Athletics: Leith 2 takes line honours in relay

Leith No 2 turned in a solid all-round team performance to win the Peninsula Relay on Saturday.

In a keenly contested event, the lead chopped and changed numerous times over the final three legs of the 39.8km course. Barnes cross-country open women's champion Angela McIntee got Civil Service away to a flying start, and it held the lead until early in the sixth leg, but such was the competitive nature of the race over the final legs, her team slipped to finish 19th.

But it was the Leith No 2 team of Marc Boulle, John Scoones, Patrick Manning, Grant Koedyk, Grant McDougall, Graham Anderson, John Bayne and Steve Skilling that best handled the pressure and took the win in the 59th annual relay around Otago Peninsula in 2hr 35min 10sec.

After starting mid-field from a handicap of 39min, the team made steady progress on the hilly first four legs over Highcliff to Portobello, where it first began to feature.

Anderson, Bayne and Skilling all did the business over the final three stages, and Skilling was full of praise for Anderson and Bayne after he crossed the finish line.

"John just ran out of his skin on that seventh leg," he said.

"And Graham, too, was outstanding from Broad Bay."

While the Leith club took overall line honours, filling the first three places, fastest time honours went to Caversham, for the first time since 1977, with a time of 2hr 11min 5sec.

Caversham added to an already successful record in the category, winning the trophy for the 24th time in the event's 59-year history.

However, 23 of these wins came in the first 28 years the event was contested.

The year Caversham last won the trophy, it went on to finish second in the national road relay on the Akaroa course later in the season.

That 1977 team included a young Geoff Anderson, as well as Alan Thurlow and Stuart Melville.

Anderson was in Saturday's team, which included seven of Otago's up-and-coming distance runners: Daniel Balchin, Robert Brown, Bevan Stevens, Lyndon Brown, Will Buchanan, Tony Payne and Scott Sidon.

The Leith Men's No 1 team, which finished second from a handicap of 58min, almost did not make it past the second leg - Shiel Hill to Centre Rd - after Chris Sole tore his Achilles tendon.

Sole had to wait on the side of the road for third-leg member Dave Rush, who had to run back to Sole then start his journey back up the hill towards Pukehiki, before the injured man could be taken to hospital.

Such are the rules governing road relay racing, but the incident almost served to inspire the team to victory.