Runners set off on the first lap of the men's 4x800m race
during the Hurring Memorial Relays at the Caledonian Ground
in Dunedin last night. Photo by Jane Dawber.
Sprinter Cory Innes (Taieri) surprised himself when he
dominated the 800m at the annual Hurring Memorial Relays at the
Caledonian Ground last night.
Innes (23), who has won the New Zealand senior men's 400m for
the last three years, ventured into unknown territory when he
agreed to run the first lap of the 4x800m relay.
It was a decade since he had raced an 800m and he did not
know what to expect.
"I didn't know what to do so I followed the other runners,"
Innes said.
"I didn't want to lead because the wind was strong in the
back straight."
Chris Weddell (Ariki), an experienced middle distance runner,
led the field through the first lap in 60sec and was still in
front up the back straight.
Innes picked up the pace with 210m left and and was in
familiar sprint territory when he took off around the final
bend to take Taieri into the lead after the first of the four
legs.
His time was 1min 57sec and this was 16 seconds faster than
he had run 10 years ago at the age of 13.
"I have been doing over-distance training for 400m and it
felt OK in the last lap," he said.
He left experienced middle distance runners in his wake to
finish six seconds in front of Weddell to take fastest time
in the race.
The Taieri lead was short-lived as Bryce Morgan (Ariki) took
his team into a one-second lead at the end of the second leg.
Nathan Baxter and James List kept Ariki in the lead and it
won in 8min 24.62sec with Alex Gorrie keeping Hill City in
second place in 8min 25.22sec.
Scott Sidon ran powerfully on the final leg to bring
Caversham into third spot.
Taieri dominated both the men's and women's event and
retained the Hurring Memorial Trophy with 189 points from
Ariki 129 and Hill City 125.
It won the men's events with 91 points from Ariki 69 and Hill
City 60 and the women's with 98 points from Hill City 65 and
Ariki 60.
Innes teamed with his training partner Todd Mansfield to
dominate the sprint relays.
The other members of the teams were Jerram Huston, Paul Wyber
and Leslie Taylor.
Taieri won the 4x100m in 44.93sec and the 4x200m in 1min
34.13sec.
Taieri also dominated the men's and women's field events
through the efforts of Kieran Fowler in the shot put (14.39m)
and discus (42.56m).
He also had the best long jump with 5.79m.
Raylene Bates, the manager of the New Zealand athletics team
at the Beijing Olympics, also added to Taieri's points by
having the best women's discus (32.45m) and shot put (9.66m).
The Hill City team of Liz Wilson, Lauren Wilson, Fiona Hely
and Anna Smythe won the women's 4x100m in 50.66sec and the
4x200m in 1min 49.04sec.
Tony Payne (Caversham) led the 3000m field from the middle
stages and held on to win in 9min 11.07sec.
Bryce Morgan (Ariki) came with a rush at the finish and
almost caught Payne when he ran the last lap in 65sec for a
time of 9min 12.19sec.
Caversham won the three-man teams race with Payne first,
Lyndon Brown third in 9min 14.87sec and Daniel Balchin fifth
in 9min 18.05sec.
The first woman home was Paula Whiting (Hill City) in 10min
06.24sec.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.