The Otago Road Championships today have gone almost full circle, to a course close to where it all began.
A 10-mile (16km) Otago road championship race was first held in 1960, from outside Forbury Park in Victoria Rd and taking in part of a course used for what was, before this, a modified marathon over 14 miles (23km), from the old Caledonian Ground in Andersons Bay Rd.
The course for the championship involved two five-mile loops, which began by running up Victoria Rd towards Tahuna, cutting left in Crest St towards Mussleburgh Rise, then progressing on to Andersons Bay Rd, turning left into Macandrew Rd back to Victoria Rd.
The course has changed several times since, first a decade after the first event, when traffic concerns around a bustling South Dunedin resulted in the course changing to a start line in Timaru St.
It involved another two 5-mile loops that turned from Timaru St into Strathallan St and Portsmouth Dr before winding around the harbour basin area and returning back up Ward St to Strathallan and Timaru Sts.
The championship course was moved to Mosgiel in the late 1970s, on a block involving Gordon Rd and the back of the Taieri Aerodrome.
Here it remained until changes were forced on the event in 1995 because of a desire for the event to be back in town, and on the infamous waterfront circuit, behind the railway station, that gave witness to the rise of Blair Martin (Caversham) in the senior ranks.
The event remained on the waterfront circuit until 2007, when the senior titles were encompassed in the annual 10km Clyde to Alexandra road race, in order to better accommodate Central Otago athletes, and to help alleviate what was a congested winter running programme.
Age group titles continued to be contested on the waterfront circuit until last year.
Today’s return to a circuit based on Forbury Park has reunited the programme of senior and age-group events, along with the Otago race walking championship.
The race today will continue the battle for bragging rights between local clubs Caversham and Hill City-University.
The Forbury course will involve staggered starts for each grade and its associated distance, around an 1800m loop bordering Forbury Park Raceway.
It will take in Victoria Rd and Richardson St, book-ended by Plunket St and Hargest Cres (encompassing Kennedy and Albert Sts).
The finish line will be on the driveway into Forbury Park Raceway from Plunket St.The Otago race walking championship heads the programme, beginning at noon, senior and junior races begin at 1.30pm, and junior women and masters races get under way at 2.45pm.
