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Options this week

  • Tuesday 5.45pm, The last Waterfront 5km for the season, Outside Mac’s Brewery on the Waterfront. It’s free if you have already run this summer or $2 for first time this summer.
  • Friday, Nga mihi o te Aranga! Train or eat hot cross buns. Or both. Your choice.
  • Saturday, 8.00am, Lower Hutt 5km Parkrun, Porirua 5km Parkrun, Trentham 5km Parkrun, Kapiti Coast 5km Parkrun.
  • Saturday, 8.00am, Karori Park speed workout – contact our club captains Danielle and Ben for info, or check Facebook for details. 8.00am warm-up for an 8.30am start. All speeds and interests welcome.
  • Saturday 2.00pm, pack runs from the Clubroom, Prince of Wales Park. From President Michael: “So this weekend the new season “proper” starts (albeit we already did our kick-off via the McVilly and the Centennial events) and the 2020/21 track season is done. That means we go to our more traditional programming. For those that want to “feel the burn” the Karori Park workout sessions will be on in the morning around 8am. For those that want to have an enjoyable, easy run with company (possibly an afternoon cooldown from having run at K Park!), we will have pack runs from our Club Rooms at – arrive in time to be ready for a 2pm (ish) departure. Given it’s the long weekend, I suspect we’ll have fewer than normal but for those staying in town come along for a social run. Also, I expect the usual suspects will be heading to the Hop Garden drink or two after we’ve finished drinking tea and eating biscuits at the club rooms – all are welcome. (Some K Parkers even come down just for the Hop Garden!)”
  • Sunday long pack runs — usually these leave 8.30am from outside Freyberg Pool and some alternative locations around Wellington. Contact our club captains Danielle and Ben for info, or check Facebook for details.

Results

NZ Track and Field Championships

James Preston is a national champion, winning the senior men’s 800m title by nearly a second in 1:48.49. Athletics NZ described the race:

James Preston added his name to the roll call of former national men’s 800m champions such as Sir Peter Snell and Sir John Walker with a beautifully controlled front-running performance.

The 23-year-old Wellington athlete took the led from the outset and hit the bell in a swift 52 seconds tracked by the chasing Dominic Devlin.

With 200m remaining the tenacious Aucklander was still within striking distance only for the long-legged Preston to slowly extend his lead and pull out the race winner in a time of 1:48.49.

Devlin upgraded on his bronze medal from the 2020 nationals to take silver in 1:49.47. Daniel Roswell (Canterbury) 1:53.63 snatched bronze.

“I have mixed emotions (on winning the title having raced Brad (Mathas, the multiple winning New Zealand champion who set a personal best of 1:46.01 in Australia earlier this month) over the last few years and I wanted to race him again because he’s been the top guy for so long.

“I just tried to go and run a quick time. I put a big kick down to win my first national senior title.”

Hamish Carson was 3rd in the Senior men’s 1500m in 4:02.07. Amy Walker ran a 58.75 PB in the Women’s U20 400m. Sean Lake unfortunately got a DQ in the senior men’s 10000m walk.

Results

Wellington 5000m Championships

A big turnout, with over 60 entrants across 3 races. Conditions were excellent, by Wellington standards, and large fields meant most people had good races. Hiro Tanimoto won the Wellington senior men’s title with a 15:08.05. Harry McLean picked up 3rd with an impressive sub-61 PB of 15:58.29. Steve Bass (16:58.22) and Andrew Kerr (16:56.18) both had big runs to dip under 17 minutes. Dion Gamperle continued to improve (17:22.46), Lindsay Barwick (18:49.56) looks to be in excellent form leading into Christchurch, James Coventry (23:29.80) continues to make (literally) big strides to faster times, and Terri Grimmett (28:17.76) ran considerably faster than she predicted, too.

Results

Earlier in the same meet, Liz Bentley broke her own W55 Wellington 800m record by 4 seconds, running 2:53.40. Wholehearted support from Daniel Robertson too.

Taupō Ironman

Ironman: Lucas Duross (8:51:26) was 7th Professional. Dean Galt 9:41:21 was 2nd M50, Gerard Gordon 10:48:16, Luke Ferguson 11:22:59, Anna Guy 11:42:55 was 1st W50, Tanya Lavington 11:51:56 was 2nd W55, Janine Sharma 13:50:08 was 3rd U24, with just 4 weeks training after winning a free entry.,

Half Ironman: Danielle Trewoon 5:03:22 was 4th W25, Charles Hulley 5:12:32, Michele Allison 5:34:36 was 1st W65, Jasmine Smith 5:59:50 dips under 6 hours, Richard Sweetman 6:34:59 was 1st M70 Ben Twyman,

Teams event: Greg Williams and James Turner were in the 2nd place team out of 79 teams and Dan Jones, who ran a 69 minute half marathon took his team into 3rd.

Results

Kaiteriteri Gold Half Marathon

Jonathan Evans ran the Kaiteriteri Gold Half on 20 March in 1:33, which was an excellent backup to his sub 90 PB at Wellington RTB earlier this year. He was stoked to keep it comfortable for the first half of the race and push on for a strong finish considering the ‘hill’ towards the end. He recommends the very small, organised and scenic event. This bodes well for his preparation for his marathon debut at the Hawkes Bay event in May.

Porirua Grand Traverse

Duathlon: Bex Hutchinson won the duathlon in 4:16:44. Ray Manahan

Half Marathon: Malcolm Hodge won in 1:20:11, Tim Hodge was 3rd in 1:25:20, Ray Manahan 1:56:10, Kath Littler 2:31:02.

Results

Xterra West Wind

Long Course: Walter Somerville 3rd man in 1:33:11, Stephen Clarke 1:54:36, Marketa Langova 2:36:17.

Medium Course: Rob Tomkies (1:10:28) and Alistair Collow (1:10:59) had a close battle.

Short Course: Spike Hayvice was 3rd overall in 38:37. Fiona Hayvice 1:26:38.

Results

Rotorua off-road half marathon and 10km

Casey Thorby was second in the Half Marathon in 1:19:49, and Ian Morton won the quarter marathon walk in 1:19:12.

Results

Waterfront 5km

Waterfront PBs for Dan Jones, Walter Somerville (under 17!), Ali Campbell, Kasey McKinnon and Ashleigh Wharam.

Results

Coming up

Waterfront 5km Series, Tuesdays

The last Wellington Scottish Waterfront 5km is this Tuesday.

Wellington Mountain Running Championships, Wainuiomata, 10 April

Shaw Baton Relay, 1 May

Teams of four race in 2.1km each of hills, horse jumps, ditches, fences and the spectator-favourite water pit. The Shaw Baton Relay is the first interclub event of the season. It is hosted by Olympic Harriers and takes place at Pauatahanui’s Battle Hill Farm Park. It’s a very fun event. If you want to be in a team, let our club captains Danielle and Ben know.

Facebook event

University Relay, 8 May

Teams of four race in 3.7 km each over soft sandy cross country and farmland. The University Relay is hosted by VUW Athletics Club and takes place on Queen Elizabeth II Park at Mackay’s Crossing in Paekakariki. If you want to be in a team, let our club captains Danielle and Ben know.

Notices

Welcome to new members

Kia ora to our new members Neve Kerrison, Daniel Roberton and Guy Lees.

Volunteers wanted

We are looking for two new volunteers to help the club. We want a uniform coordinator to order, look after, and distribute our club uniforms. If you’ve got some innovative ideas about our kit, or novel ways we can wear red lions you might be ideal for this role.

We are also looking for a national road relay manager to work with John Gardiner. This person will coordinate and compile the teams, work closely with the team captains, liaise with the race directors and officials to help us get a giant team to the start-line. Lots of support and advice available for the person who takes this role on.

If you can help with either of these roles or just want to know more, contact Michael Wray.

Bus to University Relay

Is anyone interested in the club booking a bus to University Relay in Paekākāriki on 8 May, like we did last year? If so, let me know. Last year the bus left from the train station, and cost about $12.50 return. If there looks like there is enough interest I’ll book a bus again this year.

Keep in touch with the club