Any doubts Matt Lambert (Ariki) had of his fitness before the race were quickly shelved when he won the annual Clyde to Alexandra road race on Saturday.
Lambert (22), a fourth year physical education student, harboured fitness and injury doubts leading up to Saturday's race, held in association with the Otago road championships, and almost did not make the trip on Saturday morning.
"I've had one of those years riddled with illness and injury," Lambert said after lifting the Otago road title on Saturday.
The year started well for Lambert but turned bad soon after the national track and field championships in March, and Saturday's race was his first since then.
Until March, things were looking good for the 2008 Otago cross-country champion, following a creditable fifth place in the national 1500m and a top performance and a personal best time of 8min 13sec for the 3000m in the international track and field series that preceded the national championship meeting.
Despite the presence of last year's course champion, Luke Hurring (University of Canterbury), national junior 10,000m champion Tony Payne (Caversham) and international mountain running representative Dougal Thorburn (Ariki), Lambert was unfazed as he lined up at the start on the far side of the Clyde dam.
"My intention was to stick with Dougal and see what happened," Lambert said.
His only concern was a calf muscle niggle he had picked up following a hard ply metric session last Wednesday.
But he was full of praise for the muscle therapy work on it from Geoff Williamson.
"Geoff's been brilliant. Had it not been for his advice, cross-training and recovery sessions, I'd still be hobbling around.
"Dave Crew's advice and training tips have also got me here today."
Crew was a member of the high-flying North Shore Bays club in Auckland during its halcyon days of the 1990s, while Williamson is a noted Dunedin sports and muscle therapist.
As the field crossed the dam and wound its way through the Clyde township, a leading bunch of 12 containing Lambert, Thorburn, Payne and Hurring developed.
This was reduced to just Lambert, Thorburn and Payne at the 3km mark, as Hurring was not displaying any of the form that saw him win last year's event and claim the second-fastest time on the 10km course of 29min 25sec.
The three remained locked together until Payne fell from the pace 2.5km from the finish.
Lambert and Thorburn matched each other stride-for-stride until a surge from Lambert, with the finish in sight 1km out, took Thorburn by surprise and he failed to counter.
Lambert crossed in 30min 31sec, a personal best time by a massive 2min 9sec.
Thorburn crossed for second in 30min 44sec and Payne was third in 30min 58sec.
Rachel Kingsford (Hill City) recorded her first major victory on the Otago scene when she won the senior women's title in 35min 9sec.
Kingsford (21), a second year physical education student has been one of Otago's best-performed female athletes for the past two years, but had finished runner-up to Shireen Crumpton on most occasions .
She was locked in a battle with Kellie Palmer (University of Canterbury) until asserting herself 2500m out from the finish, to cross in a personal best time of 35min 9sec.
This eclipsed her previous best by 90sec.
Palmer held out a fast-finishing Kirsty Morris (Leith) to finish second in 36min 1sec, with Morris third in 36min 7sec.
Also prominent were. -Daniel Balchin (Caversham) winning junior men's title in a time of 31min 36sec and Christina Taylor (St Pauls, Invercargill) the junior women's title in 39min 34sec; Glen Ferguson (Leith) winning the masters men's title in 32min 3sec and Kathy Maclachlan (St Pauls, Invercargill) the masters women's title in 36min 59sec; Rebekah Green (Hill City) winning the girls' 16 and under 4km event in 14min 21sec.
