ANZ National Road Race Champs

Congratulations to our two NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! Eric Speakman M19 Champion Laura Nagel W16 Champion and to Eric Phimister, 2nd M55 Hi Everyone We had a fantastic day at the road champs in Hamilton, the course was good and the weather was OK, apart from the wind. I think we (HBG Centre) came home with 2 individual gold medals, 1 silver and a medal place in the teams race for our W16 team. (not sure of the colour). The race of the day was the Mens 19. Quite a big field of the best in NZ. It was a 4 lap race over 8k and we caught the action twice on each lap. After the first lap, which was quite fast, the leading bunch of 20 or so pulled away from the rest, in the middle of the bunch was Eric Speakman, looking very relaxed and confident (my opinion). Then every time we saw them the bunch got smaller, but there was Eric, sitting behind the leaders - waiting. At the start of the last lap the leading bunch was down to 3 or 4 as they raced up the small hill and out of sight. With 1 k to go it was down to 2, Aaron Pulford (I think) with Eric right on his shoulder as they went out of sight behind some buildings. They re-appeared with about 500 mtrs to go - side by side. Eric then went up a gear and accelerated away from Aaron to finish well clear of Aaron in a time of 25 minutes 34 secs (give or take a bit). (Eric, I hope that is an accurate description). Congratulations Eric - the fastest M19 in New Zealand - I wish the whole club had been there to see you. Laura Nagel took first place in her race W16. I can't report on that as I was in the showers after finishing 2nd in the M55-59 grade in 37m31s. Stefan Smith also had a good race in the Senior men finishing 7th in a personal best time of ?? (very fast) Eric Phimister Yes it was a great day at the races. Our club was well represented at this prestigious event. All our runners gave gutsy performances and should feel well pleased. This competition was national level so all achievements are well deserving of our congratulations. The two standout out performances of the day were from Laura Nagel and Eric Speakman. Both looked like the class athletes they are and took out the National Championships in their respective grades. Yes, our club can now boast two National Champions! Laura ran a great race to win the W16 event by over a minute. She certainly made certain of it! Her time was 17:41 for the 5km. Eric had a terrific, well paced, race to clear the field in the last few hundred meters. He won the M19 event in 25:34 (for 8km). The other Eric (Eric Phimister) ran strongly to take out second place in the M55 grade. A silver medal. Eric's time was 37:30 for the 10 km. Cliff Fellingham, in the same race but in the M40 grade, ran a gutsy effort and, although not feeling very well, came in 11th in his age-group. Jasmine Ngan-Sue and Sophie Rose both showed our club colours in the G12 race and did us proud. Jasmine was 5th and Sophie 6th. Annie Creagh finished the G14 event with a creditable 9th place and Brendan Speakman had a strong run to finish 17th in the B16 race (just behind Jesse Williams from Hastings). Joan Vyle was running in the MW event, but I'm not sure of her finish. Also, in the W16 grade, the HBG Centre received silver medals for the teams event. A great honour. It's a pity there were not more qualifying teams from our Centre, in the other grades - it seems we could well have picked up more teams placings. Congratulations to all of our club members. You have all done us well. Additionally, credits should go to a couple of our past members. Stefan Smith ran a pb of 31:47 to finish 8th in the SM 10k race. Ryan Woolley was 7th in the M19. Well done everyone. John Craven

	Men 19 years and under - 8km
Place	Athlete	Time
1	Eric Speakman	25:34
	Women 16 years and under - 5km
Place	Athlete	Time
1	Laura Nagel	17:41
	(HBG G16 team - silver)
	Masters Men 55-59 years - 10km
Place	Athlete	Time
2	Eric Phimister	37:30
	Men 16 years and under - 6km
Place	Athlete	Time
17	Brendan Speakman	22:15
	Men 40-44 - 10km
Place	Athlete	Time
11	Cliff Fellingham	37:30
	Girls 14 years and under - 3km
Place	Athlete	Time
9	Annie Creagh	11:39
Place	Athlete	Time
	Girls 12 years and under - 2km
5	Jasmine Ngan-Sue	07:46
6	Sophie Rose	07:53
	Masters Women 50-54 - 5km
6	Joan Vyle	24:57

Full results here

Previous Years Results Here:- 2002

2006

2007