The HVH A-team put up an exciting challenge to the C-Grade competition on Saturday 4 October’s 74th running of the Takahe to Akaoroa Road Relay.
24 teams competed in the C-Grade championship, including one team from HVH and a team from our parent club Olympic Harriers. HVH and Olympic also combined extra resources to put in a composite team for this year’s NZ Road Relay Championships.
Christchurch put on a beautiful day. Temperatures were still around 4 degrees when the first wave of the C-Grade championship got underway at 8:30. The day slowly warmed up, however competitors had to contest with a chilly southerly throughout the day.
A successful and enjoyable event saw the HVH A Team of Marcus Smith, Joel Wyatt, Darren Gordon, Paul Carlson, Mat Rogers, Brendan Quirke, Tim Johnson and Julie Johnson finish a very close 3rd place in the grade in a fraction over 5 hours for the 76.3km distances. Less than three minutes separated first and third placings.
Oylmpic Harriers A team finished in 9th placing while our HVH/Olympic Composite team finished in 16th.
HVH A Team:
3 Hutt Valley 1 Final Time: 5:00:31
Marcus Smith 0:38:13
Joel Wyatt 0:41:00
Darren Gordon 0:37:49
Paul Carlson 0:38:56
Mathew Rogers 0:36:26
Brendan Quirke 0:32:49
Tim Johnson 0:32:32
Julie Johnson 0:42:46
Olympic A Team:
9 Olympic Harrier Club 1 Final Time: 5:45:52
Sheryne Coverdale 0:49:00
Chris Speakman 0:47:24
Tony Simmers 0:44:08
Zhihao Cai 0:44:34
Bruce Atmore 0:42:27
Mark Handley 0:34:26
Brad Thompson 0:39:43
Gareth McCash 0:44:10
HVH/Olympic Composite Team:
16 Olympic Harrier Club 2 Final Time: 6:12:38
Rob McCrudden 0:47:07
Tony McKone 0:50:54
Don Coley 0:44:58
Mike Binkhorst 0:48:46
Bill Trompetter 0:44:19
Brian Rusbridge 0:43:40
Denise Pilcher 0:46:28
Sean McCrudden 0:46:26
Full Official Results are available on the Canterbury Athletics site.