The
Athletics Club of the Hutt Valley, New Zealand. National Road Relay Champs
6 September 2001 Takahe to Akaroa Relay (Christchurch).Full results here.
| By Simon England. Team stacking; food poisoning -- this year's national road relay championships from Christchurch to Akaroa sure had its elements of controversy. Mens winners Scottish were embroiled in team stacking allegations, with former international Paul McEwen of Christchurch describing their dream team as a ``rent-a-club''. Scottish included two current international athletes in John Henwood and Sydney Olympian Michael Aish, plus Sydney-based Blair Martin and the cream of their home-grown talent in a star-studded lineup. The inclusion of Aish in particular drew criticism. Not associated with the club in the past, he only flew back to New Zealand to show his form to national selectors, and was happily picked up by Scottish to add to an already-strong team. Questions were also asked over Martin, though he is a Scottish product and has remained loyal to the club despite crossing the Tasman. Confirmation of the final lineup moved one of the pre-race favourites, Auckland's Bays Cougars, to all but concede. National road champion Robbie Johnston made the trip to Christchurch, but didn't compete, while national cross country champ Allan Bunce and Dale Warrender were also no-shows. That all but handed the title to Scottish, whose winning 4hr 05min 25sec was nearly 10 minutes clear of second-placed Counties Manukau. Aish, Henwood, Martin, Todd Stevens and Grant McLean all recorded fastest laps on their respective legs. Food poisoning, meanwhile, affected several teams including Valleys' senior women's A team. Though a friendly wager with the veterans 50 plus could have drawn the finger of suspicion, the real culprit appears to be a Christchurch pasta restaurant, which drew other teams who also suffered subsequent health problems, including the Lynndale senior men. The illness certainly robbed the Valleys women of a placing higher than the ninth they achieved, with leading runners Wendy Cottrell-Teahan and Karen Millar both affected. Katherine Clark, running in the women's B team, was also struck down on the tough uphill leg by the food poisoning, and had to be relieved of the baton some way up the long hill on leg six. Sadly this technical, illness-enforced infringement saw the team disqualified. Amid all the drama, 15-year-old Abie Russ produced possibly the team's most meritorious run, also up the tough 6.9km hillclimb that made up leg six. Russ was sixth fastest for the leg in the senior women's division with 37:37. The senior women, though, were one of the seven Valleys teams to finish in the top 10 of their respective divisions on a warm and blustery day, which made the flat legs more demanding than the terrain indicated. Leading the way was the veteran men's team, who were seventh overall in 5:04:24. Dave Murgatroyd ended a memorable season was third-fastest in the division over his leg, the 10.6km final lap, recording 36:16, while Tony Madsen was fifth-fastest over the 10.3km second leg through Teddington, in 37:54. The M50 veterans were eighth in their division in 5:34:20. Hank Leech was fifth fastest over his lap in the age group, running 39:42 over the final leg. Ian Blyth, Keith Holmes, John Wood and Don Brodie were also in the top-10 over their respective legs, with Holmes taking home the baton for the most meritorious runner on the day. Carl Jackson got the senior men away to a flyer, his 31:30 over the 9.6km starting leg saw him hand over to Scott Hunter in fourth place. Jacko paid a price for his brave run though in the shape of painful blisters. It took something special to upstage Jackson and Steve Willis provided it, with a powerful run which ended into a strong headwind at the end of leg four. Willis, in one of his first competitive outings since the world student games in Beijing, pulled in two placings on his way to the third-fastest time over his leg, 30:36 for 9.1km. The A men finished eighth overall. Another notable Valleys performance came in the junior men's race, through Nick Willis. The team was ninth overall in the division, but Willis recorded the fastest time overall on his leg, 32:43 for 10km, as the junior men headed for ninth overall. |
| Cat | Team | Place | Time |
| Junior Men | Valleys | 9 | 2:28:24 |
| A Grade Men | Valleys | 8 | 4:31:52 |
| C Grade Men | Valleys 1 | 8 | 5:02:23 |
| C Grade Men | Valleys 2 | 20 | 5:29:53 |
| Veteran Men | Valleys | 7 | 5:04:24 |
| Veteran Men 50s | Valleys | 8 | 5:34:20 |
| Senior Women | Valleys 1 | 9 | 5:36:41 |
| Senior Women | Valleys 2 | DQ | 6:22:06 |