Teamwork annihilates first-leg deficit

Captain Alistair Richard­son was full of praise for his team after it won the senior men’s title at the cross­country relays held over the Dunedin Branch Pony Club grounds on Saturday.

The team also included Kirk Madgwick, Drew Cai­rney and Matthew Ogle, and it did not take long for the cream to rise to the top in a talented senior men’s field.
Competing in the Hill City­University No 1 team, Rich­ardson had the daunting task of running the first of four 3km legs.

He was up against junior and secondary schools cham­pion Nathan Hill (Leith), Otago marathon champion Jonah Smith (Caversham) and middle-distance age­group exponent William Scharpf (Hill City-University No 2).

Hill was favoured to domi­nate and Richardson later acknowledged his run was about keeping it as close as he could.

Hill clocked the fastest time of the day with 9min 34.8sec and handed his Leith team a clear 16sec lead at the first change.

But this was quickly hauled in by Madgwick, who clocked 9min 39.9sec to record the second-fastest time and hand Cairney a handy 25sec lead.

Cairney was all class as he stretched the lead out to 1min 18sec in recording the third­fastest time, 9min 42.3sec.

He praised the run of Madgwick, who he said set him up for a good run.

But it was Richardson who was beaming the most after the runs from his team mem­bers.

‘‘It was a good team effort. Kirk and Drew in the middle runs gave us a nice wee lead,’’ he said.

‘‘I had to hold on to Nathan as much as I could and not lose too much time on the first leg.

‘‘It all went down nicely and these guys just burnt their lungs.’’

Finishing in a time of 39min 22.7sec, the Hill City­University team was well clear of second-placed Leith, which clocked 40min 42sec, and third-placed Caversham, which recorded 41min 46.2sec.

The race for the senior women’s title proved a thril­ler.

Caversham’s No 1 team of Kristy Eyles, Sophie Evans, Becky de la Harpe and Donna Young displayed little respect for reputations.

It took the race to the defending champion Hill City-University team of Rebecca Allnutt, Aly Craigie, Bella Bloomfield and Lorna Pairman.

Eyles handed Caversham a 3sec lead at the first change in the 4x2km event. Craigie pulled back for Hill City, changing with a 16sec lead, but promising 14-year-old newcomer Becky de la Harpe turned the race back in Caversham’s favour.

She passed a 2sec lead to Young to go head-to head with Pairman on the final leg.

Pairman pulled away over the final stages of the course to bring her team home in 35min 52.8sec, with Caver­sham second in 35min 57.5sec and Leith third in 36min 49.5sec.