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The Hastings Harrier club once again produced a superbly organised event for this second interclub event of the year. Unfortunately they couldn't manage the same with the weather, unlike the Napier who club who hold sway with the powers that be and manage to produce superb weather at will.
Nevermind, it certainly made for interesting racing. The course was very slippery in places and the number of people finishing with mud all over themselves attested to this.
The combined U12 boys and girls race was first on the cards and despite the cold and wet weather a field of 15 young athletes took to the 1.5km course. Right from the word go there was battle for the front placings with Hastings' Ben White going head to head with Hogan Green of the Napier club while Greens' club-mate Andre Smith kept a careful eye on proceedings from just a few meters back.
Further back in the field there were other battles taking place with Napier's Brendan Speakman constantly swapping places with Hastings' Duncan Morrison. The look of determination in the eyes of both boys was something to behold as they dualed over the slippery surface and high (for 7 year olds!) hurdles.
Meanwhile at the tail of the field Napier's ever smiling Aleesha Heywood was having similar problems with Hastings' Kate Morrison (Duncan's sister?). It's hard to tell with Aleesha's ever smiling face how much effort she is putting in, but it sure looked like she was enjoying it.
Back at the front of the field, White and Green had cleared out and Smith had been joined by a couple of Hastings boys to form a small chase pack who stayed together right to the line. White pulled away from Green over the last 100 meters to win by 6 seconds over Green while Smith was forced into a sprint finish to hold his 3rd place. Digging deep he just managed to hold out Jacob Walker by 1 second with Ben Barry just 2 seconds further back.
But an even closer finish was about to be fought. With Brendan Speakman still leading Morrison by a nose heading into the 80m finishing straight, this was going to be one tough battle to the line. Morrison tried to surge past Speakman but the young Napier athlete was not about to let all the hard work go to waste and matched the surge to maintain the slim lead. Just when it appeared that Speakman might be fading, the sound of Morrison coming alongside brought new life to tiring muscles and Speakman kicked again, and, showing tactical brilliance belying his youth, slowly started to head to the right hand side of the line - the very side that Morrison was attempting to pass him on!
The crowd roared their encouragement, each club urging their representative to greater efforts. Each club dreading the failure of their man. An eerie silence fell over the finish line as all turned to watch with anxious anticipation, the result of this tumultuous dual between these Giants of the Speakman and Morrison households.
With an explosion of sound, Speakman dipped across the line a mere 6 inches ahead of Morrison. The crowd went wild as the athletes staggered up the finishing chute. Their job was done. Both had were recorded with the same time, Speakman had won, but the entertainment they had provided made the stand in the rain well worthwhile.
The highlight of the day, however, for Speakman's big brother Eric (who had finished 30 seconds earlier) was a little different. Spying something shiney in the grass as he negotiated the second hurdle, Eric stopped to check it out ... and came home $2 richer!
Meantime, back at the back of the field 'Smiley' Heywood was still doing battle with Kate Morrison. In the end, although the result was close, Smiley had to settle for 3rd girl home by 2seconds to Morrison. Both girls were well back from 1st girl Sacha Murray from the Hastings club.
With the 1st four athletes home (boy or girl) to count for the teams prize, Hastings just pipped by Napier by a mere 2 points 21 - 19 with Hastings team of Ben White, Jacob Walker, Ben Barry and Sam Spencer winning over the Napier foursome of Hogan Green, Andre Smith, Eric and Brendan Speakman
UNDER 14/16 BOYS
Of course there were other races as well! The Boys under 14/16 race was taken out in superb style Napier Kane Green. Running a very well controlled race right from the start Green exacted some revenge on Havelock Norths Josh Lynex who had had come out on top at the Mission Interclub event two eeks ago. It was all Green on the day however as Kane cleaned out to better Lynex by 12 seconds at the line. Josh Betty was the next Napier runner home in 5th place while Stefan Smith was 6th across the line to be the first under 14 home. Smith was followed by Andrew Prosser (8) Ian Clark (9) Hayden Schofer (11) and Aaron Corney (12). Napier took the teams title for this race with Green, Betty, Smith and Prosser the runners to count.
UNDER 14/16 GIRLS and UNDER 18/20 WOMEN
As much as Green dominated the U14/16 boys race, another Napier athlete dominated the combined Under 14/16 girls - Under 18/20 womens event. At just 13 years of age Kristy Edmundson was unstoppable right from the gun. Showing a style and ease over the course (that she clearly does not inherit from her father) that left many wondering what might become of this talented young runner, Edmundson was pure class in taking the event form Hastings' Tessa Walker. Kristy's big sister, Annika, recovering from a bout with the flu over previous weeks, ran in third. Napier took the teams title again with Nellie Graham (4) and Jazz Toynbee (6) making up the successful team.
Laura Smidt continued her recent good form by being the first if the Napier under 14's home, being beaten in her age grade by only Sarah Patterson from Palmerston North. Smidt was 9th overall while Shayna Heywood was the only other Napier under 14 to finish, in 20th place. Other Napier under 16's to complete the 3km event were Sonya Clark (16) and Claire McGettigan (18)
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