Running Double win for N. Brighton

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 24

Running Double win for N. Brighton

The powerful New Brighton club scored a double in the major events of the Skellerup Steeples harrier races in Christchurch on Saturday. Neil Lowsley and Wendy Renner, in only their second appearances this season, won the senior men’s 10km and senior women’s 4km respectively and led their club teams to victory.

Their individual victories were also pleasing for their coach, Mr Eric Rowe. The pair will now prepare for the Canterbury championship in three weeks at Tinwald, then the national championships. Lowsley said that the race was a real confidencebooster for him. “I had tried to talk Eric into allowing me not to run because I didn’t feel confident and my training wasn’t going well,” he said.

Mr Rowe said he was pleased for Lowsley because he had faced problems since representing New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane last year. “He had a virus there and now he’s just coming back into the kind of shape he was in then,” said Mr Rowe.

Lowsley, who has finished second in the Skellerup for the last two years, was always handy to the front.

After the first Ikm a bunch of about six had broken clear of the field, with Lowsley, his club-mate Tom Birnie and Olympic’s Warren Sheddan to the fore.

Also in the bunch were Nelson’s •( John Dixon, who

won the Adidas marathon last month, Rex Wilson, the Hawke’s Bay and national representative, and Brian Kennelly (University).

With about 2km to run Wilson began to apply pressure and the bunch broke up, with Lowsley hanging on to Wilson and gaining an advantage at the high hurdles. Birnie and Dixon were having a tussle for second until the penultimate hurdle, when Dixon crashed heavily and lay sprawled in the mud for a few moments, allowing Birnie to move into a comfortable third position and for both Sheddan and Kennelly to pass Dixon.

Lowsley kept picking up the pace over the last few hundred metres and Wilson could manage to pick up only a few metres on him in the run to the tape, while Dixon managed to get back past Sheddan. Wilson said that he knew he might have trouble with the speedsters in the bunch but found it hard to break away because of the lack of firm footing. The fields adjacent to Queen Elizabeth II Park, venue for the races, were waterlogged, and conditions generally were atrocious.

Mrs Renner led from the start of the womeen’s race, through she had not planneed it that way, she said after the race.

“I just found myself in front so once I was there I had to make the most of it,” she said. It was her third win in the Skellerup Women’s Steeples. She was second last year to

Hancock (Hamilton). Mary O’Connor (University), who has yet to win on the Skellerup course, moved into second place after the first kilometre and was running as fast as Mrs Renner but lacked the hurdling skills to bridge the gap. Miss O’Connor was a comfortable second, with Sara Harnett (New Brighton), also clear in third and Debbie Tipper (University) moved through steadily for fourth. Margaret Walker (St Martins) was always prominent but like Miss O'Connor had to climb the hurdles, losing seconds at each hurdle. She ran as a senior but would have easily won the veteran (over 35) title from Ann Kennedy (Christchurch), another veteran who chose to run as a senior woman. The former Canterbury runner, Sue Bruce, running for Otago University, finished eighth, half a second ahead of her club-mate, the former Timaru runner, Maria Moran. Miss Bruce has had only a limited training programme because of injury this season, and was having her first race. Bill Kennedy (Christchurch), the current Canterbury veteran cross-country champion, disposed of an early challenge from Brian c Atkins (United), and Jim Macdonald (Olympic) to win the veteran 6km event. Neville Reid (Olympic) and Maurice Ryan (United), both new veterans, finished a second apart in fourth and fifth places, with John Souter (Timaru) sixth and the vastly-improved Peter

Watts (St Martins) seventh. MEN Senior (10km): Lowsley, 33:25, 1; Wilson, 33:28, 2; Birnie, 33:34, 3; Kennelly, 33:36, 4; Dixon, 33:37, 5; W. Sheddan, 33:40, 6; D. Greig (New Brighton), 34:20, 7; M. Fleming (Otago), 34:32, 8; K. Maloney (Auckland), 34:50, 9; B. Rattray (Christchurch), 34:56, 10; G. Prendergast (Ashburton), 35:10, 11; D. Fantham (Toe H), 35:24, 12; P. Williams (Toe H), 35:34, 13; J. Sheddan (Olympic), 35:35, 14; P. Coutts (Otago), 36:03, 15; B. Baxter (Christchurch), 36:05, 16; A. Ballantyne (Toe H), 36:28, 17; K. Broad (Otago), 36:35, 18; I. Bartrum (Technical), 36:44,19; J. Gamblin (Ashburton), 36:44, 20. Team: New Brighton. Veteran (6km): Kennedy, 21:50, 1; B. Atkins (United), 22:16, 2; J. D. Macdonald (Olympic), 22:28, 3; N. Reid (Olympic), 22:45, 4; M. Ryan (United), 22:46, 5; J. Souter (Timaru), 23:00, 6; P. Watts (St Martins), 23:03, 7; D. O’Keefe (St Martins), 23:06, 8; R. Cain (Otago), 23:25, 9; A. Cook (Olympic), 23:39, 10. Team: Olympic. Junior (6km): G. Cameron (Otago), 20:38, 1; G. Mollison (New Brighton), 21:03, 2; P. Baker (Technical), 21:09, 3; R. Gray (Otago), 21:16, 4; R. Ayson (New Brighton), 21:29, 5; S. Watts (St Martins), 21:29, 6. Team: Caversham. Under 18 (6km): E. Drayton (University), 21:42, 1; R. Johnstone (Otago), 22:01, 2; S. Balderstone (North Cantebury), ..22:06, 3. Team: Avon. Under 16 (4km): M. Drummond (Toe H), 14:24, 1; J. Greenwood (United), 14:38, 2; A. Reid (Olympic), 14:47, 3. Team: Avon. Under 14 (3km): R. Lambert (New Brighton), 12:10, 1; S. Bastiaanse (North Canterbury), 12:13, 2; R. Lindroos (United), 12:13, 3. Team: Avon. Under 12 (1.8 km A. Buckley (Christchurch), 6:51, 1; P. Ar-

nold (Toe H), 6:53, 2; W. Carson (Anglican), 7:06, 3. WOMEN Senior (4km): Renner, 14:32, 1; O’Connor, 14:36, 2; S. Harnett (New Brighton), 14:55, 3; D. Tipper (University), 15:24, 4; W. Langlands (Otago), 15:26, 5; M. Walker (St Martins), 15:31, 6; R. Allison (Technical), 15:38, 7; S. Bruce (Otago), 15:41, 8; M. Moran (Otago), 15:41.5, 9; J. Tyler (New Brighton), 16:00,10; G. Rowlands (Otago), 16:09, 11; D. Cawkill (New Brighton), 16:22, 12. Teams: New Brighton, 12 points, 1; University of Canterbury, 17pts, 2; University of Otago, 18pts, 3. Veteran (4km): C. McKenzie (Olympic), 17:32, 1; T. Woodham (United), 18:19, 2; L. Donaldson (United), 18:29, 3. Team: United.

Pre-veteran (4km): A. Dahl (Christchurch), 17:38, 1; C. Sanson (Ladies Pioneer), 19:46, 2; J. Carson (Anglican), 20:11, 3. Under 18 (3km): R. Hocking (Christchurch), 12:26, 1; S. Hughes (Christchurch), 12:47, 2; N. Page (Christchurch), 12:49, 3. Team: Christchurch.

Under 16 (3km): S. Sunderland (Anglican), 13:17, 1; C. Clarkson (Toe H), 13:36, 2; C. O’Reilly (Toe H), 14:02, 3. Team: New Brighton. Under 14 (3km): T. Sharpe (North Canterbury), 12:33, 1; D. Meagher (Cashmere), 13:38, 2; E. Steele (Avon), 14:30, 3. Under 12 (1.8 km J. Harpur (Avon), 7:23, 1; N. Sharpe (North Canterbury), 7:31, 2; R. Bennett (Anglican), 7:55, 3.