Oliver O'Sullivan overcame the Icelandic
chills embracing the west Taieri area yesterday to win the
Hill Free Half Marathon.
O'Sullivan (22), a bachelor of commerce student, won the 10km
section last year at the annual event held from the West
Taieri Rugby Club grounds, and targeted the half marathon
this year as a long steady run in preparation for next
weekend's national road relay in Christchurch.
Victory yesterday also capped off a winter harrier season for
O'Sullivan during which he became Otago's most improved
middle distance athlete.
Last weekend, he won fastest time honours of 30min 39sec in
the Port Chalmers to Dunedin Road Race, while mid-season he
improved from fourth in the Edmond Cup Steeplechase to finish
runner-up in the Otago cross-country championship.
Although involved with the leading bunch from the start, his
tactic of tackling the first 14km at a steady pace paid off,
as he was able to increase his pace over the final 7km with
ease, to finish in a time of 1hr 16min 23sec, well clear of
Louis Tomlin (1hr 18min 5sec) and Otago marathon champion Tom
Hunt (1hr 19min 9sec).
First in the women's section of the half marathon was Hannah
Musgrave first in 1hr 35min 39sec, Mel Aitken was second
in 1hr 36min 44sec and Andrea McCheyne was third.
Musgrave (22) is a past age-group representative in English
county netball, representing Greater Manchester.
Dougal Thorburn made short work of claiming the associated
10km open men's trophy, in 32min 28sec, with Jason Palmer
second in 35min 3sec and Murray Dempster third in 38min
56sec.
Although admitting feeling sluggish, Thorburn could be
forgiven, given the hail and sleet that swept the course on
occasion.
Thorburn (28) has represented New Zealand in mountain running
in recent months.
He finished 73rd at the world championships in Italy and went
on to improve on his world performance to finish eighth in
the inaugural Commonwealth Mountain Running championships,
and with it a silver medal in the team section.
Like her male counterpart, Otago road champion Rachel
Kingsford easily won the open women's title in the 10km
event, completing the course in 36min 11sec.
It has been a golden year for Kingsford (21), a second year
physical education student, with a national title in the
5000m track and field championships, backed up with a
successful cross-country season where she won the North
Island title, and finished fourth in the national event in
August.
It was a true family affair in the associated future
champions 2km race for children 12 and under, where the
Sinclair family made it a clean sweep.
Hamish (11) won the title in 8min 10sec, holding out younger
brother William (9) who finished second in 8min 38sec, and
for good measure sister Sophie (8) finished third overall to
claim the girls' title in a respectable 9min 11sec.
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