Weekly NewsLetter
Monday, May 26, 2008

Saturday's cold, wet and windy weather provided ideal conditions for
300 mad harriers to take to the steep hills, slippery slopes and bogs of
Mount Victoria for the annual Vosseler Shield races. The event
attracted entries from as far afield as Hawera, but the local giants Wellington
Harrier Athletic Club and Wellington Scottish Athletic Club dominated
the results.

Weight of numbers saw Scottish winning both the Men and Women's team
titles. However, individually a number of our Wellington runners had top
placings with Daniel Nixon clearing out to beat his rivals by nearly a
minute. Other top placings for the men went to Jason Cressingham (3rd)
and Daniel Clendon (4th) while Hayley Green was 2nd in the Women's
race. Vickie Humphries took out the Masters Women's title while the
Master's Men (Paul Forster, Ian McFarlane, Paul Hewitson and Dean Patten) won
their team's race.

However, once again it was in the youth grades that the club excelled.
Barbara Roy and Nathan Barrett took out the W19 and M16 races, and
Nathan combined with Nick Bingham and James Palmer to take out the teams
event. The Wellington G13/G11 team of J Kozyniak, K Forman and C Goodwin
won their event as did Nick Lucie-Smith, Noah Billingsly and Andrew
Hall in the boy's equivalent.

While there was some concern at the sparseness of marshals and markings
across the top of the 5k loop, its "big ups" to the recorders and
Brendon Flanagan and his tech team who managed to have the results ready
for the prize-giving after the last race. Oh, and Mike Winsborough now
has 2-0 lead in the "grudge" series.

Unfortunately I missed Saturday's University Relay, but my spies tell
me that the running conditions were ideal and the Victoria University
club (as always) had the event very well organised.

Full results are not available yet, but it does appear that the
Scottish men continued their long sequence of victories in the Open Men's
race. While our Junior Women continued their irrepressible form, many felt
the highlight was just being there with under 13s battling it out with
the over 60s in the Kapiti sunshine. Much attention focussed on the
first of the annual Dennis Smith versus Mike Winsborough "grudge match"
series. Mike surprised many by scoring a 30 second victory; Dennis
claiming to have lost time when the 10 year old girl he was draughting behind
proceeded to take the wrong route. Good to hear stalwarts such as
Percy Percival, Francis Campkin, Neil Price et al making a reappearance in
the club colours.

As promised , news of our brave Aussie tamers in the Sydney half
marathon: Wally Sommerville 1:52, Gary Clareburt 1:37 and David Green 1:35.
So unfortunately they don't quite return as the 300 club.

This coming Saturday it's New Zealand's premiere harrier mountain run.
What can I say other than if you are not up to the challenge, please
help out with marshalling.

A great turn-out, especially by the youngsters, for Saturday's club
run.

Graham Tattersall congratulated the club teams on their performances at
Battle Hill (a win, three seconds and a third) and made special
mention of the heroic efforts of the club runners in the Rotorua marathon.
Vickie Humphries graciously accepted the defeat of the club's senior
women, and the toilet seat made a rare departure from the men's changing
room.

Mr "perpetual motion" (Gordon Clarke) led the main pack along some
favourite Mt Victoria tracks, down the gut-buster and around the bays back
to the clubrooms. With the rain stopped and the wind gone, running
conditions were ideal. The pack spread out over a considerable distance as
members settled into their own pace. It was great to say hi to one of
the club's stars, Kate McIlroy, as she cruised by on her Saturday run.

Back at the clubrooms, the new table-tennis gear was being thoroughly
tested with Tessa Finnegan showing Peter Rendall how the game should be
played.

Remember the University Relays this coming Saturday. If you want to be
in a team and did not get your name onto the entry list in the
clubrooms, please contact your grade selector asap. And good luck to Wally
Sommerville, Gary Clareburt and David Green who expect to show those
Aussies how to run with a predicted combined time of less than 300 minutes in
the Sydney half marathon- watch this space!!

Saturday saw the first of the club cross country relay races held on
the popular Battle Hill farm course.

The club highlight was a convincing win by the crack Junior Women's
team with stars Barbara Roy and Hayley Green recording the first and
second fastest times. The Junior Men ran very even times, but could not
holds out the fast finishing Scottish team. It was good to see some new
faces in the Under 13 races where the Boys team came second (with Nick
Lucie-Smith third fastest) and the Girls team third. Both the Senior and
Masters Mens teams had to settle for second, with Dan Nixon and Dean
Patten putting in top runs. Sadly the club was not represented in either
the Senior or Masters Women's races. Thanks to the Olympic Club for
hosting the event.

A quick look at the Rotorua Marathon results revealed some top runs by
the club representatives. In a field of 1484 entrants, Gordon Clarke
recorded a top 60 placing with his 3.03, and 7th in his grade. Another to
run a top 10 in his grade was Chris Hansen with a 3.28. Debutante
marathoner David Green estimated a 2.30 time ("I can't run for any longer
than that") but must have been thrilled at breaking 3.30. Peter Corbett,
after a long break from marathons, did his personal best Masters time,
although some way outside his overall best.