Running Relay rcords tumble

Press, 12 September 1988, Page 18

Running Relay rcords tumble

By

GLENN HASZARD

Veteran women runners were in record-breaking form in the annual Takahe to Akaroa relay on Saturday. The New Brighton A team took the men’s relay title and University the women’s title, but it was the veteran women’s grade which provided the highlight with the number of records broken.

The assault was led by the Sumner Running Club, which retained its national title in Nelson last week. Even with a team weakened by having two members in the senior women’s line-up and a third still overseas, the Sumner veteran women broke their own local record of 5:57:21, set in 1986, and set a new open veteran record, with a time of 5:33:38. The , old record was 5:37:28, set by Takapuna in 1985. The re-cord-breaking team comprised S. Prutton, D. Rhode, M. Stokes, B. Kuiper, F. Roberts, S. Taylor, P. Boland and C. Boulden.’

All the lap records for the

veteran women’s grade, however, were set by veterans running in senior women’s teams. Anne Kennedy (Christchurch) broke the record on the first lap, from Takahe to Allandale; Liz Smeaton (University) on the fourth, from Kaitunp to Lake Forsyth; Colleen Bardsley (Sumner) on the uphill sixth lap; and.the world-ranked Prue Taylor (University) on the last lap of 10.7 km from Duvauchelle to Akaroa.

The only other record to be broken was that of the men’s open class for lap four, which Timaru’s Chris Tobin set in 1984 and broke on Saturday. The New Brighton men’s A team, which successfully defended its national relay title at Nelson, led all the way to win its grade for the third successive year, while North Canterbury had its first B grade win and Timaru its first C grade win. The women’s A grade was won by University, which was fourth in the national relay. Results.—

TEAMS Men, A grade: New Brighton, 4:02:07, 1; Olympic A, 4:09:07, 2; Christchurch A, 4:09:28, 3. B grade: North Canterbury A, 4:23:13, 1; Sumner A, 4:26:41, 2; Timaru A, 4:27:19, 3. C grade: Timaru B, 4:50:40, 1; Sumner C, 5:03:46, 2; North Canterbury B, 5:06:33, 3. D grade: Timaru C, 5:30:43, 1; Presbyterian, 5:46:23, 2; Anglican B, 5:49:23, 3.

Veteran A grade: Olympic A, 4:38:15, 1; United, 4:43:18, 2; St Martins A, 4:54:40, 3. B grade: Christchurch A, 4:53:57, 1; Q.E. Athletic, 4:57:25, 2; Sumner A, 4:57:43, 3. C grade: Christchurch B, 5:38:20, 1; Rovers B, 5:39:17, 2; St Martins D, 5:45:25, 3. Women, A grade: University, 5:02:23, 1; Sumner A, 5:19:37, 2; New Brighton, 5:20:03, 3. B grade: North Canterbury, 6:03:30, 1; Sumner B, 6:05:09, 2; Q.E. Athletic, 6:10:15, 3. Veteran: Sumner, 5:33:38, 1; St Martins A, 5:42:33, 2; St Martins B, 6:22:46, 3.