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| Chris Corney about to be mowed down by Mark Speakman |
A beautiful clear and sunny Hawkes Bay day greeted 67 eager athletes as they turned out for the Napier Harrier Club's annual Queen's Birthday Road Races on Saturday afternoon. The course starts in Byron St and involves a lap which runs around the bottom of the hill, past the port, before heading back up Shakespeare Rd and down Coote Rd and back to Byron St.. The Senior and Vet men do two laps with all other grades completing 1 lap. The event has been held annually since 1935 and has been an indicator of which local club currently holds sway over the others.
Last year, Hastings Harriers United finally broke the dominance of the Napier Harrier Club and were looking to repeat that effort this year. And they were not disappointed, with the club taking out the coveted 'Sweeney Anniversary Cup' which is awarded to the winning Senior/Vet Men's team. The winner is decided by accumulating the four fastest times of each club.
Mathew Holder got the Hastings team off to good start crossing the line with an actual time of 27:53, a mere fraction of a second ahead of club-mate Richard Potts, who was given the same finishing time. The Napier club struck back with the members of their Rotorua Marathon winning team combining again, to make up their team. Chris Corney, Darryl Strachan, Mark Speakman and Craig Mathers finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth fastest. Iain Murray in 7th and Dan Haddock in 11th made up the Hastings team, but the margin which Holder and Potts had secured was enough to see the cumulative time well ahead of the Napier team, 2:04:45 to 2:07:29.
First across the line in the open handicap race, and winning the 'Queen's Birthday Road Race Cup', was Auckland visitor Michael Skea. Skea had not run in the event since running for the Napier club as a junior some 15 years ago, and as such was virtually unknown to the handicapper. Skea took full advantage of the 1 minute 30 second handicap given to him to finish some 4 minutes and five seconds clear of another visitor, Michael Scott from Carterton. Napier's Eric Phimister was the first local runner home, 10 seconds behind Scott, in third place, having started off a handicap of 8 min 20secs.
The Senior/Vet Women race for the 'Jubilee Cup' and it was Napier's Gina Finlayson who crossed the line first. Finlayson was the first to start the race, starting from 'Go', and was never headed as she crossed the line in 23:29 - 2 minutes and 8 seconds ahead of newcomer Louise McGeorge, who had started 3 minutes behind her. Napier club stalwart, and Rotorua Marathon age grade record holder, Marion Sherburn was third across the line, with an actual time of 21:37, 1 minute and twenty seconds further back. Andrea Williams (17:37), Deidre Nieuwland (17:56) and Jo Cavanagh (18:01) recorded fastest times in this grade.
Napier's Brendan Speakman was a very convincing winner in the under 16's race. Racing for the 'Harris Frame Cup' which he also won last year, 8 year old Speakman covered the 4.5 km course in 21:20, to finish just 29 seconds clear of a very fast finishing Ben Barry of Hastings. 10 year old Barry's actual time of 17:49 was the third fastest recorded of all the entrants in the combined U16/U20 race, a remarkable performance considering the length and the hilly nature of the course. Third across the line was his Hastings club-mate Michael Murray.
Callum Millward, of the Hastings club took home the Fred Bock Cup, awarded to the winner in the under 18/20 grade, with Napier's Josh Betty second home. Millward's 16:09 was also fastest time for the combined event, with Napier's Kane Green second fastest in 17:36.
In the under 16 girls race Sacha Murray if the Hastings Club took line honours and the 'Sovereign Cup' when she lead from start to finish to be 1 minute 33 seconds clear of Napier's Laura Smidt at the line. Smidt running off a handicap of 5:30, ran fastest time for the grade, while her club-mate Claire McGettigan was third across the line.
Napier's Paul McGettigan cleaned up the open walk, finishing in 20:36 - 3:03 ahead of Hastings' Gabriel Gorst with Bob Anderson third in 24:42.
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