Athletics: `Hare' proves too quick for `tortoise'

It was a day when the traditional roles were reversed.

Richard Hendry (Leith), the hare, beat his club mate Bill Kenny, who was the tortoise, in the Caledonian Society handicap mile at Mosgiel on Saturday.

Hendry, a back marker, went into full throttle in the last 300m to win the Scottish Shop Caledonian handicap mile trophy at Memorial Park.

Throughout the race he was chasing Kenny, the front marker, who was the tortoise and led until the final straight.

"It was only in the back straight that I saw where Bill was," Hendry (44), a Dunedin builder, said.

"I knew then I had a chance."

Hendry won by 50m on a rain-soaked grass track from Peter Hughes (Caversham) with Alex McEwan (Hill City) coming up fast to fill third spot.

The race was squeezed in during a dry spell between the steady rain showers that fell throughout the day.

Hendry has been more successful at longer distance races in the past and has won two Otago senior men's half-marathon titles and three gold medals at New Zealand Masters Games.

Hendry started off a handicap that was 2min 05sec behind Kenny, who was off go.

Kenny (72) had covered 300m before Hughes, the second runner off, started.

The former Scottish junior cross-country international led by 48sec after a lap and Hughes had reduced this to 31sec at halfway.

With a lap to go, Kenny led Hughes by 19sec but the back markers were closing fast.

Hendry was lying fifth at the bell and was 30sec behind Kenny and during the last lap passed four runners.

He sped past three in the back straight but Kenny still held the lead.

But it was all over as Hendry surged past Kenny as the runners entered the straight.

Hendry has been running for 21 years but this was the first time he had won an Athletics Otago handicap event.

Hughes (54), a Dunedin accountant, has only been running for a year.

He started walking and dieting for his health 18 months ago when he had ballooned out to 123kg.

McEwan (39) was a promising junior who only came back to racing in 2005 after a long lay off.

Back marker James List (Ariki) retained the Jack McLeod Trophy when he came through to sixth from the field of 19 to claim fastest time.

His time of 4min 35sec was 2sec faster than he ran in last year's event at the Caledonian Ground.

The record for the race is held by former New Zealand senior 1500m champion Richard Olsen at 4min 23.12sec.

Lyndon Brown (Caversham) ran the second fastest time of 4min 46sec and was followed by Hendry 5min 04sec and McEwan 5min 05sec.

Winifred Harding (Leith) won the women's hammer throw with 32.67m while Fiona Harvey (Taieri) won the discus with 25.69m.