Win puts Osborne closer to Budapest

Sam Osborne has been on the triathlon sidelines for much of the year, working feverishly on his swimming to get it up to scratch.
Yesterday the Rotorua teenager showed the benefits of that work, capturing his first Surfbreaker sprint distance crown at Mount Maunganui's Main Beach.
Osborne's swimming in the 750m swim, 16km bike, 5km run Eves Realty-sponsored event kept him in touch with the leaders and he proceeded to mow them down on the bike.
"I was about sixth or seventh out of the water and got into my work on the bike," the 18-year-old Western Heights schoolboy, who is heading away to study surveying in Otago next year, said. "It took a while to get the legs but on the way home I managed to start eating into the leaders and then I was away. I just stuck to my race plan on the run, had a crack at them in the first kilometre and didn't really look back."
Osborne even broke 50mins for good measure, finishing in 49mins 42secs and heading home Taupo 17-year-old Cameron Todd (50:20) and defending champion Blair Jordan (Tauranga) who crossed in 50:42.
Osborne was originally a nationally-ranked mountain biker but he's turned his focus to the multi-discipline racing in the  past couple of years.
In the women's race, Janine Simpson (nee Sax) grabbed her second Surfbreaker title, knocking 4mins off her 2007 winning time, finishing in 54:42.
She was 4:02 clear of former Bay athlete Tanya Dromgool in the second-biggest winning margin in the 25-year history of the event. Only Sam Warriner's 5:40 margin over Nicola McKay last year was bigger.
Local historian Jeremy Boase's outstanding booklet celebrating the 25-year history of the race was included in all race packs and it also threw up some other gems, such as the continued prowess of Te Puke ironwoman Cindy Taylor.
Taylor finished third yesterday, clocking 59:17. It was the 1993 champion's 15th finish in the annual post-Christmas race and the 13th time she's broken the 65min barrier.
It's also Taylor's best finish since her third-placing in 2001 and the sixth time the 52-year-old has finished in the top-three.
Boase's records show that the winning men's time has only dipped under 50min 12 times since 1985, led by Cameron Brown's race record in 1993 of 47:42, putting Osborne's name in illustrious company.
 Osborne and Simpson were using yesterday's event as a buildup for a big January. Osborne is targeting a race in Canberra to try to qualify for the world championships in Budapest, while Simpson's national series tilt resumes in Whangamata on Monday, with further races in Wanaka and Timaru in January, then Kinloch and Takapuna in February.
Simpson revealed that she wasn't even supposed to be racing yesterday.
"I was told not to race today but I kept going because I was winning," she said. "I've strained my knee and I saw a specialist on Thursday who told me not to thrash it - but today was probably thrashing it!"
The 32-year-old cleared out on the bike leg despite exiting the water in sixth, opening a 2min lead and extending it again on the run.
The shorter UCAN2 event yesterday was won by Papamoa's Kate Smith in 38:34, ahead of Rebecca Firth and Sarah Knighton, while Daniel Munro led home Mitchell Weal and Scott Miller in the shortened male race.
Mount Maunganui College trio Mason Pickering, Aiden Dunster and Sam Durrant took out the team's race in 53:26, ahead of longboard surfer Sam Guthrie and his runner Andrew Lloyd.
Third in the teams was Team Brick, comprising former world duathlon champion Dr Mat Brick and his two children, Claudia and Grover.

Results:
 Men: Sam Osborne (Rotorua) 49:42 1, Cameron Todd (Rotorua) 50:20 2, Blair Jordan (Tauranga) 50:42 3.
 Women: Janine Simpson (Tauranga) 54:42 1, Tanya Dromgool (Auckland) 58:44 2, Cindy Taylor (Te Puke) 59:17 3.