Results
A week after Dan won the well supported 10,000m championship
race at Newtown Park it hosted the 5000m event.
A large number of entries meant
that the field was split into two.
In the first race for men under 50, it became clear early on
that some would be out for payback against established rivals.
Right from the gun it looked as if Dan Jones
was out to do a “Mo Farrah” and grab the 10k/5k title double. And based on current form this looked entirely
feasible.
The pattern of the race pretty much unfolded like last week.
But instead of Hiro Tanimoto leading taking the pole line it was #MadHarry with
Dan right on his shoulder. Chasing was
Malcolm Hodge, Rowan Hooper, Niam McDonald and Colin Sasse.
Further back was the familiar site of Bert Prendergast, Ben
Twyman, Stephen Day and Andrew Wharton: the new gang of 4.
Behind this group was a long procession.
Dan was going for the win, and a good time. #MadHarry was trying to get away from Niam,
keen to get some revenge for Cardrona, grab silver and maybe a PB.
Malcolm was chasing anything that moved.
Niam was chasing Harry, hoping to repeat the finishing order
from last week at the NZ Mountain Running Champs in Cardrona, grab silver and
maybe a PB.
The pressure is on
The gang of 4 was still going strong, with Andrew Wharton
looking comfortable. Andrew wants Stephen’s scalp and Stephen knows it. Ben wants to get even with Bert for his
“ambush at the pass” move at last week’s 10,000m race. I know it’s complicated.
Rowan has disappeared.
Up front Dan keeps up a relentless pace and is now beginning
to lap the slower runners. @MadHarry is still on contact but looks a bit
stretched. Tenacious though.
Malcolm is still close to Niam and his deceiving loping
style. Or is it the other way round?
The gang of 4 has now split. It’s the Bert and Ben show with
Andrew lurking a bit back.
Stephen does not look as if he is having a good day
with Alistair Saunders creeping up.
Meanwhile back further back it looks like Logan Slee and
Hugh O’Donoghue are having a bit of a duel. So too are Dan Hunt and Cameron Forrest.
There are a few runners who are isolated without anybody to
key off. They are racing the clock with the hope of picking up a PB. Big fields can do that.
Where is Colin Sasse? Well he was with Hugh O’Donoghue now that Logan has flicked ahead.
With only a few laps to go, Dan has dropped #MadHarry but with
Niam chasing hard and Malcolm chasing Niam. Now is not the time to ease off and
their faces show they aren’t .As it was
all three were in the home straight together which will make future races with
this lot very interesting.
Back further Ben is ahead with Andrew still a danger. Both
have Bert’s scalp.
“Daniel the Animal” has
finished and the results show how everybody else ended up.
Race two was for 50
and over plus the women entrants. Another sizeable field
Grant McLean stormed to the front from the gun closely followed
by Michael Wray with Ruby Muir and Nicole Mitchell tracking them both.
The brains trust at the finish line say that Grant had
been doing secret training for this event, but then somebody suggested it
wasn’t that much of a secret.
As the race progressed it became apparent what Grant’s
tactics were going to be. Not noted for his fast finishes Grant looked like he
was going to try and open up as a big a gap as possible and then gut it out to
the end. It’s a fine line to tread in
terms of pace judgement.
Nicole Mitchell was sitting on Nicole’s shoulder without
attempting to push the pace. Ruby looked untroubled in the early stages of the
race but somewhere after half way it all fell to pieces. Ruby was leading and then the next time we saw
them it was Nicole by herself way out in front. Something wasn’t right. Somebody said that Ruby had been injured
which could account for the crash. Anyway
she pulled out of the race leaving Nicole to soldier on and the speculation now
was whether she might catch Michael.
But Michael may have had other plans on his mind.
With only a few laps to go Grant had slowed considerably and
his face showed he was suffering.
Perhaps smelling blood Michael looked to pick up the pace.
But would he have enough time to haul in Grant. The brains trust never agreed
on this – yes he will, no he won’t. Sheesh!
But with the only a lap to go Grant it became certain he would not be caught.
The rest is history. It was a great race and
all credit to the old fox for outfoxing the other foxes.
So a good couple of races which will have produced some well
deserved PB’s.
My only issue is whether it is good planning to have a
10,000m championship race one week followed by a 5,000m championship race the
following week.
Also is March the best
time to have these two races given they are offered when the track and field
season is virtually over. Of course it
isn’t as if they are of no value as every race helps with future races in more
ways than one.
Disclaimer: Some of
the above may be true or untrue
No comments:
Post a Comment