Athletics: O'Sullivan miles better than fellow competitors

For the second time in recent weeks, it was the one-mile event that attracted the biggest field of competitors and the most attention at the Caledonian on Saturday.

Hill City's Oliver O'Sullivan led the 11 runners away from the line, followed closely by Leith's Andrew Lonie and Caversham's Lyndon Brown.

O'Sullivan remained at the front for the rest of the race, extending the gap between him and the rest as the laps went by.

As the end drew close, Lonie passed Brown to finish second.

Four of the first five finishers are coached by Chris Sole, whose hands barely stopped clapping for his athletes as they raced one another.

O'Sullivan's time of 4min 36.52sec equated to a 1500m time of about 4min 10sec, close to his personal best.

He said the pace was "consistent" and the early stages of the race were not run too fast.

Leith's Kirsty Morris, winner of the Ness Cup mile, took 7sec off her time to post a track record.

With the secondary schools championships being held in Hamilton, many were absent from the meeting.

Nor were many from further afield than Taieri present.

This made for short competition in the field events, and some races with fewer than five competitors.

In the 100m sprint, Taieri pair Cory Innes and Todd Mansfield were beaten by a strong performance from Christchurch competitor David Ambler.

The 400m saw many of the long-distance runners make up the field, the difference in respective styles made glaringly obvious by sole speed specialist Tim Jones, also of Christchurch, who won by almost 10sec.

In the lower grades mixed 400m event, Ariki's Susanna Greaves won a close race with the fastest two men in the field in a time of 65.33sec.

Many Otago athletes will be preparing for the 10,000m championships next week, so the 5000m race was also contested by a small number.

That did not stop Richard Hendry and John Bayne, both of Leith, from running a close race in the early stages.

The pair were pursued by Alex Zetko, of Ariki, the top three establishing a large lead on the rest by the first lap.

As the race wore on, Hendry pulled away from Bayne to finish with about a 50sec gap.

Zetko stayed close to Bayne until the start of the final lap, and seemed to have much pace to spare, pulling away and opening up more than 10sec to take second place.

Hendry was happy with his time of 16min 59.05sec, but he joined many of the other competitors in noting the cold, windy conditions.