Athletics: Linford leaves rivals behind again

Harry Linford, of Whangarei, continued his good run of form by winning the Carters Paihia Run/Walk on Sunday.

This was the third event in the 2012 Sport Northland Run/Walk Series and was also Linford's third win. He was once again clearly superior and completed the 8km course in a time of 26m.52s

A newcomer to the series, Anna Fischer, cleared away from the rest of the field in the women's section to win in a time of 31 minutes.

Anna, a medical student based at Kawakawa, is a former Auckland Secondary School 1500-metre champ and Wellington Half Marathon winner.

Northland's 14-year-old 800 metre record-holder Amanda Still, of Whangarei, finished in second place with regular competitor Carolyn Younger in third.

More than 1100 competitors took part in the event which drew people from all over Northland.

Linford and Younger retained their lead at the top of the Mizone Leaderboard after the latest event in the Sport Northland Series.

Whangarei's James Gordon was the winner of the AvantiPlus bike while Raewyn Unkovich raced to victory in the i-Pod Touch from Gen-i.

The next event in the popular series will be the Carters Mangawhai Heads2Hub on July 1 which is a 9km run/walk.