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For older miscellaneous results (before October 2007), check the links at the foot of this page

ANZ Cross Country Championships, Waikanae, 2 August 2008
Great racing and wonderful spectator support on an excellent course (pity about the weather): Rowan Baird (Auckland) and Ben Ruthe (Tauranga) took out the senior women's and men's titles respectively. A good day for Rowans, as Rowan Hooper, a former Scottish member like Ben Ruthe, was 2M. The Scottish presence is listed below with top 10 places noted. B12: Keegan McLeod, 7; Jonathan Beresford; G14: Ariana Harper, 2; B14: Daniel Withinshaw; Logan Beasley; Patrick Twiss; W16: Nicole Mitchell, 3; Olivia Johnson-Sullivan; M16: Hector Farmer, 8; Malcolm Hodge, 9; James Tie; Jeremy McLeod; Aaron Twiss; W19: Ariana Blackwood; M19: Ryan Woolley, 3; Brendon Blacklaws, 9; Jesse Patel; Corey Casey; Evan Cooper; Sam Ritchie; Ethan Lankshear; David Reynolds; W: Melissa Moon, 10; Charlotte Wood; Tina Harris; Lotty Turnidge; M: Glenn Hughes, 5; Rees Buck, 7; Dougal Thorburn; Julian Cook; Andrew McCarthy; W40: Robyn Stansfield, 6; W45: Christine Carleton, 5; W50: Michele Allison, 2; W55: Jenny Mason, 1; M40: Grant McLean, 3; Stuart Beresford; Glen Wallis; M45: Peter Wrigley; M55: Graeme Lear, 2; Richard Brent, 3. Results | Rowan's Photos | Photo: Ariana Harper by Rowan Grieg

Ben Christophers’s AST Süβen report, posted 1 August 2008 Less than a month to go. Since my last letter back home I have done two more races - a 10k town run here in Süβen and another bundislega race, in Greven which was just north of Münster. Other than training and racing I have also experienced a few German town street parties, Stadtfest, which have been very cool.

It’s now just over two weeks since I raced the Süβen 10k town run, stadtlauf. It was a flat and fast 5x 2k course.  Luckily the race started at 6pm rather than in the heat of the day - it was over 30c earlier in the day and I’m not the biggest fan of melting when I’m racing. I finished 3^rd which I was quite happy with. I didn’t do such a fast time that night, with a 34:00.69. but considering the trouble I have had with my hip the last few months and the relatively small amount of speed work, it was a successful pain free run!

At the prize-giving I ended up with a lovely bunch of flowers and a wonderful 5kg bronze trophy made here in the Strassacker Kunstgiesserei, Kiln. The people at the airport baggage check-in are going to love charging me, 10€ per kg for excess luggage! The Süβen Stadtlauf is part of the Süβen Stadtfest which runs for two days and two nights over a weekend. So when I was racing around the block, the streets were packed full of drunken German party-goers!  It was a lot of fun running past them.

After the race, a few of my team mates and I joined in the celebrations through the streets of Süβen. I was a good boy and didn’t drink that much as I have a responsibility to my team. It is quite tempting though, with beer stalls scattered all the way down the street. German beer tastes damn good!  Especially the Hefe Wiessen bier, it’s brewed only in the southern regions of German and I think the Austrians brew something similar. As well as the beer stalls there were food stalls run by either one of the local shops or community groups.  So there were Turkish, Mediterranean, Italian, African and German foods stands selling their countries’ traditional meals.  AST Süβen had a stall and so did other sports teams like the local football club. There are also little stalls selling candy, nick-knacks, sculptures and art work.

There are two events that are quite popular every year which have no relation to each other, except they both occur at the Stadtfest and they appeal to different audiences. One of the events is ‘The Duck Race’. One thousand rubber ducks are sent down the small stream through Süβen and its like any race, first past the line wins.  It’s a whole lot of fun. Some people take the extra care to paint their duck (I will remember that tip for next time!) just to make it easier to spot. It’s not easy trying to spot your duck/number out of all the 1000 small yellow rubber ducks!

The other event which is popular is the go-go girls at the petrol station!  The local motorcycle club sets up their stall at the petrol station and a stage for the rock band and go-go girls. It’s not everyday you see naked woman dirty-dancing a petrol pump.

The week after the 10k run I had my 2^nd Bundislega race in Greven. The drive was over 5 hours and that was averaging 140k/h on the autobahns. The race was sprint distance, 750/20/5, and it was all flat.  I was told before we left Süβen that the swim was going to tough, because the stream is narrow.

The race was fast and furious. This was my 1^st time racing in a stream or small river. I have trained in a river though because I sometimes do training sessions in the Hutt river near Trentham Memorial Park when I can’t be bothered driving all the way to Eastbourne for an open water session.

It was an interesting start because of the flowing stream and having to keep swimming backwards so we didn’t cross the start line too early. There was a lot of fighting in the water during the crowded 750m swim leg and unfortunately I got caught up in it and struggled to get good clear water and failed to get into a good rhythm. I wasn’t too far back though and got into a bunch of 12 on the bike. The group didn’t work all that well though and we were not gaining on the bunch in front. I saved my energy knowing it was going to come down to the run.

Sure enough the run was intense and went really well. There was a few of us who pushed each other really well and managed to catch up to a lot of runners from the bunch that were in front of us on the bike leg.

Because there are so many good athletes racing over here the difference between finishing in the top 10 or getting 40-50th^th is only about 1-2 minutes. Although I didn’t finish in the top 10, I personally had a great race, especially with my run. I’m slowly getting back my strength and speed.

Last weekend was my 1^st weekend with no racing for the whole time I have been in Germany, so I was able to get some quality training in. I also went to a few more stadtfest’s and summer beer garden parties. This time of year every town has their stadtfest so you can walk 3k down the road to the next town one weekend later and join in the festivities all over again. No wonder there are some massive beer guts over here. It’s easy to drink beer but when you see people like that, it makes it even easier not to do so!  If I want to be fit and fast, just don’t drink much.

This weekend I have got my last Bundislega race and my last race for AST Süβen. Then after that, three more weeks of training, a European cup race in Split, Croatia then home sweet home.

I think I will have to start psyching myself up now for the cold weather. I’m enjoying the 20c+ nights.

Tchüβ, Ben Christophers

Captain Cook's Landing, Queen Charlotte Track, 25k Trail Run, 19 July 2008 The annual pilgrimage from Ship Cove to Camp Bay along the Queen Charlotte Track took place on Saturday. Casting off were Garry Hale (3:23), Carrie White (2:44), Caitlin Ryan (3:27), Della Laird (3:45) and Belinda Buck (4:13). 

Race report from our women's captain, Belinda Buck: Della, Nicola (my sister-in-law) and I flew over to Picton on Friday afternoon. The views of Marlborough Sounds were stunning, showing a perfectly still and dry day. Unfortunately this changed in the wee hours of Saturday morning, when the rain came and stayed for the whole weekend. 

Wellington Cross Country & Road Running Committee, Athletics NZ Championships, posted on 16 July 2008 From Don Dalgliesh and Graham Tattersall - Centre Selectors: In previous years, when the teams for these champs were named, the managers had in place travel arrangements and accommodation details. Teams travelled together on group travel plans.  A few years ago, athletes started making their own travel arrangements, as they could get cheaper fares than the group travel fares.  Airlines also made group travel harder to use by making us put names on tickets and pay for them much earlier, so we reached the current arrangements of athletes making their own travel plans and the managers booking group accommodation.

If athletes wait until the naming of the teams (two weeks before the event) before booking travel, the cost of that travel is usually very expensive, and a disincentive for athletes to compete.

The selectors would like athletes, and coaches, to start taking an different approach to competing at National championships. We would like them to look at making their commitment to competing much earlier, and not wait until the team is named to make that decision. If the athlete thinks that they are capable of attaining the guidelines set for their grade, we would ask them to go ahead and book travel, while it is relatively cheap, and also lodge their entry with Athletics NZ.  Every now and then, this will result in the athlete having to compete as an individual, if they do not reach the required guideline at the Wellington champs, but it does provide them with a chance to prove to the selectors that their centre champs performance was a one-off bad performance.                    

The managers will give, as early as possible, the suggested means and timing of travel, and we would ask athletes to inform the managers of the details of their bookings, so that they can coordinate any local transport.

For the upcoming Road Nationals in Hamilton on Saturday, 6 September, there is already no seats available flying to Hamilton on the Friday, so we suggest that athletes look to fly in and out of Auckland. There will be transport to Hamilton, leaving after the arrival of the flight at 1pm on Friday and returning to Auckland in time for the 7pm flight on Saturday night. If there are athletes who will be travelling at other times, we will try to coordinate transport for them.

So, if you intend to compete, please advise Don Dalgliesh at 473-9414 or dondalgliesh@xtra.co.nz of your travel plans as soon as possible, so that Don can organise transport to Hamilton.

One month gone in Germany, one and a bit to go, Ben Christophers reports back, posted 17 July 2008 So this is report number 2, whatever you want to call it. I will keep things pretty general and talk about my training, Süßen - the town I’m living in, my team mates, and fill you in on how I have gone in a few races.

I’m about 60-70k south east of Stuttgart (the home of Mercedes Benz and Porsche). Süßen is a small town situated just under the Schwabish Albs (yep – that’s a ‘b’). The area offers awesome undulating roads to ride and great trails to run over and around the surrounding mountains. And with a 50m outdoor pool just 2k down the road in Salach, the next little town, it makes for a really cool place to train.

My accommodation in Süßen is fantastic. I’m staying at the guest house for the Strassacker Kunstgießerei in Süßen. It’s where sculptures and artists come and create bronze statues and other little works of wonder and masterpieces in bronze. Somehow my team managed to organise for me to stay here. The house is so good!

The days start off pretty good for me. Every morning there is a big table with a wide array of breads, heaps of cheeses (a few that really stink, I avoid those) different types of meat (some which don’t look too appealing), jams and nutella mmmmmmm nutella and an endless supply of doppio espresso coffee!. BBUUZZZZZZZZZ!! And that’s just breakfast! I haven’t even got out of the house.

Lunch is in a totally different ball park, it’s amazing. The guest house manager is a great chef and cooks most lunch times for me and the other guests. A different day, a different and brilliant meal. The 2^nd best steak I’ve ever had (1^st was at my aunty and uncle's in Vancouver but that’s another story though), salmon steaks, some cold Spanish soup, I’ve forgotten what its called but won't forget the taste - damn, it was good! Anyway I think you get the message that I’m not starving, I’m eating well and its tastes great.

Three times a week I have organised group training sessions, a track session and two swims, but most days I’m training with a few team mates whether its in the pool or on the road.  My team mates are really friendly and cool. They all speak English, some better than others. My German is slowly and I mean SLOWLY improving, one new word a day. And that includes people’s names. Haha.

Racing has gone quite well the last few weeks, other than my first race in Schliersee.  I have been on the podium the last two races I have done. So racing is going pretty well. Over here, it’s not like in New Zealand where a small local triathlon will have a small top-end field. There are a lot of really good triathletes over here and in any little race you will find quite a few strong competitors. There’s 83 million people living in Germany, so I guess there will be more top-end triathletes.

This weekend I’m racing in the Süßen 10k run. The team have put their money on me to win. Haha, No pressure.

I have two more bundesliga races for AST Süßen one in Greven, July 20 and the last race in Gelsenkirchen on the 2^nd of August. Then I leave Süßen and head back up to Stuttgart and stay with Katja’s family, one of my international student friends who stayed with us for 05-06. I will stay there for three weeks before leaving Germany and heading over to Split, Croatia for my last European summer race which is a ETU Cup race. And then I fly back home.

I might flick a quick little email next week and after Greven and tell you how it went.

Tchüß, Ben

Wainuiomata Mountain Run and Walk, 11.9k, Wainuiomata High School, 13 July 2008 The start of the 11.9k course is at the bottom of the Konini firebreak on Parkway extension and the finish is at Parkway Park. 9W (3?W35 in the AW champs for registered runners) was Loretta Desourdy; 2M Cameron Goldsmid; 4M (1M40 in AW champs) Hicham Joumad-Baron; Olivia Sullivan,1W19. Results  

Harry Kerr Centennial Relay, Sovereign Stadium, North Shore City, 13 July 2008, posted 14 July 2008  Race report from David Lonsdale. Some of you will know that today, 14 July, is the 100^th anniversary of New Zealand winning its first Olympic Medal, at the London Olympics in 1908.  And of course that medal was won by a walker, Harry Kerr of Taranaki.  Also in the race was Arthur (sometimes known as Albert) Rowland, who later on became the founding chairman of the Wellington Scottish Club.  On Sunday, 13 July, there was a relay race over 5 x 10,000m in North Shore City to celebrate that historic occasion. New Zealand has won 81 Olympic medals in total, 16 of them by athletes, and two by walkers. Norm Read of New Plymouth won the second walking medal, which of course was gold at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.

Athletics Wellington sent a team to compete, and here is part of my manager's report to the Centre.

The Centre Track Relay team performed up to our pre-race expectations in the Harry Kerr Centennial 5 x !0,000m Race Walking Track Relay.  We were fourth team in what was an absorbing race, at least for the minor places. Right through until the last leg places changed in the lower four teams.

Auckland A cleared out from the rest of the field on the first leg with Mike Parker, the race organiser walking 52m 36s for his 10,000m.  This gave Auckland an eight minute lead over Taranaki A, which it gradually extended to finish in 4h 24m 10 with Taranaki in 4h 46m 17s.  All five Auckland walkers’ times were in the top 10 fastest with Tony Sarginson walking 46m 40s for fastest of the day.

The other placings were Athletics Nelson, 3^rd in 5h 07m 10s, Athletics Wellington, 4^th in 5h 17m 16s, Auckland B, 5^th in 5h 19m 49s, Taranaki B 6^th in 5h 30m 34s, Waikato BOP Centre 7^th in 5h 38m 07s.

Our team members times were Alison Samson (WHAC) 1h 03m 29s, Richard Willis (Hutt HC) 1h 09m 00s plus 1m 40s additional time penalties for red cards = 1h10m 40s, Zach Sinclair (Carterton AC) 1h 02m00s, John Leonard (Scottish) 1h 7m 59s, Peter Baillie (Scottish) 53m 08s, which was the sixth fastest time of the day. There was a system of allocating time penalties to those walkers who received red cards.  Nearly half of the field received one or more red cards.

Alison and Zach both had good starts but encountered bad patches and slowed. They both showed real guts in keeping going and then speeding up to finish strongly not too far off their predicted times. Richard, John and Peter all walked within seconds of their expected times.

It was a well organised event by Race Walking Auckland. Apart from race-walking judges, they had ample helpers.  Peter Wrigley was the chief judge, and in the absence of appointed judges I had to judge for the relay. The first three teams received medals from Race Walking New Zealand , and also a replica medal of the one Harry Kerr won at the Olympics in London on 14 July 1908.  All members of the seven teams received a large certificate which was a copy of the diploma which was also awarded to Harry Kerr at the Olympics.

After the relay there was a judged race over 3,500m for anyone who had not been part of a relay team. About 20 of us lined up for this race over the same distance that Harry Kerr and Arthur Rowland competed in. Arthur Rowland finished fifth in the final and received a diploma of merit after the race.  At Auckland, all finishers who broke a standard time of 25 minutes received a copy of that diploma.  Our team time keeper and lap scorer, Hannah Minot (Scottish), finished in 24m 46s and I did 24m 16s.

The race is to become an annual event, but possibly at a different track and time of the year.  It is a great opportunity for race walkers to get together and face the challenge of 10,000m in front of judges

30th Gold Coast Airport Marathon, Half and 10k, 6 July 2008 In the half, Robert Palmer, 1:28; Maryanne Palmer, 1:49; John Palmer, 1:50.  In the full, Angela Campbell (photo), 4:21. Leading the marathon were Kazuo Ietani, 2:14 and NZ's Shireen Crumpton, 2:38. Top places in the half were Michael Shelley, 1:02 and Yoko Nishimi, 1:12:57, which was around Robbie Johnston's time. 

Race report from John Palmer: On the Saturday morning we woke to pouring rain and the forecast for the following few days was for rain and so it looked as if the 30th running of the Gold Coast Marathon was going to be a wet one. When picking up our race packs later in the morning, we noticed that there were long queues of people making late entries. At that time it was guaranteed that there were 18,000 plus entrants and this number was surpassed. On race day we woke to slightly overcast skies and no rain - the day turned out to be great and the conditions were perfect for running during the half but may have got quite warm for those finishing the marathon.

They announced that over all the events there were 21,000 entrants with 7,000 entered in the half marathon. Reading the paper the next day. We noted the event finally totaled 21,001 entrants over all the races (full marathon; half marathon; 10k; 7.5k walk and the kids' dash) and of these 18,847 finished. The Japanese seemed to flock back to the event in ever increasing numbers much to the organizers' delight and there were 1,839 Japanese runners in the marathon alone.

The organizers had planned for 18,000 entrants based on a 30% increase over the past couple of years but were overwhelmed by the final numbers. The downside to these large numbers is that the marathon committee are looking at "pressure points" and will determine whether changes need to be made to the program in the following years. One option that they will consider is cutting back to just two races as they are anticipating that the growth in numbers will reach 25,000 over the next couple of years. This will be sad if they have to cut back as the event now caters for families to participate as a whole by running in the different events offered depending on fitness and ability. We will have to wait and see what they decide on this.

Our son, Robert, after injuring his knee in February and only commencing running on 1 June and having had only six training runs under his belt (cycling and swimming the only other training) managed to run with Australian marathon running legend Pat Carroll, who was the 1:30 pace runner and finished in a PB 1:28 for 229th place out of 6,848 finishers and 44th in the M30-34 grade. He suffered the next day though and is looking forward to the next half where he thinks that he can go even better with more training.  Maryanne had a good steady run and was really stoked to break the 1:50 (a CPB*) as she set out to do and managed to finish 6th place in the F55-59 grade.  In the marathon Angela Campbell was the only person we recognized from Scottish and we managed to offer her encouragement at the 26k mark and again later when she was 3k from the finish.  There were 3,935 finishers in the full marathon.

We don't know if there were any other Scottish participants as we didn't recognize any familiar faces or Scottish uniforms. This event is a well organized event with great crowd support and here's hoping that the Palmer bodies hold out so we can come back again next year for the 31st running of this event on Sunday, 5 July.  *CPB - Century PB!   Results

Ben Touches Base - Vancouver World Champs and Beyond, from Ben Christophers  A late report but better than no report. I have finally installed, reinstalled, repaired and activated Microsoft Office XP. I can now attempt to write a report about how my Northern Hemisphere Triathlon Campaign – how it has gone and where it is heading. 

May 19, I left Wellington to head to Vancouver for the World Triathlon Championships on the 7^th of June. Fortunately I have an aunty and uncle who live in Vancouver so I thought I would get over there a few weeks earlier to acclimatise and get used to surroundings of Vancouver as well as catching up with my relatives. Tony Dodds, another NZ Un23 triathlete came over with me, so I had a training buddy for the World Tri Champs build up.

Winter hung around a long time in Vancouver. I was expecting it to be warm and sunny. I was wrong. There were a few days of sunshine and warmth but the majority of the time it was just like home sometimes. Rather crap! So I was used to it and it didn’t faze me. We had to take a few precautions while training in Vancouver. Its summer time so the bears are out looking for food wherever they can find it. So if they don’t find lunch in the forest they will happily wander into the neighbourhood searching for food. Luckily no bears ended up in my aunty and uncles backyard like they did the year before, eating cherries off the tree and leaving piles of beer poo filled with cherry stones! The supermarket down the road was raided in the past!  

Cycling up Cypress Mountain, Tony and I did encounter a few bears. Good for the hill climbing!

Unfortunately one night, a skunk decided to make itself at home in the backyard… the stench is so potent I don’t know how they live with themselves. Anyway, enough about the wildlife, although it was great to see the wildlife, I had one goal in mind. World Tri Champs.

My build-up back in New Zealand had not gone 100%, I came over to Vancouver with a hip injury and I was quite nervous about how I would cope. Luckily I was I able to train relatively pain free with regular massage, stretching and physiotherapy exercises.

After having two great weeks staying with my relatives we moved into our team accommodation a few days before World Tri Champs. I was going to miss the divine home cooked meals and copious amounts of grapes and mangoes everyday.

The last few days before the race is more a mental game than anything, I was never going to get any faster in the last week. So training consisted of familiarising myself with the course and the conditions. The weather was quite cold and the water was a jaw numbing 12.8c.

The U19 and sprint distance races (750m swim/20k bike/5km run) were on the Thursday and Friday before my race on Saturday. Although they were racing a different distance to me the weather condition were predicted to be similar, Damn Cold!

A lot of people suffered from numbness and were unable to change gears on there bike - some even suffered from hypothermia. These conditions weren’t too far off what I have experienced during a Scorching Bay Triathlon. Most NZers south of the Bombay Hills, would feel at home.

Race Day As I got down to the race venue I realised there was a bit of chop in the water. Perfect for me it should slow the fast swimmers down, although the water was recorded at 11.8c that morning. Ouch!! 

After setting up my gear in the transition area ready to race, I find that our start time had been postponed by an hour due to the so called ‘rough’ water conditions. So everyone piled into the nearest coffee shop to get their pre-race caffeine fix.

There were lifeguard boats being swamped with water and if there are no life guards in the water there is no swim. So, after the coffee stop we were the told our swim had been cancelled and would be replaced with a 3km run.

There were mixed emotions at the start line. The good swimmers were fuming and the good runners were stoked. A mix n’ match duathlon. (3km run/40km bike/10km run) Me?  Well, I came here to do an Olympic distance triathlon so I was annoyed, but you have to be ready to adapt and change to the conditions. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know how my hip would hold out, but I wasn’t going to hold back because of it.

The Race The gun went, it was a fast and furious 3km, I managed to get up the front and just settle in before we were back into transition for the bike leg.

I had a quick transition which was great so I had space around and got settled into a good rhythm, with the way the bike course was (4x 10km loop) it was nearly impossible to not draft (get into the slipstream of another rider), and when the draft buster is closing up the only gap to get out of the draft, it turned into a yelling match between the official on the scooter and about 15-20 athletes. A few people got pulled up for drafting.  I was a good boy and didn’t get caught.

After a few laps, the bunch spread out. The cycle went well for me and I managed to pick off athletes one by one.

After another quick transition, this time from bike to run, I quickly found a good pace and charged along. Five km into the run I could start to feel my hip. I wasn’t able to get as much drive off my left leg, so my pace slowed down slightly, but no one passed me and I was still passing others.

I came across the finish line in 6^th place.

Post race analysis Before the race, my goal was top seven with the way my hip was. I achieved my goal, 6^th place at the 2008 World Triathlon Championship, 20-24 age-group. If I had have been fully fit, the outcome might have been even more favourable – I cannot complain.

The rest of my time in Vancouver was spent recovering from the race, supporting other NZ athletes in their races, celebrating and recovering from the celebrations.

I really valued the extra 2 weeks I had acclimatising to the conditions prior to the race and considering the condition my hip was in, it was a successful start to my northern hemisphere triathlon campaign.

I have already spent nearly 3 weeks in Germany and have had my first couple of races here for AST Sussen triathlon team, but I will tell you all about it in my next report, which will probably be after my next couple of races.

Thuess………… (German for Catch you later)  

Ben Christophers

Scorching Duathlons, Scorching Bay, 8 June 2008 Bitterly cold but brighter and dryer than expected: snow was evident on the hills to the west. For names linked to Scottish, look in the medium course results: John Atkinson (1st), Rob Hanratty (3rd), and Emily Buskirk. Aimee Cornish was in the short event. Results 

Wellington Area Walkers 10k and 6 k races, NZIC, 7 June 2008 Twenty eight walkers started, and Peter Baillie who was still getting changed followed three minutes later. Glen Burrell showed many of our local walkers what real speed is. Peter Baillie set off after the field and went right through to finish second to Glen. Lower down there were a lot of interesting tussles in the 10k race, and plenty of changes of position right until the last lap. Andrew Shelley took things easy after doing the Aurora 50k race the previous weekend and easily won the 6k race. Results