Harries: Race against time for old and young competitors

Wanganui Harriers Photo/File

The Wanganui Harrier Club held their Cross Country Estimated Time Race at the Bason Reserve on Saturday afternoon.

Around 38 club members took part in the run, with distances varying from 1km for the Under-9s up to 8.5km for the senior male athletes.

The runners and walkers were asked to estimate their finishing time before the start of racing, then have all their watches and timing devices removed.

Spokesman Bill Charnock said there was some excellent racing over the mildly demanding courses.

The junior and senior competitors had to deal with the same shaded hill climb and all showed varying levels of enthusiasm towards the ascent.

There was hot competition for first lap honours between the senior men and Under-18 grades, with Rob Conder holding off a strong challenge from U18 runners Christian Conder and Louis Hogan.

However, the overall objective in this club event is to get as close to your estimated time as possible.

Top 10 places were spread over most of the divisions, with Under-12 runner Joseph Hazelhurst taking top honours by finishing within a very respectable seven seconds of his estimation.

Second place went to Morgan Wood (Under-9) with a 19-second differential, while third was Pete Murray (mens run) with a 24 second differential.

Next weekend will see the club hold the Johnston Memorial races at 1.30pm on the Carter property on State Highway 3.

Results:

1. Joseph Hazelhurst (U12) 7 seconds; 2. Morgan Wood (U9) 19s; 3. Pete Murray (Mens Run) 24s; 4. Dargen Wood (U9) 29s; 5. Gai Marie Smart (Walk) 36s; 6. Estelle Murray (U9) 37s; 7. Christian Conder (U18) 38s; 8. Louis Hogan (U18) 44s; 9. Tanysha Rochelle Jones (U12) 44s; 10. Mignon Stevenson (Walk) 55s.