Dunedin's Rozie Robinson was "over the moon" with her gold-medal performance at the national road championships in Wellington on Saturday.
While the promise of a medal from the senior men's squad evaporated with the late withdrawal of Lyndon Brown, 20-year-old Robinson dominated the 10km road walk to give Otago a presence on the senior podium.
It has taken a generation of athletes for an Otago race walker to win a medal in national competition. Robinson was not born when Otago last dominated the national race-walking scene.
Her competitive streak is not dissimilar to that of Commonwealth Games silver medallist Anne Judkins, who cut her international teeth in the Otago vest alongside the Matheson sisters, Lynley and Lisa, who dominated local and national competition in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Robinson led the 38-strong field through to the 8km mark, when she began to feel a little weary from her determined and fast start.
"It suits me to go out fast," she said.
"I wanted to do a sub-50 [minute]. I felt strong and was travelling at good speed."
Former international Mike Parker (Auckland), formerly of Otago, was the only competitor to come up to Robinson in the multi-graded field, as she searched for a second wind at the 8km.
The two exchanged the lead over the next 1500m until Parker pulled away over the final 500m to finish just 4sec clear of Robinson in 49min 57sec, to win the senior men's title.
Second in the senior women's grade was Alana Barber (Auckland) in 55min 54sec. Lesley Cantwell (Fiordland) was third in 57min 13sec.
Robinson was taking plenty of positives from the race, despite narrowly missing her goal of a sub-50min time. She retained the national senior women's title she won in Hastings last October and recorded one of the fastest 10km road-walk times for a senior woman representing Otago in national competition.
Her time of 50min 1sec bettered her previous best by 29sec.
The result indicated everything is on track for Robinson to qualify for another shot at the 20km Oceania title, with a qualifying trial in Palmerston North in October. Before that, she plans to race walk the half-marathon section of the Moro-sponsored Dunedin marathon next month, as part of her build-up.
Otago also struck gold in the 5km women's 50 grade, where Julie Wilson and Maria Sleeman achieved the quinella, Wilson winning in 19min 36sec with Sleeman second in 20min 13sec.
Ray Knox was the only other athlete from Otago to get a medal, when he won bronze in the 10km men's 50 grade in 35min 54sec.
Aucklanders dominated the senior running events, with pre-race favourite Stephen Lett winning the 10km senior men's title in 30min 58sec and Lisa Robertson the senior women's title in 34min 22sec.
Despite not having enough team-mates to contest the provincial team title, Otago road champion Daniel Balchin finished a respectable sixth behind Lett, in 31min 29sec.
