Harriers
Athletics and Cycling Masterton Harriers have confirmed the winners of their Trust House cross-country series for 2013.
A handicap competition, it was run over eight events held around the district, thanks to the support of several generous landowners who allowed access to their properties.
The courses were all graded allowing for all levels of competitor, from ages four to 60-plus, and included a walking competition. About 200 individuals took part, with 22 contesting all eight races.
The adult running grades were all contested over a 6km course, usually taking three laps of a 2km circuit.
In the senior division, Steve Brown led the series for the second half until the final race, where, after an unusually poor performance, he had the title snatched from him by Martin Dransfield, who won the series by virtue of a better finish position in that event. Both Brown and Dransfield finished on 114 points. Craig Roberts was third on 106, with the series' fastest runner, Ben Winder, who was first home on several occasions, on 104.
The B grade had Chris Lewis and Neil Cameron as joint leaders for much of the series. In the end though a timely effort saw Denise Baker snatch first place on 106pts, just one ahead of Lewis. Lesley Graham finished third, and then came Rupert Watson on 99.
Judy Brown was the winner of the C grade competition, managing to hold off the series director Willie Blake, by 2pts despite Blake winning the last race. Brown's main rival through the series was Jane Flowerday, who finished third, 3pts off the top spot, with Jim Barr, a further point behind her.
The largest grade of the series was the D grade, which saw 33 individuals take part. It was also a tightly-contested grade which at times had the leading five runners split by a mere 3pts. Renee Tonkin won the title with 113pts.
Chris Cogdale and Judy Howard started the last race second-equal, Cogdale taking second on countback. Howard was third and the consistent Rachel Lewis fourth.
The walking grade was dominated by the van Gerven's, father-and-son Chris and Ben, through the series, with Chris managing to win each of the eight races. Being a handicapped series, however, meant that did not guarantee him first placing and in fact, he did not clinch the honours until the final race, where he gained enough points to edge Ben by a single point.
Fleur Blake was third after a countback on final race positions, having finished equal on points with Ben van Gerven and fourth was Gordon Burdon, just a single point further back.
The midget grade ran a 1km course at each event with 30 competitors over the season. The winner was Ella Chesmar, who completed all the races in the series and finished on 128 points, seven ahead of Mia Bartlett, and eight ahead of Travis Bartlett and Adrian Johnson.
The intermediate grade ran a 2km course with Mathew Heard the most consistent of finishers, leading the grade most often across the line. Kasey Cox was, however, the grade winner, clinching points in the last race.
After countbacks in the final race, Heard kept second place ahead of Hannah Moore after they had equal points. Lachlan Chesmar, who was often closest to Heard at the finish line, finished fourth overall.
The junior grade saw what became perhaps the closest of rivalries, with Rhys Gwyther and Liam Heard going head-to-head at each race. Heard had the better of the finishing positions but Gwyther maintained a lead in the competition points throughout, and finally clinched the top spot in the last race by a single point, 125 points to 124.
Oliver Lewis contributed to the competition by ensuring it was not a two-way contest, and ended up third.
The ACM harriers trophy series begins on August 11 at the Blair St clubrooms. Registration is 9.30am and racing starts at 10am.