An encouraging run by Shireen Crumpton (Hill City) suggests she could add another New Zealand championship medal to her collection in Wellington at the weekend.
Crumpton (38) won the women's 3000m at the interclub meeting at the Caledonian Ground yesterday in 10min 03.62sec.
She lapped at a steady 80sec for each 400m, a pace that would put her into medal contention in the 5000m at the national championships.
Crumpton is ranked seventh with her winning time at the Otago championships of 17min 02.71sec.
She has won 10 New Zealand titles, with the last one being the track 10,000m in Inglewood in January.
The win was Crumpton's third national title in the last 12 months.
She also won the mountain title in Nelson last April, and the 10km on the road in Hamilton in September.
United States-based Kimberley Smith heads the New Zealand ranking list with her time of 14min 39.89sec, run in New York in February.
But she is not expected to return to New Zealand to compete.
All the other runners' times are within Crumpton's grasp.
The race was a family affair, with Crumpton's mother, Myrtle Rough (Hill City), running 13min 53.32sec to come within 4sec of her Otago masters record for a 68-year-old.
The men's race was won by Ollie O'Sullivan (Hill City), who broke away from Neale McLanchan (Leith) with four laps to go and won by 5sec in 8min 58.42sec.
O'Sullivan ran an even race with each of the first two kilometres covered in 3min. Jarrod Adams (Hill City) adopted a new skimming technique across the shot put circle on Monday and it quickly paid dividends with a personal best put of 11.06m to win the senior men's event.
Anna Smythe (Hill City) was in a class of her own when she won the women's 100m in 12.31sec from Larissa Dyke (Taieri) 12.81sec and Fiona Hely (Hill City) 12.98sec.
Todd Johnston (Ariki) won the men's 100m in 11.45sec and Liz Wilson (Hill City) the masters women's event in 13.89sec.
