Aug 18 th Update.

Just a review of the Canty Road Champs , misc news and random thoughts .

First just a few more bits arising from the just -finished London games.

Olympic marathon courses seldom generate world records (London was definitely not considered 'fast' )  but such is the standard of modern running that a 2.09 was only good enough to earn the bronze medal this year . And as someone observed he wasn't even the first Kiprotich across the line .

Can I say a word about Nick Willis's disappointment in the 1500m. When will the organisers learn : dont ask this guy to be flag bearer and general dignitary for the team - it takes too much out of him. Middle distance runners would be classed as scrawny by any normal definition ; they dont have a lot of spare calories floating around in their bloodstream and Nick would have enough work lifting a cellphone to his ear let alone waving a heavy flag for 2 hours. Likewise the attendant ceremonial stuff which he hasn't trained to do must have taxed him mentally . It's to his credit that he accepted the role and discharged it well -  but was it worth a gold medal ? He obviously had adrenal depletion in the final sprint .

It has been pointed out that Triathlon 10 kms are often just nominally so, and some doubt was cast on Alistair Brownlee's 29.07 time in the Olympic Mens race . Even the top Women were doing sub 33s. I have no solid information on the accuracy of the course, but remember Hamish Carter once running a 5 km on the track in 14.40 approx . Clearly, top triathletes are capable of these speeds.
ps -  a bit more research shows that Brownlee recently ran a certified road 10km event in ~29.30 so its unlikely he would go faster after a swim and bike .
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From the Junior newsletter....
" The University Club were wonderful hosts for the third teenage interclub group training run of the season (on Sunday 19 th Aug ).  They provided elite group leaders in multi-NZ Champions Rowan Hooper and Angie Smit along with a couple of other senior club members from their winning road relay teams of the past.  They provided a sumptuous banquet of fruit, muffins, sausages, chocolate milk and juice for afterwards.  It was just a shame that more of the clubs didn't come out in support and it would have been a smaller event if CHAV weren't there with about 90% of the teenaged runners."

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Hard to believe that CHCH Avon will miss the Timaru Relay for the second year running .Even with the race reduced to five laps we still couldn't muster the numbers.Not sure what explains this ... delayed earthquake shock, global recession, apathy ,deeja voo?

Governor's Bay 10 km Handicap is coming up on Sept 8 . We normally have a big entry in this race .Fill in your forms and submit before 27th .ENTRY form

National Road relay Champs (NRR) is in Nelson on October 6 . Our Juniors are so strong and numerous that they are entering two teams. It would be nice if the senior club could wheel out a team of some description . Realistically it will have to be a Vet Mens team :either
VM40 , VM 50 or VM 60 . My choice would be the VM50 option as that's where our strength and best chances lie.The only problem is getting eight runners to set aside a weekend to go .We have a pool of about fourteen to choose from (including Jane P !) but realistically we would need the following to commit :

latest news is John Gam and Jane are almost certain non - starters so the likelihood of a strong team is dissolving . AN average team is still possible but it hardly seems worth the effort . We will wait till all replies are in before a decision .

John Gam( unlikely now)
Richie M
Ants
John P(unreg)
Denis
Rodger )not sure yet )
Iain
Jane
Vic
Mike
Andrew Stark
Greg B

reserves : 

Jingles
Dave
Lutz

Chris
Gary

Blue = available
Purple= unavailable
Entry Form

Here is the status of others  who are available for any type of team if  there are sufficient numbers-
Robyn P, Anne K,
Greg B, Emily and Laura W,Andrew R/J , Matt D (in Jr team)

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Greymouth relay is on again (October 13) .How can I recommend this event enough? Iain and I go every year as an institution. Sure we're a couple of old running junkies, but it's a  great chance to visit the Coast ,stay at an expensive motel,have a civilised meal at the Speights Alehouse and run a hard race .Throw in a running battle with the Baxters or Robinsons and what more could be asked .
This year is the 60 th Anniversary so maybe a few of the Greymouth runners will come out of retirement. Extra whitebait prizes are promised and the post-race supper is legendary.
email me for entry form pdf .
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from our nutrition corner : 'Mahana Red' apples are so good .available from Countdown Northlands.
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A spectacular day out at Pegasus town on Saturday 18 August . Canterbury road titles were decided and CHCH Avon's club titles were as well . Weather was about as good as you could expect in mid August especially in the context of a hard winter and a lot of rain recently. A very light nor east breeze with cool air , but full sunshine during the races , made for almost perfect running weather . All the races were well represented and some top efforts were seen.
   The venue was the same as last year but the township's development is starting to impinge on our isolation now. Builders were busy near the race HQ and section clearing was going on around the roads we used.Next year it is unlikely we will be able to have the facility .
  Victor Gamperle was Race Manager and he organised a faultless event .There was a coffee van and snack tent . A great sound system with entertaining comperes and more classic LPs playing kept everyone humming.
  The first races were the 5 and 10 km walks .Once again our own Courteney Ruske dominated her 5 km .Courteney had been looking forward the day for some time and it showed in the determination with which she scorched around the loop course. Even without Daniel Lord to match her she still kept up a strong pace all the way to record 24 mins 27.
     Next up was the Mens 15-19 year olds who all went off at the same time but with the older runners doing 8 km from a different start line . The M15/16 s ran 6 km and our own Sean Eustace soon led the large field which comprised almost totally CHA and Christ College runners. Tannock Blair was right on his heels for a while , but eventually Cam Avery replaced him .
  In the 8km Matt Dryden led the field for several laps but was closely tracked by two very good runners who eventually slipped past him .Matt took third spot in a great 26 mins 20 secs (this would equate to a sub 34 min 10 km time )

The Vet Womens race and all the Junior Women ran 5 kms together in the next race .All eyes were on Jane and Robyn in the vets and Natalie Dryden (14/15 ) . Jane went ok for a while but was still struggling from her stomach flu and lost her first placing into the finish.  Robyn ran a solid race for 4th in 21.12 . Natalie took full advantage of a slightly depleted field and was right up in the chasing bunch  behind prodigy Rosa Flanagan (who won easily in a basic TT)  . She was smiling on the podium when the bronze medal was awarded. Two other finishers were Sam Neighbours and Emma Pairman with Emma looking to be going quite strongly .

In the younger kids races I only saw Angus Bailey fairly easy winner of his race with what looked like a  Mo Farrah head routine as he crossed the line .A nice Olympic reference. Chris Dryden also had a strong race narrowly missing a bronze.

At 2.50 pm the huge combined Open and Vets fields went off together over 10 kms . There were only about eleven Open Women in the field and of course UNI's Fiona Crombie was an early leader , but it was great to see CHA's Laura Wood contesting her first 10 km champs and looking seriously prepared. She was up with some reasonably good male vet runners and narrowly missed getting third Open place, but might have taken the new U22 title .
   Considering the race was our Club Champs there weren't many Open or Vet men there . Nick, Alex ,Greg W and Perrin were absent which , we think, leaves the Senior title eligible to be taken by the fastest veteran (who was Andrew Reese- Jones in 34.54 ) . Andrew deserves to win it after his run today - he was at his best and would probably have given Nick a good go.
     Our other vets were Richard Seigne who arrived late and was never up with ARJ as he would have been, but still ran 35 mins . Anthony looked to be getting back to form with a 37.20 (4th V/50 ) . Denis , Chris and Gary completed the distance . Rodger  (1st M55 ) and Iain (3rd M60 ) had strong runs -Iain just dipped under 42 mins with Rodger about a minute ahead . Dave T looked to be paying the price of his fast run at Riverside -an achilles problem. Festina lente .
   The race was won by Sam Wreford (30.16 ) . Sam might have dipped under 30 if the course had been more friendly - the frequent turns and human traffic must have been worth several seconds . The standout run would have been Carsten Joergensen who was fourth overall as a veteran, and put a fair gap on in-form Richard Bennett .

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Iain has been trainspotting some recent races and has noticed something inspiring (Iain writes) :

" Keep trying for the team

We know that the Club of the Year (COTY) is based on team results at many events. How are team results decided? By allocating 1 point to the first, 2 to the second etc for (usually) the first four in a grade. But you knew that already.

This means that the effort of the fourth runner and possibly others further back is really important. Analysis of recent results has shown two examples of this in the over 50 grade.

At the Kennett Cup, CHAV and Port Hills were equal on points for their first 4 runners but we were first because our 4th runner was ahead of their 4th man. More importantly, our 5th runner, Mike, was a few seconds in front of Port Hills' 4th runner, Phil Chapman. Had Mike been passed by Phil or even pulled out of the race (not something we would expect Mike to do), Port Hills would have beaten us on points.

 Similarly,at the recent Road Champs, we beat Port Hills by one point. In the final 100 metres, Iain outsprinted a Port Hills runner and finished 1 second in front of him. They both counted for their teams and so, had Iain been a second behind, we would have been beaten as a team.

  Another case was at the NZ XC Champs in Hamilton where Natalie Dryden was probably instrumental in the Canterbury U16 girls taking a bronze team medal by pushing them up the field. 

    There are surely plenty of examples like this in other grades, so remember that while it certainly helps to have a Sean Eustace or Anthony Rogal in your team, the lesser runners are also important. Keep trying right to the end! " 

Having read this it seems pertinent to display the results of COTY calculations from yesterday's Road Champs. Vic and Sandie write : 

" The Road Champs were held at Pegasus in fine and warm conditions with a large number of runners turning out to compete.

There were two grades where no club managed to get a 4 person team to finish and four grades with only one team finishing.

There were numerous teams with only three members so there were some placings going begging. Hopefully next year there may be a few more runners to help complete teams.

The Club of the Year competition results from the Road Champs were

         1^st – Christchurch Avon

          2^nd – Papanui Toc-H

          3^rd – Sumer

The combined results after eight events are

          1^st – Christchurch Avon on 154 points

          2^nd– Sumner on 124 points

3^rd – Papanui Toc-H on 120 points.

The next and final race in the Club of the Year competition is the Takahe to Akaroa Relay on 22nd September – see you there.

 Cheers

 Sandie and Victor"

From my point of view this certainly takes a bit of pressure off having to field a lot teams for Takahe/Akaroa in September.The current state of the Senior club certainly doesn't lend itself to that scenario !