Running: Harriers fly in cross country event

Wanganui Harriers Photo/File

Wanganui Harrier Club members picked up a number of victories and placings on their trip to South Taranaki to compete in the Hughes Memorial cross country event on Queen's Birthday weekend.

There were 39 club members who travelled to Hawera to compete in the various races, starting at 2km length for the Under-9s through to 8km for the senior men on Saturday afternoon.

Wanganui's best success was in the boys' grade of the Under-16s, as their members claimed the top six finishing placings.

Christian Conder continued his excellent form to win, while leading home Louis Hogan and Angus Dinwiddie.

Thomas Conder held fourth, while clubmates Heinrich von Stechow and Liam Jones had an amazing sprint finish that saw them awarded 5th equal.

The girls' Under-16 grade saw Brittney Matthews come second.

In the Under-9 boys, Alex Palazzo took the win in a close race that saw only eight seconds separating the top three runners.

Lindsay Johnstone was third with Dargen Wood sixth.

In the girls' section, Estelle Murray finished a close second and Morgan Wood was fourth.

Four Wanganui runners were in the Under-11 grade, with Jessica Johnstone and Tanysha-Rochelle Jones coming second and sixth in the girls' division, while Morgan Murray and Noah Heihei were second and fourth in the boys.

There was a competitive field in the Under-13s, where Ben Conder was second while Hamish Wood ran fourth.

The girls were represented by Rebecca Baker (4th), Sophie Dinwiddie (5th), Libby Abbott (6th), Sarah Matthews (8th) and Nicole Alexander (9th).

In the last of the junior grades, Briley Zimmerman finished fourth in a strong field.

The first starters were the walkers, who competed in estimated time competition as well as for placings.

Seven of the 20 competitors were from Wanganui, with Damien Wood the first local home in third, followed consecutively by Malcolm Hutchins, Mignon Stevenson, Peter Monrad, and Darol Pointon, while Margaret Stratford was 14th and Duncan McKenzie 20th.

Monrad was second in estimated time, finishing 18 seconds off his pre-race assessment.

In the senior runs, the women's competition was split into the Open grade and then age groups for Masters athletes with five-year groups.

Di Matthews continued her excellent run of form by winning the women's 45-year grade in 21 minutes, 16 seconds.

Wanganui's Paula Conder was third in the W35, while Stevenson backed up from the walk and came third in the W55.

The men were split in similar groupings and eight from Wanganui took part.

Two other walkers backed up and had solid placings - Damien Wood being second in M35 while Hutchins was fourth in M60. Wood was runner-up to Pete Murray.

Rob Conder kept the Conder family on the podium with third in the M40, while Neil Mayo won the M50 by more than two minutes with Peter Jones in 7th.