2018 Scottish Waterfront 5k Race Wellington Tue 9 Oct

Levente Tamar, #MadHarry, Ben Twyman, Bert Prendergast (with the shades) 

Results

This was the second race for the season and another sizeable crowd turned up all eager to blast around the waterfront.  To be exact there were 172 finishers. 

I could say that it is Daryl’s charm that attracts them along.  But really it was probably the face of Will Critchlow on Daryl’s’ new banners that brought them out.

Will C did make an appearance but was not racing because of a sore foot. He claimed it was the cross country racing that did in him but I am not so sure.  

In his first foray into cross country this last winter season it seemed to me that Will C was having as much fun as you can in mud and slush. 

So we might have to wait a bit longer for Mr Critchlow to put his toe on the 5km start line.

In the women’s race tonight, the fastest was Lesa Davidson who stopped Daryl’s clock at 19.53. I believe this is a pretty big PB as well so it looks like it could be all on for the summer.  

Second was Lucy Lawlor who did 20.23, a 10 second PB over her 20.33 recorded in December 2017. 

Brooke Thomas was third in 20.25 so not too far behind Lucy.  According to the archives Brooke did some good times away back in 2014 (on the old course) so she might be on a waterfront race comeback.

In the men’s race #MadHarry (aka as Harry Burnard) crossed the line first chased hard by Ben Twyman.  

With times of 15.56 and 15.57 respectively you can see that there wasn’t much in it. 

Harry’s time was his third fastest for the course while Ben scored himself a 1 second PB over the 15.58 he cranked up in December last year. 

Third was Levente Timar in 16.10 but he can go faster, so watch this space.

Also looking agile at the finish line were Mrs Jones (doing the paperwork) and running star Malcolm Hodge. 

Malcolm tells me he is running the Melbourne half marathon on Sunday and looking for a sub 70 minute result.  Not a problem Malcolm if you do as I told you.

Last Saturday Scottish sent 16 teams to the Takahe to Akaroa Relay which this year was the course for the National Championship.   

The club’s A team were the defending champions going into the event and apparently “against all odds” held off the more favoured opposition.  

In the video below Rowan Hooper talks about how it all went.

2018 Wellington Track & Field Meet Newtown Park Sat 6 Oct

Results 

This was the first official meeting for the 2018/2019 summer season and typically the fields were light.

Many were in Christchurch for the National Road Relay (Takahe to Ankara) so it was an especially quiet afternoon.  

Conditions were near perfect for those who did compete with some mighty early season throws in the shot and discus from Nathaniel Sulopo.

In the 800m and 3000m it was mostly a family affair with brother’s Finn and Jonah Seeds and essentially doing time trials.  

The other starter in the 3000m was Daniel Cooper from Palmerston North.   

The only scheduled event that did not go ahead was the 80/100./110m hurdles.

2018 Scottish Waterfront 5k Race Wellington Tue 2 Oct

Results

A chilly spring evening typical of this time of the year greeted the very large field for the opening race.  

Daryl thinks there were over 180 finishers which is fantastic.  There were lots of new faces as well as many of the regulars, all out to stay fit and healthy.  

No sign of Will Critchlow or John Hines for that matter the latter giving just returned from competing in the World Masters Games held in the heat of Spain.  

So no Will C, but we did have Dan Jones though fresh from his overseas racing in multisport events with several wins under his belt.  Dan was just looking for a tempo run tonight ahead of this weekend’s National Road Relay Champs (NRR) in Christchurch (Takahe to Akaroa)  

As member of the formidable Scottish Men’s A’s team he will be out to see if the team can hold onto the championship title it won last year.  And without making it sound too dramatic I expect the competition between NZ’s top clubs to be ferocious and intense.

 

Also lining up next to Dan was Liam Back the cheerful lanky high school age grade champion in both cross country and track and field.  

A student at Wanganui Collegiate Liam is in Wellington because of the school holidays and was under strict orders from his coach to do a time trial tonight which would fit well with Dan’s 5km tempo pace strategy.

So it is no surprise that Liam cruised home first in the men’s grade in 15.37 with Dan Jones holding onto an easy 2^nd place clocking 15.45.  Third home was Lucas Duross in 15.58. 

Mr D along with many others in the field will also be heading down to Christchurch this weekend for the NRR which is as much a social event as a sporting one.

Getting the first 3 fastest across the line in less than 16 minutes puts this race way up there in terms of performance when compared to the times achieved at the Park Runs held weekly throughout the country.

The first home in the women’s grade was Lesa Davidson in 20.10 and a massive PB to boot.  

Last seen on the waterfront in 2014 and second was Brooke Thomas in 20.17; so not to far back at all behind Lesa. 

Third was Christina Totina in 21.02. 

The question is who out of these women will be the first to get below 19 minutes this waterfront 5km season?

Behind Bede is the long line of registrants

Marshall Clark models the special edition Scottish 2018 Akaroa Road Relay T-Shirt

A busy rego desk

It probably means something, I'm just not sure what.