Athletics: Runner eyes national champs

A strong run in yesterday's Waikato-Bay of Plenty road running championships at The Lakes in Tauranga has convinced leading Rotorua runner Steven O'Callaghan the podium is within reach at next month's national championships in Wellington.

O'Callaghan sauntered to the senior men's 10km title yesterday on the five-lap course around the revitalised subdivision development in 31min 36sec and pronounced himself ready for a tilt at the nationals around the Wellington waterfront on September 1.

While he's not predicting gold in what's likely to be a classy Wellington-dominated senior men's field, a medal is definitely on the cards.

"That was beautiful, perfect conditions, and I'm pretty happy with that time," said O'Callaghan, who held off the challenge of fellow Rotorua runner Nick Pannett by almost 30sec, with Tauranga Ramblers masters runner Michael Pugh challenging before slipping 7sec behind Pannett, with the leading three more than two minutes of the chasing pack.

Tauranga's Ben Ruthe (34.09), in a surprise comeback to competition, was second senior man and fourth overall.

O'Callaghan has come off a disappointing crosscountry season, which culminated in 18th at the nationals in Te Rapa two weeks ago, with the tarmac clearly his surface of choice.

"My PB for the half marathon is 1.07.30, so I'm keen to have a crack at that as part of the Auckland marathon but this was probably better buildup for Wellington. I wouldn't say I go in with huge hopes of doing well because you never can tell until you see who fronts on the day, but if I'm knocking on the door of a medal I'd be pretty happy."

O'Callaghan lacked competition and was disappointed in the no-show of national rep Aaron Pulford, who was sick, and Ramblers runners Iain and Kyle Macdonald. "Being on a Sunday probably meant the Mac twins had to choose between this and marathon training."

The race for the 10km senior women's title was far closer, with Ramblers runner Sally Gibbs adding to her burgeoning collection of titles with a superbly tactical win over well-performed Waikato runner/triathlete Mikayla Neilson (Hamilton City Hawks) and her New Zealand teammate for the world mountain running champs, Helen Rountree (Hamilton City).

Neilson, second at the national crosscountry champs, had a slight edge for most of the race before Gibbs hit the lead in the final lap and finished strongest, heading off Neilson by 30sec.