Athletics

Joe Beamish held his nerve on the final lap to help John McGlashan College win its third successive senior boys title in the annual Caversham road relays yesterday.

Dunedin's Neale McLanachan overcame pain in his legs and hips to win the long-course 23km run section of the Peninsula Challenge yesterday.

Olympian Nick Willis has won the United States road mile championship in Minneapolis this afternoon (NZT), running 3 minutes 56.2 seconds to edge a largely local field.

She may have missed narrowly three years ago but there was no denying Rebekah Greene (Hill City-University) an open women's record in the Lovelock Relay on Saturday.

Nathan Baxter led from the front with a committed captain's run to set Ariki up for victory in the Lovelock Relay at the University Oval on Saturday.

Richard Olsen has swapped clubs and could be the catalyst that propels Ariki to a win in the senior men's Lovelock Relay today.

It was quality that counted. Andrew Whyte (Hill City-University) had a short home season but did enough to be named Otago athlete of the year.

As if running 230km through the Sahara Desert in temperatures of up to 54degC wasn't difficult enough, former Dunedin runner William Tokona did it with injuries.

Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede and Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo have put last year's Olympic disappointments behind them with victories in the London Marathon.

It may have been a better day for the ducks, but Stafford Thompson turned up the heat in the mud, drizzle and single-digit temperatures to win the Three Peaks mountain race in Dunedin yesterday.