Running: Ekiden won by Wanganui - again

The Wanganui Collegiate boys' team (pictured) won the Rotorua Ekiden relay at the weekend. Photo / Supplied

Wanganui Collegiate's team dominated the Rotorua Ekiden again this year.

The school won their eighth consecutive title at the relay event on Saturday, which sees teams of six run a marathon distance around Lake Rotorua.

Wanganui coach Alec McNab brought up a team of top middle distance athletes to tackle the course on Saturday and they did not disappoint, recording the fastest overall time in 2h 47m 42s.

Wanganui Collegiate also took out the women's division at the weekend with their girls' team.

Each of the six runners in each team completed one leg of the course varying from 4.7km to 8.3km.

One of the champion Wanganui runners, Connor McErlich, who has taken part in a number of the events, said they had just finished a training camp in Hastings before heading to Rotorua.

"We just came back from athletics camp in Hastings so we were pretty stiff," he said. That could have had something to do with their overall time which was modest compared to the school's high standard over the years.

McErlich said they were rapt to notch up another title for the school and were off to celebrate after the event on Saturday. "Our coach will hopefully shout us out for a decent meal but he is pretty stingy, so I'm not sure if that'll happen," he said with a laugh.

Wanganui's Jack Gay ran the final leg of the race for the team on Saturday. He said he knew they'd won when he turned into Village Green near the finish.

"I came around the corner and knew there was no-one near me," he said. All six runners crossed the finish line together.

The winning team included McErlich, Gay, Christian Conder, Daniel McLeod, Luke Gemmell and Ethan Gillespie.

The Rotorua Ekiden has been running since 2003 and starts and finishes at Village Green. A total of 272 running and walking teams entered at the weekend.