Melanie Burke won the women’s section in 17m 54s.
MATAMATA
Matamata Harrier Club Road Champs – 2 October 2010
As a mark of respect to the late Ted Guy the Matamata Harrier Club road championships were re-scheduled to Saturday.
On a point to point course previously measured by Ted Guy, Wayne Guest won the 10km title in 32m 52s.
WELLINGTON
Waterfront 5km Series – 28 September 2010
Tim Stewart won in 16m 39s, Gabrielle O’Rourke won the women’s section in 17m 54s.
INVERCARGILL
Southland Road Championships, Queens Park – 2 October 2010
Shaun Burgess won the senior title over 10km in 33m 55s, from Southland cross country champion Barry Ledington 34m 42s. Glen MacIntosh in third was the first master in 36m 15s. Jake Henderson won the M16 5km in 19m 24s, Hannah Adamson the W16 5km in 19m 36s and Kathy Maclachlan the first master woman in 19m 31s for the 5km with Debbie Telfer first in the W50 in 20m 15s.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES, NEW DELHI
Timetable of New Zealand athletes’ participation.
Thursday 7 October
NZ Time:
1.05am, Jessica Hamill Women’s shot put Parasport F34.
3.25am, Adrian Blincoe 5000m final.
5.30pm, Brent Newdick Decathlon 100m.
6.15pm, Brent Newdick, Decathlon long jump.
6.20pm, Nikki Hamblin, 1500m heats.
7.45pm, Brent Newdick Decathlon shot put.
Friday 8 October
1.00am, Brent Newdick Decathlon high jump.
3.25am, Brent Newdick Decathlon 400m.
5.30pm, Brent Newdick Decathlon 110m hurdles.
6.05pm, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon 100m hurdles.
6.10pm, Brent Newdick Decathlon discus throw.
6.55pm, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon high jump.
7.30pm, Brent Newdick Decathlon pole vault.
Saturday 9 October
1.00am, Brent Newdick Decathlon javelin throw.
1.25am, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon shot put.
2.10am, Nikki Hamblin 1500m final.
2.35am, Brent Newdick Decathlon 1500m.
2.50am, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon 200m.
5.30pm, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon long jump.
Sunday 10 October
1.00am, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon javelin throw.
1.15am, Monique Williams 200m heats.
2.15am, Valerie Adams shot put final.
3.15am, Rebecca Wardell Heptathlon 800.
3.35am, Medal Ceremony Women’s shot put.
Monday 11 October
1.00am, Andrea Miller 100m hurdles heats.
1.05am, Elizabeth Lamb high jump final.
1.15am, Monique Williams 200m semi-final.
1.40am, Matthew Lack 1500m Parasport T54.
2.45am, Nikki Hamblin 800m heats.
2.50am, Beatrice Faumuina discus throw qualifying.
3.20am, Monique Williams 200m final.
Tuesday 12 October
1.00am, Beatrice Faumuina discus throw final.
1.05am, Andrea Miller 100m hurdles final.
2.00am, Adrian Blincoe and Nick Willis 1500m heats.
2.20am, Nikki Hamblin 800m final.
Wednesday 13 October
1.10am, Stuart Farquhar javelin throw final.
1.50am, Adrian Blincoe and Nick Willis 1500m final.