Dougal Thorburn took full advantage of a great day and Dunedin's great outdoors to claim his second Three Peaks title yesterday.
Coming off a month of light training involving training runs just two or three times a week over no more than 12km, Thorburn found himself sitting in his office looking up at Flagstaff on a picture-perfect day and felt inspired to enter.
Conscious of conserving energy and hydration levels in the warm weather over the demanding 26km course across the three peaks of Flagstaff, Swampy and Mt Cargill, Thorburn set out at a conservative pace, but soon found himself clear of the field and decided just to keep going at that pace.
At the summit of Flagstaff he held a 1min 20sec lead on Peter Meffan, who was leading the remainder of the 150-strong field. Despite running well within himself and at a comfortable level, Thorburn continued to extend his lead, finding the underfoot conditions almost perfect, apart from a couple of muddy areas on the descent to Leith Valley.
Thorburn, who set a course record of 1hr 55min 44sec, when winning the event two years ago, was pleased with yesterday's time of 1hr 57min 41sec, considering his light training regime in recent weeks.
"Coming off low training it was all a bit of the unknown really," Thorburn said. "But I'm pleased with that."
Meffan, who decided early not to go with Thorburn's pace, settled into his own rhythm finished second in 2hr 13min 17sec. Stewart Paul was third in 2hrs 19min 11sec.
Fresh from her victory in the Miners Trail event three weeks ago, Louisa Andrew held out a determined challenge from Whitney Dagg to win the open women's title.
Andrew took a slight lead from the start but had to contend with the nagging presence of Dagg over the summits of Flagstaff and Swampy until she managed to extend her advantage.
But Dagg gained a second wind and came back into contention as the field headed over Mt Cargill.
Andrew proved too strong on the run down to the finish on Chingford Park, crossing the finish in 2hr 37min 44sec, and 57sec clear of Dagg.
Behind them, another battle was unfolded for third and fourth positions, between Holly McKee and Alice Barach.
Neither could gain a significant advantage and only at the bridge crossing on to Chingford Park and the finishing stretch did McKee nudge ahead, crossing for third in 3hr 4min 1sec with Barach 3sec adrift in fourth.
