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Eric Speakman produced a stunning run at the National Road Champs on Saturday to win the Silver medal.
In a race that was dominated from the gun by 19 year old Mathew Mildenhall, Eric (17) ran a superb tactical race that saw him cover every break and eventually run away from Brendon Blacklaws up the last hill to secure his second place.
The first lap saw a large pack of 15 runners still together at the start/finish area at the top of the hill and head onto the long downhill section, but by the time they completed this lap and hit the downhill again the pack competing for the minor placings had been reduced to 7. Ryan Woolley, Simon Rogers and Rabah Bashir were puting in surges but Eric was just hanging on to the back of the group and waiting his chances. This cam on the final lap as Woolley tried one last time to break the pack but doing so also saw the end of him as just Brendon Blacklaws and Eric were left heading up the hill for the last time, and it was Eric who had the legs left and crossed 9 seonds clear of Blacklaws. Mildenhall was 1:21 ahead of Eric.
The Girls 16 race saw Laura Nagel once again produce a very solid effort to finish in 5th spot. Although the margin to the front of the field was over a minute, Laura ran stongly throughout and never gave the chasing runners a look in. In a cruel twist the girls had to start from the 1km mark which was vitually at the bottom of the course so their first km was up-hill, and this was just too much for some the girls, but Laura paced herself well and was well placed by the time they reached they top of the hill. A late charge from Auckland's Emily Ingoe and Kimberly Burke could have caused problems for a lesser trained athlete, but Laura's recent hill work held her in good stead as her determined effort to catch Danielle Trevis just ahead of her meant she was never going to be run down.
Full results at Athletics NZ
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