ANZ Road Relay Champs

The Napier Harriers team returned from the 70th running of the Takahe to Akaroa relay with an excellent 2nd placing in the C grade. There were, as usual, some good performances and some disappointments, but you certainly can't deny the effort from every member of the team. Young Brendan Speakman got the team on the road, starting in 2 degree temperatures where the rain couldn't quite decide whether (weather?) it should be falling or maybe turning into snow! Brendan quickly settled into his rhythm sitting in the second bunch as they headed up the first climb to the Sign of the Kiwi. As he headed over the top and onto his favoured downhill he quickly dropped the two others who were with him and rocketed away. Wahoo we all thought, he's into this. Unfortunately the steep and rather long downhill proved a bit nuch for Brendan and he was soon suffering from severe stomach cramps as he braced himself with every footfall. Still, he gutsed it out and ran on to a respectable 36:31 for the 9.6km leg. Eric Speakman was next on the road and he was on fire! This was probably the best we've seen from Eric all year. We were in 6th place when he took the baton. By 6km, at the start of the big hill we were in third and just 45 seconds down on the lead runner, Todd Stevens from Scottish. By the time we got to the top of the hill we were in 2nd, 15 seconds down and about 100m later we were in the lead. By the time he handed the baton on to the third member of Team Speakman, Eric had turned a 2:58 deficit into a 37 second lead! Eric recorded the 5th fastest time OVERALL for the leg. (This leg of the senior relay is divided into two legs for the junior relay. The first half record was broken by a young fulla from Melbourne this year who ran 15:02 - Eric went through the split in 14:58! and was only 38 secs slower than the fastest junior for the second half his lap). Unfortunately our lead didn't last long. Heading into the teeth of the freezing wind was not exactly what I had hoped for on my 10km leg, but at least it was flat. The Scottish runner came tootling past me after about 3 nano seconds and proceeded to run away at an alarming rate for someone who looked pretty ordinary. Maybe the kids are right, I am getting old and slow! Nevermind, I persisted and tried to get as much speed(?) as possible out of the body and did hold onto the second spot, but we were now 2:17 behind! The sorry story continued on the next lap as not long into his work, John Craven suffered a recurrence of his old calf problem, and admitted afterwards that if hadn't been for the team he would have pulled out. John struggled valiantly on to the end of his 9.4km leg and then spent the rest of the weekend hobbling. John still managed the 8th fastes M50 time for this leg. Eric Phimister was fortunate to have a tail wind for the entire length of his 10.7km leg and he promptly made use of it slowly picking up the runners ahead of us and getting us back up to 3rd. Importantly fromn the family team perspective he got back past Team McCrudden (aka Wgtn Olympic) who had juniors Sean and Martin running with Dad, Rob who I used to work with. What a great family sport we have. Toward the end of this leg the A and B grade runners starting catching us and it was a pleasant surprise during one of our many support stops for Eric that ex Napier Harrier Phil Costley pulled up behind us and stopped for a chat - brief as it was as his winning Canterbury University team went passed so fast I don't think Eric actually saw them! Eric's 41:14 was the third fastest for an M50 runner on this leg. Onwar and upward as they say. In Cliff Fellingham's case it was all too true. Lap 6 is 6.8km that climbs non-stop for the entire length, rising 430m from go to whoa. At as an added bonus there was snow at the top - it didn't quite come down to the road level, but it was pretty darn close. Cliff ran like an automaton. It was like we could switch him on at the bottom and just grab him at the top and switch him off again. Cliff was a little disappointed with his time, but 10the fastest MM and 30th overall was a pretty fair effort. Campbell Busch ran the 7th leg. The support vehicles are not permitted on this leg so we cant say too much about it, but when a 15 year old finished with the 21st fastest Senior Mens time for aleg, you know he's done pretty well. The leg start with what is desribed as undulations but there one sharp little climb just before the full 430m that Cliff just climbed in 6.8km is lost again in 5km! Campbell's 36:02 9.5km is probably the fastest he's run in while! Niall McCormack was given the responibility of bringing the baton home. We were sitting pretty safe in third place by now, so not much pressure on Niall but he set off at a good clip - until the sight of the first hill nearly stopped him in his tracks. Still, it's gotta be done and done it was. The third hill is the worst on this leg but the further Niall got into his lap the better he looked and he positively flew up and over the last hill and down into Akaroa, running 42:03 for his 9.9km. We finished third across the line, nearly 10 minutes down on Hutt Valley and some 22 minutes behind the Scottish team who we hadn't seen since the end of lap 3! The Scottish team, in fact, were so far ahead that they were bumped up into B grade where they finished 6th! So Hutt were declared the winners of C Grade with Napier second and Leith third. Our old friends from Lake City Masters won the Masters race in something of an upset, a result so momentous that Chris Corney had talked himself hoarse by the time he arrived at the aftermatch! C Grade results 1 - Hutt Valley 1 (4:52:22) 2 - Napier Harriers 1 (5:02:05) Brendan Speakman 9.6km 36:31 Eric Speakman 10.4km 34:27 Mark Speakman 10.0km 40:42 John Craven 9.4km 39:18 Eric Phimister 10.7km 41:14 Cliff Fellingham 6.8km 31:48 Campbell Busch 9.5km 36:02 Niall McCormack 9.9km 42:03 3 - Leith 1 (5:04:15)

Results Table here