Christchurch's Ollie Jones leading the men's group in the very early stages of the men's marathon race yesterday. Jones would eventually lap them all. PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY
Christchurch's Ollie Jones leading the men's group in the very early stages of the men's marathon race yesterday. Jones would eventually lap them all. PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY
It was Christchurch's Ollie Jones and nothing but the stopwatch as the New Zealand Speed Skating Road, Track and Marathon Championships concluded with Jones' lightning run around the Cemetery Circuit yesterday morning.
The 42km marathon for the senior men, consisting of 26 laps around Heads Rd, Taupo Quay, and Wilsonand Ridgway streets, seemed unlikely to yield a new national record as the 1hr 13m 10.95s mark had been previously set by former world champion Peter Michael on a much more benign surface.
However, even with the gut-busting hill-climb up Ridgway St to be overcome on 26 occasions, Jones was in a class of his own, lapping the entire field of the men's and ladies racers, most of them 2-3 times, to set an unofficial new mark around 1hr 10m 59s.
To put this in perspective, men's runner-up Antony Nalder, a late entry from the Valley Inline club, was the only one to go after Jones from the lead group of about six in the middle stages of the race, and he would hold on until three laps to go, when Jones finally ran him down as the last competitor to be put a lap behind.
On one lap, which the Wanganui Chronicle timed at the Taupo Quay turn on to Wilson St, Jones was taking a slower lap, conserving energy, and was still 7s quicker than Nalder who was pushing it.
The race stewards had to turn the board around after Jones took the bell for his final lap so as not to confuse the other racers, such as Timaru's Dale Christoffersen and Whanganui's Andrew Jones, who stayed together to work in the battle for third and fourth, and still had three laps to go at that point.
Both Christoffersen and Andrew Jones are sprinters by specialisation, so the key question as they strolled past the Heads Rd finish line for lap after lap was at what stage one of them would finally make the dash for the podium.
It was the South Canterbury competitor who got the run on the final downhill surge, with Jones chasing in vain but his face showing he knew the decisive moment had gone.
Early on, Ollie Jones had been happy to sit with the lead group that included Nalder, Christoffersen, Andrew Jones and the other Canterbury competitor, Mark MacDonald, who really pushed the pace and tried to get a lead by a few lengths.
In the warm, muggy conditions MacDonald would break down with a pulled groin, which he tried to gut through before returning dejectedly to Heads Rd and taking a seat.
By then, the group was well broken up with Ollie Jones passing everyone, Nalder working away in his own world, and Christoffersen and Andrew Jones stuck together like glue.
Photo Gallery
Image 1 of 17: Winner of the mens was No.24 Ollie Jones seen here in the lead.
After crossing the finish line, Ollie Jones would use his warm-down lap to join Nalder again and encourage him to keep going, while they both watched the final dash for third and fourth.
The Cantabrian was pleased to be told that whatever his official finishing time was, he had smashed Michael's old mark by at least two minutes.
"Very happy, it's a hard course to get records on with the hill.
"It's a good course, it suits a big guy like me.
"We don't get to do a lot of that in New Zealand."
While he didn't set out to lap the whole field, Jones said racing different people and groups at various stages was a good way to "stay concentrated".
"It brings the next person in. You set little goals."
He was also pleased his shins, injured from the recent world championships, had held up for the entire week of events at Kowhai Park, Jubilee Stadium and the marathon.
The senior races were ultimately perfectly timed with the weather, as the junior races that morning had to negotiate a very wet road from the overnight rainfall.
The track had dried by the time the men's and women's races started, the latter taking off 30s after the former, and right when the leading women crossed the finish line in just under 90 minutes, the heavy rain returned.
