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Tai Tapu Run Festival Results
Running
Commentary Magazine
Sunday June 6th, 2010
SBS Marathon Results
Three Olympic Club runners (Clive Kitchingman, Bill Stevens, and Bruce Woods) taking part in the SBS Half Marathon today. Photos by Duane Walker.
Monday May 3rd, 2010
New Balance 15k Road Race and 10k Social Walk
Two of NZ's finest distance runners, both with big plans ahead in half marathons in the next few weeks, took the titles at the New Balance 15k race held in Tai Tapu on Sunday.
After finishing second to Matt Smith for the past two years in the men's race, Rowan Hooper went finally stood at the top of the podium for 2010, taking line honours from a top class field including Smith, who finished third. Hooper led strongly from the start, and as the field looped back past the Rhodes Memorial Gates at the 4km mark, he and 2007 champion Mark Bailey were already well clear of a bunch of four containing Smith, host club Olympic's Carsten Joergensen, Jason Lawrence, and Luke Hurring. Hooper continued to push clear and won by 12 seconds, but was pushed the whole way by Bailey who kept fighting to the finish at the Tai Tapu Domain.
Hooper was pleased with his run, and will be looking for a strong performance at the SBS Half Marathon in Christchurch at Queen's Birthday Weekend, before heading to Queensland in early July where he is looking to break the 2hr20 barrier in the Gold Coast Marathon.
NZ distance running legend Nyla Carroll had a decisive victory in the women's race, finishing over half a minute clear of local favourite Kellie Palmer.
Carroll, now based in Wellington and running in the distinctive yellow strip of the Scottish Harriers club, travelled to Christchurch to use this race as a lead-in to the Huntly Half Marathon in three weeks time. Carroll, a former women's winner of the SBS Half Marathon, didn't rule out returning to the Garden City after that but said she was focused on Huntly at this stage. Carroll, New Zealand's finest female distance runner in the 1990's, was previously the holder of New Zealand records at every distance from 5000m to half marathon, before current New Zealand distance star Kimberley Smith set about lowering them further.
Race organisers from the Olympic Harrier Club were pleased with the event, with a growth in numbers from last year and top quality racing across all grades, as well as strong numbers in the 10k social walk and 1 mile children's run.
Competitors in the children's run were greeted at the finish line by Harold the Giraffe from the Life Education Trust, and representatives of the group which raised over $10,000 for the Trust at last year's SBS Marathon, when Nathan Aldridge of Christchurch (dressed as Batman's sidekick, Robin) set a Guinness World Record for the fastest ever marathon dressed as a superhero. The group are fund raising at the SBS event again this year, with a retro '80s challenge involving runners dressed as icons of that decade including Ponch and John from CHiPs, Magnum PI, and John McEnroe.
Sunday May 2nd, 2010
New Balance 15k Road Race and 10k Social Walk
Results
Thursday March 11th, 2010
Second World Record Attempt at International Track Meet
Olympic club athlete Tony McManus will be attempting to follow up his recent world age group record in the mile, with an assault on the M60 1500m world record in the interclub section of the International Track Meet at QEII on Thursday March 18th.
The record, currently held by fellow New Zealander Ron Robertson, will be the target in a specially staged Masters 1500m race at 6.15pm, at the end of the interclub section of the meet. After shouting Tony on to another record, spectators can then stay on and watch Olympic Silver Medalist Nick Willis compete against some of the world's best 800m runners, former World and Commonwealth champion Beatrice Faumuina against the current world champion in the discus, and plenty more fantastic competition (and a bit of fun as well).
See the website www.internationaltrackmeet.co.nz for more details.
Friday March 5th, 2010
World Age-Group Mile Record falls in Christchurch
by Paul Coughlan
Christchurch athlete Tony McManus joined New Zealand's illustrious line of world record holders for the mile on Saturday 20 February, when he set a new mark of 4min53.29sec for the over-60 age group at QEII Stadium in Christchurch in front of a small but vocal crowd. McManus, a former New Zealand cycling champion and one of New Zealand's top masters runners over the past 20 years, set the record in an interclub meet in his hometown, breaking the previous record of 4min54.07sec, set by Joop Ruter of the Netherlands back in 1993.
Aside from NZ's well documented history in the open ranks, with the world mile record having been held by three New Zealanders in the last 77 years (Jack Lovelock 4:07.6 in 1933, Peter Snell twice - 3:54.4 in 1962 and 3:54.1 in 1964, and John Walker's historic 3:49.4 in 1975, the first time the 3:50 barrier had been broken), McManus now becomes the third New Zealander to currently hold a world age-group record, joining Derek Turnbull (M65, 4:56.4, held since 1992) and Walker, who at the age of 36 was still running at the top international level, and in 1988 set a world record for the 35-39 age group of 3:52.48.
McManus was typically modest about his achievement, but said that he left everything out on the track. "I could see coming down the straight that I only had about 10sec left, and I still seemed to be a long way out, so I just put my head down and went for it" McManus said later. The race was perfectly judged, with each lap needing to be run in around 73sec, and McManus being within a second of that split on every lap of the race. He paid tribute to the other runners in the race, who kept the pace honest in the sometimes windy conditions. "I couldn't have done it without them" he said.
McManus turned 60 in October last year, and won the M60 grade of the 1500m at the World Masters Games in Sydney later that month. He is now looking at other M60 records to attempt, and says "The 1500m record would be pretty special, as it's held by another New Zealander Ron Robertson (4:27.65, set in 2001) but the 3000m and 5000m records look like they might be worth a crack as well" said McManus. Judging by the determination shown by McManus on Saturday, it would be a brave punter who would bet against him.