Ballinger and Hancock N.Z. harrier champs

Press, 9 August 1982, Page 15

Ballinger and Hancock N.Z. harrier champs

Two North Islanders won the senior titles in the New Zealand cross-country championships at Cust on Saturday. but Canterbury won the senior and junior men's team races and was second in the women's, team's race. The races were held on a firm fast course on the farm of Mr Brian Dixon at Little Down. Cust. The surface was smooth and the weather fine and mild. Paul Ballinger (Taranaki) retained his senior men's title in impressive fashion, powering away from the Canterbury champion Michael Gilchrist after 6km of the 12km race and winning by a margin of 235. Canterbury's Tom Birnie and Don Greig were third and fourth, finishing only 2s apart to help Canterbury to win the team title for the third time in the last four years. This was in spite of the unavailability of Commonwealth Games steeplechase representatives Peter Renner and Neil Lowsley. Ballinger said after the race that the first lap was run at a pace which was not as fast as he had expected, so that he was able to push the pace in the second lap and when he found the others •‘seemed to be really puffing" he applied the pressure. "When I started to pull away I thought they might be tired, so I went for it,” he said. "When I fell heavily on the hay bale I thought it wasn't mv dav, and it took me half a 'mile to feel good again. Luckily I was able to keep hanging on." On the first of the four laps a bunch of about 12 runners was in contention, passing the 3km point in 9min 16s. . Euan Robertson (Waikato), the 1980 titleholder and one of the pre-race favourites, lost all chance of winning when he fell heavily on a hay bale jump halfway into the second lap Ballinger also fell, but quickly regained his feet, while Robertson lay on the ground .cursing the officials. Robertson's fall left Ballinger and Gilchrist fighting for the lead at the front of the bunch, which included Rex Wilson (Hawke's Bay), Greig and Birnie. Approaching the end of the second lap Ballinger and Gilchrist had opened up a gap on Greig. Wilson and Birnie running together. Ballinger and Gilchrist went through the 6km mark in 18min 245, with Greig and Wilson in 18:35 and Birnie 2s behind.

them. Ballinger made his break on Gilchrist as they went up the first of the two trills on the third lap. Greig was in third place, with Wilson and Birnie together a few metres back., followed by Euan Robertson and Chip Duncklev (Otago). Dunckley. the 1979 national champion, was about twenty-fifth on the first lap and fifteenth on the Second, but came through well to pass those of the leading bunch who began to tire. Behind Dunckley came Steve Hunt and Derek Froude (Wellington). With one lap to go Ballinger went through in 27mm 345, followed by Gilchrist in 27:51, Greig and Birnie m 28 06. Wilson and .Robertson in 28:11 and Dunckley m 28:16. Then came Hunt, Maloney, Froude. Chris Tobin (Canterbury), the "Auckland champion. John Bowden. Waikato s Barry

Ellis, Clive Culleen (Auckland), Dave Burridge (Canterbury), Gary Palmer (Auckland), and the Canterbury pair of Warren and John Sheddan. • Wendy Hancock (Waikato) won her first national title when she beat, a strong field in the senior women's race over skm. Miss Hancock, a student of Waikato Univer-

sity. pushed the pace from the outset and only Gail Rear (West Coast North Island) could match her. Miss Rear, a student at Massey University at Palmerston North, looked to have the race won after the two had run together for the first 3km. She took the lead at that point and opened up a one metre break going into the second of two short steep hills. But Miss Hancock tucked in behind and , unleashed a spirited burst as the two came over the brow of the hill. Miss Rear said after the race that she knew that point on the course was crucial, but could not respond when Miss Hancock surged. Christine Hughes. the Auckland champion, was in third place at 3km which the two leaders passed in six minutes 41s. but withdrew with a suspected stress fracture just after passing the 3km point. She said that she had felt the injury during the week before the race but had hoped it would not affect her. Barbara Moore (Auckland) had been closing on Miss Hughes as they completed 3km and was on her shoulder when Miss Hughes withdrew. Miss Moore chased after the two leaders and caught Miss Rear with 800 metres to go after being about 50 metres behind with Ikm to run. Miss Moore gained about 3s on Miss Hancock in the last kilometre of the race. Canterbury's chances for the team title looked bright with Ikm to go as the Canterbury champion. Mary O'Connor, held fifth place and Wendy Mollison and Sue Bruce were on her shoulder in sixth and seventh places. But Miss Mollison was forced to withdraw when she got into apparent oxygen debt with 800 metres to go. Miss O’Connor, who won the national title in 1979 and 1980, was beaten into sixth place by Is by Auckland’s Linden Wilde. Colin McDonald, the Canterbury junior champion, ran a brilliant race to take the junior title from a strong field. He was always handy to the front in the 6km race and displayed sound tactical sense by making a break on Waikato’s Chris McLay at the top of the second hill on the second of the two laps. McLay, who was a close second in the Waikato championship behind Ross Butler, had previously won one of the two North Island trials to select a junior team to compete in the Australian junior championship. McLay said that McDonald was just too

good on the day. Butler, who was third in ■ the national junior championship last year, had suffered from stomach troubles ' last week and could manage only tenth place. Elliot Drayton and Peter Baker, two 17 year olds from Canterbury, performed above expectations to finish seventh and eighth, to help Canterbury win the team title. Graeme Mollison finished twelfth, a place behind the Auckland champion, Brett Mclntyre, while Dave Ellis, second in the Canterbury championship, could manage only fifty-sixth place. The Wellington champion, Bruce Baxter, formerly of Christchurch, could not keep up with the early pace, then tripped on the. last hurdle and finished twentieth.

The former Canterbury runner. Roger Robinson. (Wellington) retained, his veteran men's title comfortably. Later, he finished a creditable fortieth in the senior men's race. The Canterbury champion. Bill Kennedy, did not compete, apparently because of confusion over the starting time. The 1980 national veteran champion, Jim Macdonald (Canterbury), finished first in the over-45 division and sixth over all. Anne Kennedy (Canterbury). who did not run in any veteran races in Canterbury during the season, preferring to compete against the seniors, easily won the veteran women's race, taking both the over-35 and over-40 titles. Abbreviations: •Ak (Auckland). Canty (Canterbury). H.B. (Hawke’s Bay. Poverty Bay); N (Northland). (3 (Otago). S (Southland). Tar. (Taranaki) Tas. (Tasman). Walk. (Waikato). Well. (Wellington). W.C.N.I. (West Coast North Island). Results.— MEN Senior (12km): P. Ballinger (Tar.). 37:09. 1; M. Gilchrist (Cantv). 37:32. 2; T. Birnie (Canty). 37:43. 3: D. Greig (Canty). 37:45. 4; E. Robertson (Waikato), 37:54. 5: R. Wilson (H. 8. 37:56. 6: C. Duncklev (O). 37:56. 7; S. Hunt (Well.). 38:06, 8; D. Froude (Well.). 38:08, 9; K. Maloney (Ak). 38:17, 10; C. Cullen (Ak).’.38:20. 11; D. Burridge (Canty). 38:23. 12; B. Ellis (Waik.). 38:25. 13: C. Tobin (Cantv) 38:25. 14; J. Bowden (Ak). 38:38." 15. Teams: Canterbury. 1. Auckland 2.

Other Canterbury placings: W. Sheddan. 38:40. 16; J. Sheddan. 38:43, 17: B. Rattray. 39:13.. 25; E. Gray, 39:37. 32: J. Elliot. 39.42, 33; B. Meder. 39:49; D. Macdonald. 40:38. 57; J. Hellemans. 40:40, 58: F. Nolan 40:50. 63; T. Allison. 41:32. 72; T. Good. 41:52, 78; A. Gempton 42:09. 81; G. Hardy. 42:49, 92.

Juniors (6km): C. McDonald (Canty). 18:52. 1; C. MdLdy (Waik.) 19:05. 2; G. Jones (W.C.N.1.), 19:10. 3; N. Madgewick (Ak) 19:18. 4: N. Gaudin (O). 19:20. 5: G. Cameron (O). 19:21. 6; E. Drayton (Canty). 19:23. 7; P. Baker (Cantv). 19:26. 8: A. Hodgson (We 11. 19:27. 9; R. Butler (Waik.). 19:29. 10. Teams: Canty 1, Otago 2. Wellington 3. Other Canterbury placings: G. Mollison. 19:37.12; K. Faas. 19:45. 16: A. Dellow. 20:06, 24; M. Fowler. 20:08. 25: R. Mulcahy, 20:15. 33; I. Bartrum, 20:36. 42: L. Rae. 20:40, 43; D. Drummond. 20:52. 48; D. Ellis. 21:10. 56.

Veteran (over 40) 9km: R. Robinson (Well.), 29:31. 1; F. Smith (Ak). 30:07. 2; R. Robertson (H.8.P.8.) 30:07, 3: J. Power (O). 30:36. 4; J. Robinson (Ak). 30:52, 5; D. Dixey (S). 31:11, 6; J. Brownie (Canty). 31:49, 7; N. Martin (Well.), 31:52, 8; G. Morris (Canty), 32:25, 9; R. Bennett (Well.). 32:27. 10.

Other leading Canterbury placings: B. Forsythe. 32:32, 11; B. Sullivan. 32:45. 12; A. Cook, 32:50, 13; D. Neill. 32:53. 14; B. Daly. 33:13. 16; L. Thomas, 33:17,17; D. Evans. 33:41. 19. Over 45: J. D. Macdonald (Cantvl. 31:05. 1; K. Pearce (Ak). 31:22." 2; E. Hunter (Canty); 32:29, 3; J. Cowie (O). 32:39. 4. W. Baillie (Ak). 32:59, 5; B. Kenny (O), 33:25. 6; D. Cameron (Canty). 33:26. 7: J. Connor (Canty), 33:40, B;.C. Reece (Canty), 33:56, 9; D. Greig (Canty). 34:07, 10: I. Sim (Canty), 34:08. 11; M. Thompson (Nelson), 34:12. 12. Veteran teams: Auckland 1. Canterbury 2. Wellington 3. Veteran club teams: Olympic 1, New Brighton 2. University 3. Veteran, over 50 (9km): R. Cain (O). 32:02. 1; B. O'Brian (O). 33:46. 2: I. Brownie (Canty). 33:54, 3: D. Tucker (Canty). 34:32. 4; L. Kenworth (Tar.). 34:33.. 5; F.

Perrv (O). 34:47. 6; B. Keown (Canty). 34:57. 7; W. Hobbs (Cantv). 35:56, 8. Over 55: D. Turnbull (S). 31:45. 1: D. Kernahan (Cantv). 33:58, 2; J. Dalv (Waik.). 35:44. 3; S. Opie (Canty), 37:01. 4. Over 60: C. Jelly (Well.). 38:36. 1; E. Jackson (Canty). 38:40. 2. Over 65: C. Green (Well.). 44:39, 1. WOMEN Women (skm): W. Hancock (Waik.). 17:25. 1; B. Moore (Ak). 17:36. 2; G. Rear (W.C.N.1.). 17:46. 3: H. Stewart (Ak). 17:50. 4: L. Wilde (Ak). 18:01. 5: M. O'Connor (Canty). 18:02. 6; S. Bruce (Canty). 18:08." 7; M. Belsev (Ak). 18:15. 8; D. Elsmore (Ak). 18:17. 9: D. Smith (Tas.). 18:19. 10. Teams: Auckland 1. Canterbury 2; Waikato 3. Other Canterbury placings: R. Miles. 18:45. 15; M. Walker. 18:55.18; M. Hadley. 18:55. 19; N. Evans. 19:01. 22; S. Harnett. 19:17, 24; L. Tipper. 19:24. 27; D. Tipper, 19:24. 28: D. McCartney. 19:25. 29; C. Burden. 19:58. 35. Veteran, over 35 (skm): M. Hammond (Ak). 20:42. 1; R. Mac Laughlin (Waik.). 21:03. 2; T. Lund (Ak). 21:11. 3; J. Saunders (Tas.), 21:14. 4; T. Woodham (Canty). 21:19. 5; C. McKenzie (Canty), 21:20. 6. Over 40 (skm): A. Kennedy (Canty). 20:12, 1: V. Robinson' (Ak). 20:55. 2: P. Rhodes (Canty). 21:58. 3: B. Wood (Canty). 22:12. 4; C. Connor (Canty), 22:32, 5; G. Jones (S). 23:20. 6. Over 45 (skm): J. ' Miles (Cantv). 21:47, 1; J. Tyler (Canty). 23:41.' 2: S. Richardson (Tas.). 24:11, 3. Over 50 (skm): J. Crisp (Ak). 25:01. 1; N. Bates (Canty). 25:24. 2; M. Hawkins (Canty). 27:15, 3. Over 55 (skm): A. Olsen (O). 25:29i 1; F. Clark (Canty). 30:50, 2. Over 60 (skm): I. Lister (Well.), 30:02. 1. Veteran women's teams: Auckland 1, Canterbury 2. Tasman 3. Club team: Olympic (Canterbury).