Click photo to enlarge
Alex Wallace (Wellington) edges out Harry Dixon (Nelson) to
win the New Zealand junior 3000m race at the Caledonian on
Saturday. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Dunedin teenager Rebekah Greene was the star on a day of
records and national titles in the meeting at the Caledonian
Ground on Saturday.
A year 12 pupil at St Hildas Collegiate, Greene (16) skimmed
more than 7sec from the Otago 3000m record and smashed the
Otago under-20 record in winning the national 19-and-under
3000m title in 9min 30.69sec.
In winning the national title held in conjunction with the
weekly interclub competition, Greene broke five Otago
age-group records - the women's 16, women's 17, women's 18
and women's 19.
But it was her effort in breaking the 20-year-old under-20
mark of 9min 35.95sec, set by Deanna Grass, that had
followers really sitting up.
After a slick 65sec first lap, the race unfolded into a
competitive affair between Greene and Lydia O'Donnell
(Auckland).
The two were locked together for the first half of the race
until Greene surged ahead and opened up a narrow lead.
She moved further ahead over the next three laps, holding a
decisive 16sec advantage going into the final 200m.
There was little that was going to stop Greene as she entered
the home straight and poured on the gas to win by 21sec from
O'Donnell (9min 51.91sec) and Nelson's Josie Wilcox (10min
26.21sec).
Greene will now prepare for next month's Oceania
championships in Sydney.
The men's 19-and-under race turned into a battle of tactics,
with all of the first six laps clocked at 70sec-plus.
But it was Alex Wallace (Wellington) who surged in an attempt
to split the tightly bunched field.
Otago's Daniel Balchin went with the pace of Wallace and
Harry Dixon (Nelson) followed, as the remainder of the field
dropped away.
Wallace finally shook his pursuers with a blistering turn of
speed down the home straight to win the title in 8min 38sec.
Balchin looked certain to secure silver but he was run down
by Dixon in the final 50m, with Dixon snatching silver in
8min 38.73sec and Balchin bronze in 8min 39.61sec.
Other highlights from the meeting were:Callan Moody (Ariki)
claiming the Otago senior 3000m title in 8min 34.24sec, a
personal best time by 8sec.
Kirsty Morris (Leith) celebrating her recent engagement by
winning the Otago senior women's 3000m title in 10min
22.42sec.
Rosie Craven (Hill City) breaking the Otago record she had
set earlier in the season of 2.20m with a new mark of 2.25m.
Hannah Blair (South Otago) breaking the Otago senior women's
javelin record with a distance of 47.27m.
