Matthew Taylor continued his excellent harriers season by comfortably winning the 10km road race at Westshore on Saturday to claim the Hawke's Bay Gisborne Centre title.
The Hastings Harriers flyer was always in control of the event to cruise home in 33m 16s. Napier's Graeme Buscke and Gisborne's Steve Morrow bravely tried to stay with Taylor but there was never any doubt as to what the outcome would be. Morrow eventually overtook Buscke to claim the masters title with a tidy 34m 42s Buscke was third in 35m 20s.
Dulia Daly kept Napier clubmate Kate O'Malley at bay in the women's 10km to win in 42m 18s and her rival finished in 43m 55s.
The age groups produced some outstanding performances. Napier's Bradley Christison broke the course record in the M19 to stop the clock at 27m for 8km. Hastings Kane Elms did his best to stay with the frantic pace but eventually faded to finish 58s behind in second place.
The B16 grade was compulsory viewing with the Napier quartet of Mitchell Snell, Ollie Marshall, Mark Day and Max Taylor playing the waiting game for the first half of their 5km event. Snell then broke away and won in 16m 46s, 11s clear of Marshall who was 6s faster than Day.