1. Leith's Master Men's 40 team
ran an excellent race to win the bronze medal after a
tough battle with Lake City and Wellington Harriers. The
team members in leg order were:
1. Richard Hendry
2. Ray Knox
3. Steve Skilling
4. Andrew Perry
5. Glen Ferguson
6. John Bayne
7. David Rush
Team report by Steve Skilling (Team Captain)
The Leith Master Mens 40 team of Richard Hendry, Ray
Knox, Steve Skilling, Andrew Perry, Glen Ferguson, and
David Rush performed above expectation to gain an outstanding
3rd place in this grade.
Initially, on pre-studying the race field, it appeared
that a top five performance was achievable; a result that
would still have been highly commendable given the 'heartbreak'
of finishing fourth last year and having a new look team
lineup in this year's race.
Hometown advantage and the placement of the right runners
on the right laps saw the team punch well above its weight
in racing and relay terms.
On lap 1, Richard Hendry ran a controlled lap in 37.36
minutes for the 10.3km journey bringing the team through
to 5th place and within 1.40 minutes of the leading team.
Perhaps the recent effects of a busy racing season prevented
Hendry from running a slightly faster lap time.
On lap 2, Ray Knox completed the 9.9km journey in 36.33
minutes and kept the team within striking distance of
the leading teams. Knox's run could be deemed to be quite
meritorious given he was forced to spend the preceding
week riding a bike in regards to his postie run, which
surely had an affect on him possibly running a faster
time.
Leith at the end of lap 2 was in 4th place, almost 3 minutes
down on the leading team.
On lap 3, Steve Skilling ran the 8.9km leg in the 2nd
fastest time of 32.46 minutes and brought the team into
3rd place. Recent injuries and a lack of training base
undoubtedly prevented Skilling from running faster and
moving the team closer to the leading two teams. That
said, running within 6 seconds of the fastest team runner
was still a good effort.
On lap 4, Andrew Perry seemingly did his best to miss
the start of his lap by not being able to locate Skilling
and in his 'haste' almost took his head off with a flying
leap of faith instead of the usual hand touch. Once into
7.4km lap, which he completed in 28.35 minutes Perry settled
into a steady pace. At one stage it appeared that he could
move the team into 2nd place but that team responded and
moved slightly away over the second half of this lap.
Leith by the end of the 4th lap was now maintaining a
solid 3rd place.
Running lap 5, Glen Ferguson ran the outstanding lap of
the day when completing the gutbusting 8.2km uphill slog
to the bullring in an amazing 35.15 minutes. Starting
off with the look only a champion possesses and having
the benefit of local knowledge and training over his lap,
Ferguson knew exactly when and how to make his move to
help move Leith into a higher placing in the race. What
was a 'safe' 3rd for Leith when Ferguson left the changeover,
was now an amazing 2nd place with the possibility of even
daring to think it could now catch the leading team of
Lake City.
Putting Ferguson's run in context was the fact that he
took over 1.30 minutes out of one of the world's best
mountain, x-country and road runner's in Colin Earwalker.
With the race now on for the medal's John Bayne ran a
determined 30.54 minutes for the 8.9km downhill gravel
lap. Despite having a 100km race still in his legs, Bayne
ran with all he had, only being passed in the last few
meters of this lap due to a superb lap from the Wellington
Harrier Club's runner who now had their team into 2nd
place with Leith now 10 seconds behind going into the
final lap.
By the time the final lap started, it seemed that no one
would be able to get within the Lake City team which had
a very comfortable lead. That said, there was a very real
battle for the silver and bronze medals with Wellington
Harrier's and Leith being within 10 seconds of each other.
David Rush set out oh his 11km journey with the knowledge
that a medal was now a distinct possibility. Whether it
was silver or bronze would be determined by the end of
the lap. Rush, remembering the 'heartbreak' of finishing
4th in last year's race ran very hard early on in an effort
to bridge the gap to 2nd place.
Relay running however, can be a 'cruel' sport and the
combination of a tough headwind and the effort to move
the Leith team into a higher placing, saw Rush slowly
drift back whilst maintaining the superb 3rd placing.
The last 5km seemed like an eternity as the effects of
the first 6km and the thoughts of last year battle slowly
took effect on Rush. Despite some major anxiety over the
closing stages as to whether the 4th placed team was close,
Rush brought the team home in an outstanding 3rd place
in a total time of 4.03.03 with the 4th place team a massive
6+ minutes behind.
On completion of the relay, the team congratulated each
other knowing it had been a job well done. Whilst not
having the strongest team on paper, all of the runners
completed their laps well enough to bring the team home
for the bronze medal. Once again, having the right runners
on the right laps proved to be extremely important.
A huge congratulations must go to all team members who
ran at or above what was expected. Well done to everyone
in the team.
Steve Skilling, Team captain Leith Master Men's 40.
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2. Leith's Open Masters 50
team finished sixth of 12 teams after lying eighth before
heading up Three Mile Hill on leg 5. This was a great
team effort in a very tough grade. The team members in
leg order were:
1. Marc Boulle
2. Ed Stevens
3. Graham Anderson
4. John Scoones
5. Paul Hellebrekers
6. Grant Koedyk
7. Brian Pascoe
Team report by Marc Boulle (Team Captain)
Despite a blustery wind, the weather looked like it was
going to play its part in this 2008 version of the National
Road Relays contested by 12 Open Master 50 teams.
Marc Boulle started off proceedings by trying to foot
it with the front runners for about 200 metres but then
settled into a more realistic pace for the duration of
the race, finishing strongly in 41 minutes 56 seconds
for the flat 10.3km leg to have the team placed about
10th in the OM50 grade.
Ed Stevens took over on the 2nd leg and put in a steady
fast pace to overhaul a number of runners of various grades
and bring our team closer to the top eight and completing
the 9.9km leg in 42 minutes 47 seconds.
Graham Anderson on the tough more rolly polly leg 3 had
a trademark run to keep our position constant above the
10th placing finishing the 8.9km leg in 37 minutes 8 seconds.
John Scoones ran to his potential on the 7.4km short
but scenic leg 4 to hold our team position steady. Paul
Hellebrekers was set to tackle the intimidating uphill
8.2km Three Mile hill leg. His time was 33 minutes 3 seconds
for this leg.
Paul did not disappoint, putting in an awesome run to
take it to Ariki's Phil Napper and pulling away from the
tough Ariki man before he hit the 4km mark. Despite hitting
a mini dust storm over the last steep 2km shingle section
to the Bullring, he ran admirably to post a good time
of 42 mins 35 minutes.
While Paul was getting some of the dust out of his lungs,
the intrepid bearded man mountain Grant Koedyk took over
at the top to hurtle down the hill like some Celtic warrior
of a bygone age scattering everything in his wake. He
was not going to let the diminutive Gene Sanderson get
the better of him and kept Leith ahead of the threatening
Ariki team finishing in 33 minutes 45 seconds..
Our anchor and scooter man, Brian Pascoe, took over the
task of bring Leith into 6th place by going after the
now close 6th and 7th placed teams runners. He did this
with seemingly consumate ease belying the fact that once
on the open plain the headwind became relentless. His
time was 41 minutes 12 seconds for the 11km leg.
The team can be extremely proud of itself for placing
this high up again in this toughest of grades, a grade
that is becoming tougher by the year. A great team effort
to be sure. Now for next year in Christchurch.
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3. Leith's Senior Men team finished
13th in the quality A grade holding out a determined University
Senior Men's A team.
1. Neale McLanachan
2. Mark O'Donnell
3. Craig Grant
4. William Hyndman
5. John Winsbury
6. Jason Palmer
7. Andrew Lonie (Captain & Manager)
Emergency reserve: Grant McDougall
Team Report by Andrew Lonie (Team Captain)
Despite a scarcity of senior men runners during
the winter season, Leith was able to assemble its first
senior team in the A Grade for several years: Neale McLanachan,
Mark O'Donnell, Craig Grant, Will Hyndman, John Winsbury,
Jason Palmer, Andrew Lonie and Grant McDougall (reserve).
The downside to the team's grading was the quashing of a
chance to go one better than the B Grade second place achieved
in Timaru 2007, but on the upside it reflected well on the
team's strength.
The immediate effect of the grading for Neale
McLanachan on Lap 1, was that returning after a long lay-off,
he had to endure a mass start containing runners of calibre
of Andrew Davidson, Luke Hurring and Brett Tingay. There
was also the strange weather convergence of three fronts
to contend with, creating unpredictable blustery headwinds.
Neale ran with trademark grit, completing the 10.3 km in
37:47, ably supported by Chris Sole returning to his bike,
and by other supporters' random comments such as 'Nice beard!'
Mark O'Donnell was as fired up as only he
can get for Lap 2. This leg also had some fierce headwinds
that cruelly coincided with the incline towards Woodside.
Mark had been battling in weeks prior to get on top of an
injury, but ran at his usual furious cadence the whole way.
He was beginning to catch up to Otago Uni's tight red shorts.
When the hip began to complain at the 8km mark, he was forced
to stop three times to apply corporal self-punishment. Even
so he posted a good time of 37:37 for the testing 9.9 km.
The trial by fire continued in Lap 3 for Craig
Grant, who was subjected to hot dry conditions that negated
any encouragement that might have been given by the tailwind.
Too experienced a campaigner to be discouraged by this,
he gave 100% for the whole 8.9 km, completing the leg in
34:25. Although the red OU shorts were still more distant
pinpricks than we would have liked, the effort Craig put
in showed the art of an early leg relay runner, that you
just have to keep plugging way to build a good base for
the team, no matter what.
Lap 4 saw the return of Will Hyndman who was
a member of the 2005 team at Akaroa. He must have taken
the warning of an impending train at the Tirohanga crossing
to heart, setting off at a jaunty pace which didn't let
up the whole way. Apparently oblivious to the undulations
on this leg, his 28:41 for the 7.4 km saw him well under
4 minute km's, exactly what was required at this point.
He also clearly saw the benefit of building the team's strike
capacity by putting in 100% at all times. This was turning
into a Leith relay performance of archetypal grit in testing
conditions.
For some obscure reason John Winsbury had
a desire to run up a 500 m mountain in heat, wind and dust
in the middle of the day. Well hello Lap 5! The apocalyptic
conditions were amplified by being the last team on the
course on a deserted road, Three Mile Hill having been closed
to other traffic for the event. No-one would ever know if
John stood on the towbar for five minutes… he showed
no signs of requiring assistance though, tackling the first
half with a steady, unrelenting work rate. On the second
gravelled half he continued to look as unperturbed as only
an Australian can. The few times the gradient eased, he
was greeted by Operation Desert Storm, a tornado effect
created by the sudden dust, wind and removal of shelter!
His storming run (36:20, 9th fastest A Grade time) reclaimed
over 2 minutes on University, who had enjoyed a comfortable
6 minute buffer at the bottom of the hill.
Jason Palmer was the perhaps the only team
member not to have struggled in some way with his race preparation,
and was clearly raring to go. In addition to this he had
foregone his normal raceday morning bike ride to Taiaroa
Head into a howling nor'easter. So when it came to the 8.9
km quad-shattering descent to Whare Flat, he had excess
gas to propel (the right word, judging by his arm-action
at the finish) him to a blistering time of 28:43. This was
also 9th fastest A Grade time, an astounding result for
a second year harrier and definitely the run of the day,
as Jason gobbled up the remaining 4 minutes of OU's lead,
and then some in the final straight.
The challenge now was to ensure OU kept the
coveted A Grade wooden spoon, but this looked doubtful with
the relentless Refoy running last for Uni, and opposing
Leith runner Andrew Lonie recovering from illness. He proved
to be very demanding, asking the team and coach Chris Sole
for split times every few hundred metres as this seemed
to be the only hope. Finally this tactic paid off as turning
into yet another headwind in this race, the lead excruciatingly
(for both runners!) increased from 14 to 54 seconds. However
Andrew did not carry a fully inflated orca down the finishing
straight, nor did he wear tight red shorts or a phantom
of the opera mask (although he did roll down the bank after
crossing the line). His time was 39:40 for the 11.0 km.
The team's total time was 4:03:13, interestingly
placing it just 5 seconds behind the winning B Grade team,
Ariki B, and 10 seconds behind the bronze medal winning
Leith MM40 team! Many thanks to the whole team for its support
of one another - including Grant McDougall, who fresh from
the Sydney marathon, was vocal in his support and provided
the much needed peace of mind of having a reserve up until
the last minute. Also thanks to everyone else who supported,
especially the Otago Uni team who as usual showed us the
same enthusiastic support they gave their own, while not
forgetting to give us a few wind-ups!
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4. The Leith Open C
team finished 7th in a very competitive grade.
1. Patrick Manning
2. Sarah Toomey
3. Jill Alexander
4. Alison Perry (Captain & Manager)
5. Alison Winsbury
6. Sonya Cameron
7. Viv Eyers
Leith Open C report (by Alison Perry,
Team Captain):
Patrick Manning, our one and only male team
member (but not the only one with hairy legs we discovered!),
got us off to a good start on Lap 1 with an impressive run
finishing in a time of 41:32. Apparently the reason men
sweat so much is because of the extra muscle they carry
that when breaking down during exercise excretes lots more
water/sweat (kindly explained by Sonya Cameron). This all
meant that when Patrick finished his lap none of us girls
wanted to sit next to him in the car so he had to take the
driver’s seat and sit on a plastic bag!
Sarah Toomey took up the challenge at Lap
2 and ran in fine style finishing in a super time of 45:23.
Jill Alexander tackled Lap 3 head-on and made an impressive
effort finishing her lap in a time of 41:21. Alison Perry
took over for the mostly undulating Lap 4 quickly over-taking
two runners at the start and keeping the lead until 2km
from the end of the lap when lack of speed work practice
showed through. Alison finished in 37:21.
Next Alison Winsbury took on the most grueling
lap of the race, Lap 5. She steadily chipped away at the
hill (or “mountain” as it was described by some
out-of-town runners – ha!) and only stopped for a moment
when a dust storm almost took her breath away along the
final climb to the Bull Ring. Alison finished her lap in
a superb 54:24. Sonya Cameron readily took the challenge
at Lap 6 for the downhill and finished in an impressive
37:04. Viv Eyers took off on Lap 7, which being the longest
lap of the day meant she’d finally got some value out
of this year’s harrier membership, and ran superbly,
as usual, finishing in 49:53 giving us an overall team time
of 5:06:58 and a placing of seventh overall.
All-in-all a great day, a great team effort
and us girls were all relieved to know that actually our
stomachs don’t look half as bad as we thought when
running in the Leith crop tops which have a strange habit
of creeping upwards and revealing all during races!
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5. The Leith Senior Women
finished in 6th place in a very competitive grade
1. Kirsty Morris
2. Megan Balchin
3. Rebecca Keat
4. Alice Barach
5. Sue Cuthbert6. Jan Craig
7. Sarah Bryant
Leith Senior Women report (by Kirsty Morris, Team Captain):
The race began by Kirsty Morris starting for the senior
women's team. Starting off as a beautiful, sunny day, the
wind and rain picked up half way through the first leg making
for particularly cold conditions for someone wearing a crop
top! Handing on to Megan for the second leg, Megan had some
inside knowledge of the course, running over it the week
before. The ever improving Megan who had marked the 1km
intervals on her leg, did receive an amusing surprise however,
when she saw what had happened to her final 1km mark - ask
Megan (or the culprit, Jason).
Becs took over for the third leg. She started with a blistering
pace, over taking Otago University much to our delight (and
their disgust). Becs was then subject to Jan's words of
wisdom - 'It's not far now - it's just around this corner'.
For anyone who has heard these words, it is never 'just
around this corner', it's more like 10! Alice went on to
run the 4th leg and could only wish to have some of Rebecca's
corners on her leg. Despite competing in a 12 hour adventure
race the week before, she showed no sign fatigue running
an exceptionally strong 7.4km leg.
Luckily for the rest of the team, Sue volunteered to run
the hill leg. Surprisingly, no one opposed. Sue showed her
amazing level of fitness, barely breaking into a sweat when
running up the hill. The beer that we hung out the window
may also have helped her reach her final destination a little
quicker too.
Bringing it home for the team was Jan and Sarah. Jan ran
the demanding downhill leg, getting the fastest MW50 time.
Racing her down the hill, we tried our best to get our team
in the lead, with an unmentioned driver nearly taking out
some of the athletes on the way down.
Despite Kirsty forgetting to text Sarah to tell her where
we were, Sarah managed to find her way to the start of her
leg. She brought it home for the team, with us finishing
up in 6th place - a great placing in such a strong field.
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