| Tuesday July 27th, 2010 | Canterbury Cross Country Champs
The local Cross Country part of the winter season finished on Saturday at Hallswell Quarry with the Canterbury Champs. The day was blessedly fine for a change, but the legacy of a very wet July was a course that was soggy, slippery and strength-sapping.
That did not seem to deter Tony McManus, who took out the 60 age group in convincing style and was the 9th Masters runner overall.
The day was memorable for another reason. The tent was pitched for what might be the last time this year. Next week at the Riverside Relay we put up the new gazebo. This promises to be easier and faster than putting up the tent but may not present the same opportunity for problem-solving.
Full Results
More photos here soon
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| Wednesday June 16th, 2010 | World Cup Fever at Holloway Memorial Races
Photos by Toni Taylor
Looks like Stu Taylor got a bit more than just a run at the Holloway Memorial races at Cust on Saturday.
After leading for a couple of laps Carsten Joergensen placed second to Phil Costley.
Full Results
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| Thursday June 10th, 2010 | SBS Marathon
Margaret's Report
Queen’s Birthday Weekend is always a big one for the Olympic Harrier Club because so many of us are involved in helping with the SBS Marathon. Race Pack Distribution and Timing have been our specialty and this year was no exception. We also had a number of red singlets out there on the course. Congratulations to all of you who braved the drizzle and rain, whether as one of the nearly 6,000 participants or as one of the officials.
There were some sterling performances. In the Marathon, Bryan McCorkindale was 2nd in the 50-59 age group in a terrific time of 2:59:35. Carsten Joergensen was a very creditable 9th in the Open Men’s section of the Half Marathon. Also in the Half, we had 3 Fourth places in their respective age groups from Dave McDonald, Bill Stevens and Red Maddock, and from Dianne Davis in the 10k run. Chris Lea underscored his potential in his first year in the club with a terrific time of 1:23 :43 in the half Marathon to be 49th in the 20-39 age group. Clive Kitchingman, some years his senior, was not far behind in 1:24:48.
Other Club members did the red singlet proud in the half Marathon and I was happy to cheer them on as I called time at the 10k mark. Well done to Doug Dunn, Tessa Holland, Jacqui Gee, Bruce Ford and Paula Duncan.
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| Sunday June 6th, 2010 | SBS Marathon Results
Three Olympic runners taking part in the SBS Half Marathon today. Photos by Duane Walker.
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| Monday May 3rd, 2010 | New Balance 15k Road Race and 10k Social Walk
Two of NZ's finest distance runners, both with big plans ahead in half marathons in the next few weeks, took the titles at the New Balance 15k race held in Tai Tapu on Sunday.
After finishing second to Matt Smith for the past two years in the men's race, Rowan Hooper went finally stood at the top of the podium for 2010, taking line honours from a top class field including Smith, who finished third. Hooper led strongly from the start, and as the field looped back past the Rhodes Memorial Gates at the 4km mark, he and 2007 champion Mark Bailey were already well clear of a bunch of four containing Smith, host club Olympic's Carsten Joergensen, Jason Lawrence, and Luke Hurring. Hooper continued to push clear and won by 12 seconds, but was pushed the whole way by Bailey who kept fighting to the finish at the Tai Tapu Domain.
Hooper was pleased with his run, and will be looking for a strong performance at the SBS Half Marathon in Christchurch at Queen's Birthday Weekend, before heading to Queensland in early July where he is looking to break the 2hr20 barrier in the Gold Coast Marathon.
NZ distance running legend Nyla Carroll had a decisive victory in the women's race, finishing over half a minute clear of local favourite Kellie Palmer. Carroll, now based in Wellington and running in the distinctive yellow strip of the Scottish Harriers club, travelled to Christchurch to use this race as a lead-in to the Huntly Half Marathon in three weeks time. Carroll, a former women's winner of the SBS Half Marathon, didn't rule out returning to the Garden City after that but said she was
focussed on Huntly at this stage. Carroll, New Zealand's finest female distance runner in the 1990's, was previously the holder of New Zealsnd records at every distance from 5000m to half marathon, before current New Zealand distance star Kimberley Smith set about lowering them further.
Race organisers from the Olympic Harrier Club were pleased with the event, with a growth in numbers from last year and top quality racing across all grades, as well as strong numbers in the 10k social walk and 1 mile children's run.
Competitors in the children's run were greeted at the finishline by Harold the Giraffe from the Life Education Trust, and representatives of the group which raised over $10,000 for the Trust at last year's SBS Marathon, when Nathan Aldridge of Christchurch (dressed as Batman's sidekick, Robin) set a Guinness World Record for the fastest ever marathon dressed as a superhero. The group are fundraising at the SBS event again this year, with a retro '80s challenge involving runners dressed as icons of that decade including Ponch & John from CHiPs, Magnum PI, and John McEnroe.
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| Sunday May 2nd, 2010 | New Balance 15km Road Race & 10km Social Walk
Results |
| Thursday March 11th, 2010 | Second World Record Attempt at International Track Meet
Olympic club athlete Tony McManus will be attempting to follow up his recent world age group record in the mile, with an assault on the M60 1500m world record in the interclub section of the International Track Meet at QEII on Thursday March 18th.
The record, currently held by fellow New Zealander Ron Robertson, will be the target in a specially staged Masters 1500m race at 6.15pm, at the end of the interclub section of the meet. After shouting Tony on to another record, spectators can then stay on and watch Olympic Silver Medallist Nick Willis compete against some of the world's best 800m runners, former World and Commonwealth champion Beatrice Faumuina against the current world champion in the discus, and plenty more fantastic competition (and a bit of fun as well).
Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for children 12 & under, while under 5's are free.
Premium Gold seats (overlooking the finishline) are available for $20.
If you want to get in for FREE the event is still looking for volunteers to help with set up, pack down, and various tasks on the night. There are plenty of jobs that will still enable you to watch all the action and you will receive a complimentary pass.
Contact: Paul Coughlan paul@internationaltrackmeet.co.nz
Leyton Tremain leyton@internationaltrackmeet.co.nz
or go to the website www.internationaltrackmeet.co.nz for more
details.
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| Friday March 5th, 2010 | World Age-Group Mile Record falls in Christchurch
by Paul Coughlan
Christchurch athlete Tony McManus joined New Zealand’s illustrious line of world record holders for the mile on Saturday 20 February, when he set a new mark of 4min53.29sec for the over-60 age group at QEII Stadium in Christchurch in front of a small but vocal crowd. McManus, a former New Zealand cycling champion and one of New Zealand’s top masters runners over the past 20 years, set the record in an interclub meet in his hometown, breaking the previous record of 4min54.07sec, set by Joop Ruter of the Netherlands back in 1993.
Aside from NZ’s well documented history in the open ranks, with the world mile record having been held by three New Zealanders in the last 77 years (Jack Lovelock 4:07.6 in 1933, Peter Snell twice – 3:54.4 in 1962 and 3:54.1 in 1964, and John Walker’s historic 3:49.4 in 1975, the first time the 3:50 barrier had been broken), McManus now becomes the third New Zealander to currently hold a world age-group record, joining Derek Turnbull (M65, 4:56.4, held since 1992) and Walker, who at the age of 36 was still running at the top international level, and in 1988 set a world record for the 35-39 age group of 3:52.48.
McManus was typically modest about his achievement, but said that he left everything out on the track. “I could see coming down the straight that I only had about 10sec left, and I still seemed to be a long way out, so I just put my head down and went for it” McManus said later. The race was perfectly judged, with each lap needing to be run in around 73sec, and McManus being within a second of that split on every lap of the race. He paid tribute to the other runners in the race, who kept the pace honest in the sometimes windy conditions. “I couldn’t have done it without them” he said.
McManus turned 60 in October last year, and won the M60 grade of the 1500m at the World Masters Games in Sydney later that month. He is now looking at other M60 records to attempt, and says “The 1500m record would be pretty special, as it’s held by another New Zealander Ron Robertson [4:27.65, set in 2001] but the 3000m and 5000m records look like they might be worth a crack as well” said McManus. Judging by the determination shown by McManus on Saturday, it would be a brave punter who would bet against him.
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| Friday January 15th, 2010 | The 5k Series starts again
For those runners wanting to compete over the summer who do not feel the call of QE11, there is always the Front Runner 5k series in Hagley Park. The first of 5 consecutive Tuesday evening races was held this past Tuesday Jan 12th and the small but determined registered field faced the usual stiff wind. It was still a quality event, with Mark Bailey pulling away from Brent Tingay, Phil Costley and Matt Ingram to win in a time of 14:50.
Olympic was represented by Clive Kitchingman and Peter Larkin who carried on their rivalry. On Saturday, Clive out sprinted Peter in the final lap of the 3000 at QE11, but this time it was Peter coming in 6 secs ahead in 18:02. Ian Faulkner was not too far behind. Fiona Crombie from University ran 17:02 to win the women’s race. Katherine Ewer and Debbie Wilson had their first race of the summer in our red singlet.
The field for the unregistered runners’ race was much bigger and will no doubt grow as the series progresses and people return from holidays. This series is a good way to remind the body that the winter season is really only about 12 weeks away so get training!
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| Monday December 21st, 2009 | President's Christmas Message
 What does a runner’s Christmas look like? For most of us, I hope it is a balance between relaxing, enjoying the tasty aspects of the season and still managing to fit in the necessary time on the run. Many of us juggle the ‘me time’ aspect of running with our commitment to our families and this can be a more obvious issue over the holiday season. Or for some of us, it can be the opportunity to run during a more comfortable part of the day which is not possible during the normal working week. The important thing is to keep running. After all, Christmas Cake is full of fruit and has to be good for you.
Our Christmas run last weekend was a great success. Despite the dismal weather forecast the night before, Sunday 20th dawned clear and our run from the Beach Café was held in warm, sunny conditions. Our after match function was enlivened by the company of Tony’s puppy Sid and the first public appearance of our new Club T shirt. (Antlers not mandatory.) The Committee has decided to give one of these shirts to each 2009 financial member.
Best wishes to you all for 2010 and all of those races we are in training for.
Olympic members relaxing at the Beach Café
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New Balance
15km Road Race
10km Social Walk
1 Mile Kids' Run
2010 Results
Coming Events
July
3 Kennett Cup/South Island Cross Country Champs
QE2
10 5k Handicap Series
Race 2 - Tai Tapu Hall
17 Cross Country Run
Host Deb Wilson/ Bibibana St, Aidenfield
24 Canterbury Cross Country Champs - Haslwell Quarry
31 Riverside Relay Cashmere Club
August
7 NZ Cross Country Champs
Governors Bay to Lyttelton
14 Greta Valey Relay
21 Canterbury Road Champs - Spencer Park
28 Timaru Round the Gorges Relay
Club Run - Somerfield Community Centre - Studholm Street
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