Run/walk: Linford, McVerry race to victory

Men's half marathon winner Harry Linford passes a kapa haka group providing extra entertainment.

Harry Linford and Katie McVerry continued their great form to take line honours in the men's and women's division at the annual ACC Whangarei Half Marathon held on Sunday.

Completing the 21.1km in 1:15:14, Linford really enjoyed the run and managed to cruise ahead of Whangarei's Henry Wallace, who finished second in 1:16:28. Third place went to fellow Whangarei runner Fred Housham, running the distance in 1:19:23.

The women's race, however, was a hard-fought battle, with McVerry finally taking the title in 1.34.03, just eight seconds ahead of second place-getter Carolyn Younger. Loren Duffy of Whangarei was third in 1:36:11.

The half marathon men's and women's competitive walk winners took out the titles for the second consecutive year.

Alan Connelly won the men's title in fine style in 2:28:46 ahead of Auckland's Mark Alcorn in 2:50:40.

Whangarei's Suzy Watkins and Shona Nash recorded the same time to win the 2016 title in 2:50:47. With the timing system used it is unusual for an exact time to be recorded, however these two friends managed to do it this year.
The 9km, which attracted a large field of nearly 700 runners and walkers, was hotly contested, with Rhys Colmer and Ruth Hutchinson taking line honours in their respective categories.

Colmer won in 34:43 and Hutchinson took 44:42, a similar time to when she won in 2015.

With only one more event to go in the 2016 Sport Northland Run/Walk Series, the NorthCloud Leaderboard men's division has already been won by Harry Linford.

However, in the women's division the last event, the ASB Kerikeri Half Marathon, will determine the winner. Katie McVerry has taken the lead from last year's winner Carolyn Younger, with placings at Kerikeri to decide the overall 2016 winner.