The Cooper Challenge

Team Handicap Race

Ellie LaMonte outsprints Hayden Foster Laura Smith leading Ben Fulton Gill O'Meagher Kaden Hall Sophie Rose Jasmine Ngan-Sue - photos Tim Creagh

Napier Harriers conducted their most recent addition to their syllabus on Saturday. The Cooper Challenge was raced by six teams over a 4km circuit along the Tutaekuri riverflats. This year the trophy was captured by the combination of Eric Phimister (5th), John Craven (7th), Darren O'Connor (10th), Mark Lane( 12th) and Stephen Lindsay (14th) who started off a three minute handicap. Their tally of 34 points was seven better than the runner up team of Mark Walwyn (3rd), Chris Wong (6th), Jessica Middleton (11th), Annie Creagh (21st) and Kaden Hall off the 1.50 handicap. First to cross the finish line was Patrick McGirr (17.50) for the limit team. McGirr produced a spirited finish to hold off the quickest runner Cameron Poole-Smith (13.13) by three seconds after looking like 'dog tucker' with 200 metres remaining. Jessica Middleton (16.50) was the fastest female, while Jack Smidt(8.14) impressed amongst the youngsters who run 2km legs. An explanation of the teams race format - The club is ranked from fastest to slowest and then divided into teams where all the runners of a team have similar ability. This means the clubs fastest runners are all in the same team and also the clubs slowest runners are all in the same team. The whole team is then given a handicap based on the estimated average pace of the team. The event is then run on an open handicap basis with the slowest team heading off first and followed at varying times by the other teams until the fastest team starts last. In theory everyone crossed the line together! However as some runners in a team are faster than their handicap and some are slower, all the teams become mixed as the race progresses. The winner is determined on the finishing position of each athlete, with the finishing positions being added to gain a team score. The team with the lowest team total is the winner. (As there was an odd number in Saturday's race only the teams best four placings counted to the total). As can be seen by the results the fastest team colud only manage third as their placings were 2nd, 4th, 19th and 24th for a total of 49 points Place Team Name Clock Time H'cap Actual Time - 4km Team Points (Best 4 count) 5 5 Eric Phimister 18:17 03:00 15:17 7 5 John Craven 18:26 03:00 15:26 10 5 Darren O'Connor 18:39 03:00 15:39 12 5 Mark Lane 18:43 03:00 15:43 14 5 Stephen Lindsay 18:50 03:00 15:50 34 3 4 Mark Walwyn 18:09 01:50 16:19 6 4 Chris Wong 18:23 01:50 16:33 11 4 Jessica Middleton 18:40 01:50 16:50 21 4 Annie Creagh 19:29 01:50 17:39 25 4 Kaden Hall 19:53 01:50 18:03 41 2 6 Cameron Poole-Smith 17:53 04:40 13:13 4 6 Eric Speakman 18:13 04:40 13:33 19 6 Iain Murray 19:02 04:40 14:22 24 6 Trevor Fulton 19:44 04:40 15:04 49 8 2 Laura Smith 18:37 01:00 17:37 9 2 Ben Fulton 18:38 01:00 17:38 16 2 Michael Lintott 18:57 01:00 17:57 22 2 Cheryl Simpson 19:32 01:00 18:32 23 2 Jill O'Meagher 19:43 01:00 18:43 55 1 1 Patrick McGirr 17:50 00:00 17:50 13 1 Malcolm Lochrie 18:45 00:00 18:45 17 1 Blair Cunningham 19:01 00:00 19:01 26 1 Kim Creagh 19:55 00:00 19:55 29 1 Mathew McGirr 23:10 00:00 23:10 57 15 3 Jack Smidt/Jodie Nagel 18:53 01:15 17:38 18 3 Sophie Brennan/Jasmine Ngan-Sue 19:02 01:15 17:47 20 3 Samual Hall/Sophie Rose 19:10 01:15 17:55 27 3 Annika Brennan/Ellie Lamonte 20:29 01:15 19:14 28 3 Annika Brennan/Hayden Foster 20:31 01:15 19:16 80 Place Team Name Clock Time H'cap Actual Time 1 1 Patrick McGirr 17:50 00:00 17:50 2 6 Cameron Poole-Smith 17:53 04:40 13:13 3 4 Mark Walwyn 18:09 01:50 16:19 4 6 Eric Speakman 18:13 04:40 13:33 5 5 Eric Phimister 18:17 03:00 15:17 6 4 Chris Wong 18:23 01:50 16:33 7 5 John Craven 18:26 03:00 15:26 8 2 Laura Smith 18:37 01:00 17:37 9 2 Ben Fulton 18:38 01:00 17:38 10 5 Darren O'Connor 18:39 03:00 15:39 11 4 Jessica Middleton 18:40 01:50 16:50 12 5 Mark Lane 18:43 03:00 15:43 13 1 Malcolm Lochrie 18:45 00:00 18:45 14 5 Stephen Lindsay 18:50 03:00 15:50 15 3 Jack Smidt/Jodie Nagel 18:53 01:15 17:38 16 2 Michael Lintott 18:57 01:00 17:57 17 1 Blair Cunningham 19:01 00:00 19:01 18 3 Sophie Brennan/Jasmine Ngan-Sue 19:02 01:15 17:47 19 6 Iain Murray 19:02 04:40 14:22 20 3 Samual Hall/Sophie Rose 19:10 01:15 17:55 21 4 Annie Creagh 19:29 01:50 17:39 22 2 Cheryl Simpson 19:32 01:00 18:32 23 2 Jill O'Meagher 19:43 01:00 18:43 24 6 Trevor Fulton 19:44 04:40 15:04 25 4 Kaden Hall 19:53 01:50 18:03 26 1 Kim Creagh 19:55 00:00 19:55 27 3 Annika Brennan/Ellie Lamonte 20:29 01:15 19:14 28 3 Annika Brennan/Hayden Foster 20:31 01:15 19:16 29 1 Mathew McGirr 23:10 00:00 23:10 Split Lap Times Lap - 2km Jack Smidt 08:14 Sophie Rose 08:35 Sophie Brennan 08:37 Annika Brennan 08:56 Jasmine Ngan-Sue 09:10 Samual Hall 09:20 Jodie Nagel 09:24 Ellie Lamonte 10:18 Hayden Foster 10:20 Previous Years Results Here:- 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010