Otago runner Shireen Crumpton was a convincing winner of the New Zealand senior women's 10,000m title in oppressively hot conditions at Inglewood on Saturday night.
Crumpton won her third national 10,000m title in 34min 44sec by 42sec from Belinda Wimmer, Taranaki, in temperatures of 35degC.
Crumpton was hoping to break her best time of 33min 50sec set in 1999.
She was on target when the 3km was passed in 10min 01sec, but the heat had taken its toll when she passed through the 5km in 17min 54sec.
Wimmer stayed with Crumpton for 4km but then dropped off the pace.
Crumpton (38) has now won 10 New Zealand titles.
Her first was in the 10,000m in 2000.
She has won three track titles over 10,000m, three half-marathons, two marathons, one 10km road title and one mountain running title.
It was Crumpton's third national title in the past 12 months.
She won the mountain title in Nelson in April and the 10km on the road in Hamilton in September.
Crumpton also won the Gold Coast marathon in Queensland last July.
The time of 2hr 38min 21sec has been accepted by Athletics New Zealand as a qualifying performance for the world championships at Berlin next August.
New Zealand intends to take as team of five runners to Berlin if the runners meet the qualifying standard of 2hr 41min.
Otago runners were also dominant in the junior men's 10,000m at Inglewood, with Caversham runner Tony Payne winning the title and club-mate Lyndon Brown finishing third.
