 |
| Bert Prendergast, Sarah Riceman, Hiro Tanimoto, Letha Whithan, Daniel Jones |
This event had 25 finishers (but only two women) which compares to the miserly 16 that did the national 10,000m champs held in Inglewood in late Feb. In that race, there were 7 senior men and 3 senior women including Sally Gibbs who I am sure is masters grade.
The numbers weren't much better the year before in 2017which no doubt prompted Michael Wray to suggest that perhaps Wellington would be a better location to hold the championships. I totally agree.
The irony about numbers is that Athletics NZ has a goal of building up fields for championship events but from what I can see they don't appear to have a practical plan to achieve this.
Anyway a big local field for the 10k as I said. The race went something like this: Daniel Jones and Hiro Tanimoto take off at a clip to put metres on the rest of the field through lap one. Rowan Hooper chases but ends up in no-mans land for most of the race.
Behind Hooper is a dangerous-looking group of 4 comprised of Stephen Day, Bert Prendergast, Ben Twyman (back from duelling with his brother at the Taupo Ironman) and Mark Moore. These guys swap taking the lead and showing what team running is all about.
Further back is a big procession of runners led by Andrew Wharton. The order of this group changes slightly during the race but at the and it was probably all on.
Meanwhile, the lap counters chatter amongst themselves about the number of laps yet to go - this rises to yelling when each of their runners needed the bell lap. Louise McDonald stayed calm even though she had the place numbers to hand out.
Dan Jones is moving nicely having dropped Hiro who is now stranded. That's Hiro and Rowan stuck in no man's land. The gang of 4 is still intact and looking determined.
By the bell, Dan the mountain man has lapped just about everybody and is looking good. A quick peek at the clock suggests he is not going to go sub 30, which is a pity because Newtown Park needs a decent 10k time.
Dan finishers in 30.29, then Hiro in 31.37 followed by Rowan 32.18. My money was on Stephen Day to grab the 4th man home spot but it was Bert Prendergast who pulled a swifty and hit the line first. Stephen then had to contend with a fast-finishing Ben Twyman, who in racing terms we have yet to see the best of. This was probably the race (within a race) of the day.
Then everybody else finished (all under 40 minutes) including a delighted Letha Whithan who picked up the women's 10,000 Wellington championship title. Sarah Riceman from Olympic was second. Good on you both.
Good write-up, Rowan. I think there is an appetite for 10,000m races so long as people know that they will have a good-size group to race with. The last three 10,000s at Newtown Park have all been well attended. But it's a different crowd to the usual track and field crew - it's winter harriers looking to run a decent time with their friends.
ReplyDelete