Chch team wins N.Z. road relay

Press, 1 September 1980, Page 22

Chch team wins N.Z. road relay

The New Brighton Harrier Club of Christchurch won the New Zealand road relay championships in a time only 16 seconds outside the record for the 100.6 km between Masterton and Wellington on Saturday. It is the first time the club has won the coveted trophy, which this time was contested by clubs from throughout New Zealand as well as one from Canada and four from Australia.) Neil Lowsley took the team) into second place on the first of 10 laps and from there the! team was always in the first, three. John Hellemans took sec-’ ond fastest time by only one second in the fourth lap, Peter Ren-! ner was second fastest in the eighth lap, Don Greig took fastest time and broke the lap record in the ninth lap, and on the tenth lap Tom Birnie went past the leading runner, Steve Brent of the Auckland club, Lynndale, to bring Brighton into first place by 13 seconds. Birnie took fastest time in the last lap. The team was, in running order. Lowsley, A. McLaren, M. Radcliffe, Hellemans, D. Roberts, B. Rollo, D. Thomas. Renner, Greig, Birnie. Their time was five hours 14 minutes 16 sees. Auckland. University was third, more than three minutes behind Lynndale, ■ with Christchurch Olympic fourty ■ - ,

Renner, Greig, and Birnie will leave Christchurch tomorrow for Melbourne, where they will compete on Saturday in the New Zealand team at an international cross-country event. In the women’s road relay from Featherston to Wellington, University of Canterbury women’s A team was second to the record-breaking Palmerston North team, which broke the old Wellington Harrier Club ■ record of 2 hours 13 mins 12 secs for the 35.9 km six lap relay by nearly two minutes in a time of 2:11:49. University of Canterbury took 2:13:38. • The -New Zealand women’s cross-country • champion, Mary O’Connor, set a new time in the second lap with a time of 18 mins 58 secs, clipping four seconds- off Tina Wild’s record. Miss Wild is still in Wellington Hospital recovering from a motor accident. New Brighton women’s A team was fourth, with Michelle Hadlev taking fastest time in the fo'urth' lap and setting a new record of 18 mins 58 secs, nearly a minute faster than the record set last year by Dawn Dresser of Palmerston North. Miss O’Connor and Ahn-Marie Keown of the University of Canterbury' club will also leave tomorrow to take part in. the New Zealand team in the cross-coun-try event at Melbourne.