Athletics: Record thrill for Newbould

If there was one wish Hannah Newbould (Otago University) could have come true, it would be that the 1500m Lovelock Relay record could be shared with Rebekah Greene (Hill City).

University of Otago runner Hannah Newbould leads Hill City's Rebekah Greene during the senior women's Lovelock Relay race at the University Oval on Saturday. Newbould's time of 4min 35.41sec for the 1500m first leg beat the 25-year-old record. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

Both Newbould and Greene have become good friends since Greene came under the umbrella of Athletics New Zealand middle-distance coach Maria Hassan.

The two contested the first leg on Saturday, Newbould for Otago University, and Greene for defending champion Hill City.

The pair were locked together throughout a thrilling 1500m encounter. But it was Newbould who won, just 0.4sec clear of Greene.

It would have been nice to share the record, Newbould said.

Newbould (18) has just started her first year at Otago University and is looking forward to training with Greene.

"It will be good for the both of us and it will be good having the competition. We will help each other and its a win-win situation really," she said.

When told of the significance of the Lovelock record, Newbould was surprised as she was not expecting it.

"Wow! It feels pretty special. It's a real honour."

Despite her running ability, it has only been over the past year or so that Newbould has become more focused on running, after dabbling in netball, tennis and swimming.

She was a representative to the secondary schools world cross-country in the Czech Republic in 2008, where she finished fourth.

The same year, she won gold in the secondary schools Pacific Games 1500m and silver in the 800m.

But last year, she looked at what she wanted to achieve in sport.

"I guess I got more serious and really, really focused," she said of her middle-distance running ability. "I wanted to make the world junior team so had to run a qualifying A standard time of 4min 23sec for the 1500."

Newbould has reached this standard several times and has a personal best of 4min 19sec.

"I've always been serious about running, but by year 13 [at Cashmere High School] something clicked."

Before the race on Saturday she had just completed a university chemistry exam.

She was the head girl at Cashmere High School and played senior A netball for the school and is the national junior 1500m and cross-country champion.