2018 Tanadees and Arkwright Cup Wind Wand Evans Bay Kilbirnie Sat 8 Sep

Results to come? (these could be a secret and may never be published)
Old Boys Memorial Results (WHAC)

The Tanadees Cup has been around a long time and over the years the location of the race and the course has changed. 

Look at this article from 1929 when it seems the event was held on Mt Victoria and clearly over cross country. 

And in 2014 the race was held on the waterfront.

Along for the ride today were members of Vic Uni Athletics who were competing for their own Sherwood Cup trophy.  

This joint race arrangement seems to work well and should be done more often.  I have been bleating on for a long time to anybody who will listen that clubs need to work more closely together and as often as possible, so today is very positive.

Also operating from the same start/finish area were Wellington Harriers which held its Old Boys Memorial trophy race which like the Tanadees and the Sherwood is a handicap road race.  My photos include the “blues” finishing which is only proper.

The Tanadees is an open handicap race meaning that competitors start off progressively at known intervals which represent their handicap. 

The slower runners start first and the fastest last. The theory is that everybody should finish at roughly about the same time. 

And this year they roughly did.  In fact I don’t think I have seen an open handicap race where the bulk of finishers were so closely packed.  

This means a job well done by James Turner the Scottish handicapper and whoever has this role for Vic Uni.  Check out the times to see what I am talking about.  That is if and when they ever become available.

The hectic finish probably put a bit of pressure on timekeeper John Turner and the others controlling the finish line, but JT has seen it all before.

This year’s Tanadees winner was Nigel Roberts, who got one up on Bob Stephens.  Nigel joins a long list of prestigious winners including colourful Fred Silver (F. B. Silver) who won several times way back.  

If you want to hear stories about Fred and close rivals Les Sinclair, and Alf Stevens (Todd’s grandfather) then bail up Alan Stevens who has lots of anecdotes about these gentleman along with many others involved with Scottish and athletics in general.

Winner of the Arkwright Cup was Serena Rudge. This trophy was donated by Margaret and Paul Arkwright back in the late 1970’s. Their son Peter was a talented runner and a valuable member of the A team. Last I heard Peter was living in Northland somewhere.

Today’s event will help the selectors pick teams for the National Road Relay (Takahe to Akaroa) to be held in early October. 

The A and B teams have already picked themselves but believe it or not picking the C and D teams becomes quite tricky which is why getting as much info about performances on the road is so useful. 

The other thing that selectors and team captains need to figure out is what lap to put their runners on. 

I suspect this will be subject to interesting discussion on long training runs when the usual chatter includes assessing the threats from other clubs, like Dunedin’s Hill City. 

Observations:

Eric Speakman is back on the road but being careful as he recovers from injury

I like this snippet from the WHAC Old Boys Memorial results about the kids race.
"Jag ran part of the way with one shoe and then with none. He's on sock laundry duty!"

Who does that remind you of?