Angus Bell aims for podium and place at world champs

As he grinds towards the finish line at the New Zealand mountain running championships today, off-road athlete Angus Bell will have a more distant destination in mind - Albania.
Set to tackle the 13.3-kilometre race at Porirua, the Bay 31-year-old is chasing a podium finish and a tilt at the world championships in Tirana, Albania, this year.
Having returned to his hometown Tauranga after years in Auckland, Bell is on the comeback trail - and regaining the form that led to his claiming the national championship and Mauao's King of the Mountain title in 2007.
After a two-year layoff due to a stress fracture in his back, he rebounded to win the tough Motutapu marathon off-road race in Queenstown last year.
Victory in The Nugget off-road half-marathon two weeks ago flags him as a major contender tomorrow, when 2009 champ and former Tauranga resident Glenn Hughes is likely to push the pace.
"I've got about five weeks decent hill training under my belt - not ideal but enough to put together a good race," Bell says.
"Being able to train consistently again is a big help. I've been doing a set of three runs up and down Mauao twice a week, and I'm feeling really good."
With the national championship alternating between an uphill/downhill course and a straight-out uphill slog, tomorrow's up-and-down trail at Knob Hill is similar to the layout Bell won on at Nelson in 2007.
He rates his former Tauranga Boys' College schoolmate Hughes as the biggest threat. Now based in Wellington, Hughes, 28, was third last year and runner-up in 2007 and 2008.
"We've had some good battles over the years. He's a really consistent performer and a good measuring stick for me," Bell says.
Targeting at least a podium spot tomorrow, he's eyeing selection for a third crack at the world mountain running championships, after finishing 59th in 2006 and 92nd in 2007.
"I was pretty disappointed with that effort [in 2007], it was an uphill/downhill race and on form I should've equalled or bettered my placing the year before. Hopefully I can get to Albania and redeem myself."
Tomorrow's victor gains automatic worlds selection, and Athletics New Zealand's decision on whether to send a contingent for the three-man teams category depends on how strongly the top five finishers perform.
In the women's event, Ruby Muir of Tauranga Ramblers has the form and background to take the senior women's title over 8.8km. The Whitianga-based 19-year-old won the Mauao Queen of the Mountain title in December and regularly tops the podium at off-road events.
Muir is playing down her prospects: "It's a shorter distance than what I am used to. I'm into the trail runs over the marathon distance."
In the junior men's division, Shay Williamson from Whakatane will defend his junior men's title over the 8.8km course.