Southland Harriers eNewsletter

2026 ASB NZ 10Km Championships New Plymouth

Thanks Dwight Grieve for the Race Report

New Plymouth was always going to be a tough place to travel too from Southland for a race, and then a storm hit with flooding……………….. still the planes got away and 3 Southlanders made the trip for the champs around Lake Rotomanu on the outskirts of the town. Neville Britton(60-64) was continuing his comeback into running as well as still coaching, having one of his fast athletes in James Webber (Under 20) competing also made the trip worth it. I set the goal of trying to take 3 age group (45-49) titles for the year and after getting the Mountain Running and Cross Country titles, I needed the Road one to achieve this.

The rain hit hard overnight but cleared up on dawn and a medium breeze with about 15 degree heat greeted us at the course, whew that’s hot compared to what we have had the last few months 😊

The out and back course was very flat but the moderate breeze hit for a quarter of the course and we had 12 speed bumps to tackle each 2.5km lap. In general, not a bad course but maybe not a perfect day for a pb.

The Masters race was before the big one of the seniors and under 20’s, but I shall come back to the masters race because the highlight of the trip was the main event. James Webber got to race his under 20 race with the senior men, might seem daunting but in reality a great experience to not only take on your age group but learn against the countries best. James run an amazing race, he found a senior runner to tuck in with and he got dragged along to a stunning NZ Under 20 title, a low 32 minute 10km performance, it is something to be very proud of, an under 20 title is not an easy feat, and the fastest 10km time by a Southlander this year (that I know of). Well done James that was earned and something to be very proud of. I was that happy for him he even got the first ever “Queenstown” Moose call (those that know, will know what I am meaning)

Back to the pre-event where Neville and I started the race both feeling good and with high expectations, hmmmmmmm sometimes things just don’t pan out and even old people can learn lessons. Neville ran out feeling strong but then realised he may be going a bit fast, then he carried on a bit further, still thinking maybe a bit fast, then his heart rate confirmed his thoughts and he hit a wall……………………….. not feeling well he made the wise call to stop and pull out halfway, It was a good decision to take the lesson, halve the recovery and set a new goal. I also went out strong and simply had an off day, it just didn’t happen for me and my heart rate also was a bit high, I still managed to truck along and hold an acceptable pace, just not a pb pace trying to hold on to the 35 year olds, I do need to learn to act my age at times. Holding it together I opened the gap on my age group competitors and despite being a minute off goal time I had achieved my goal of the 3 titles in a year in just under 34 minutes, 4th overall in the masters. Something to be very proud of, but I have issues, I hate it when I don’t perform at a standard I have set myself, look out in the Dunedin Marathon in 2 weeks, I am after personal redemption.

Neville and I had travelled together leaving the wives behind for the weekend, a boys trip, something I hadn’t done for a while, it was great fun, even with all the old man burping, snoring and farting between the 2 of us. We caught up with all the other running mates from around the country with tales from all the other events we have raced against them over the years. We also managed a couple of flips and manu’s into the hotel swimming pool post race with a couple of Wellington runners, well one of us did flips and manu’s, the other is a chicken. Thanks for twisting my arm and making sure I went Neville.

While there we made sure we twisted some arms of others as well, with Southland hosting the Road Champs next year………………………………… we made sure others knew to come down for some Southern hospitality. Roll on next year.