Congratulations to all the Hill City-University athletes that competed at the New Zealand Cross Country Challenge. The club had several athletes that claimed medals and had exceptional performances. Racing on Saturday provided similar conditions to the Otago champs from 3 weeks earlier.
Oli Chignell returned to the racing scene and impressively claimed the bronze medal in the Senior Mens event. This was a hotly contested race with a number of Hill City athletes performing well.
Becky Greene had another great run, claiming the Silver Medal. This is an improvement on 2019 where she finished third. The top three athletes of this race worked well together. Becky and the eventual race leader eventually split from third place, and entering the final lap the race could have gone either way.
Zara Geddes had another impressive run to finish second in the girls under 16 event. Zara finishes a standout cross country season, where she is rapidly stamping her authority across the running scene.
Phil Morris performed well to finish third in the master’s men 65-69 age group. This backs up several strong performances from Phil over the season.
Shireen Crumpton claimed the title for master’s Women 45-49 age group, and Georgina Pakeho took the bronze medal. Shireen proves once again how tough she is across all running events.
Barbra Patrick had a strong run to finish second in the 70-74 age group and Myrtle Rough finished first in the 75-79 age group. Both running well paced and strong runs. Very impressive stuff.
Shireen Crumpton Claiming the Gold Medal, Georgina Pakeho claiming the Bronze medal.Oli Chignel celebrating a successful return to racing. Finishing third and claiming the bronze medal.Becky Green finishing Second place and claiming the silver medal.
After indulging in a delicious REAL coffee, our group left the clubrooms and headed to the Botanical Gardens for an unofficial parkrun. Becky Greene set a blistering pace over the 5km course to show us the way. Lila and Sarah Rhodes enjoyed the less cluttered paths of the usual Saturday parkrun to set a great time also. Tim Dawbin and Dwayne Sheddan were looking forward to their breakfast back at the clubrooms so ran a respectable time so as not to miss out on the bacon and eggs. Lovely Luke Geddes was ably escorted around the course at Merrilee’s pace, now you can put your foot down in your first parkrun after lockdown Luke! Raewyn and Helen had lots to talk about and still managed to make it home with plenty more to discuss, that’s the real reason we run isn’t it?
Breakfast was amazing, thank you so much to Ollie and Amanda, and the entire O’Sullivan clan for catering to our every need. It was a big hit! Bruce Cowan reported having 3 breakfasts, I don’t think he was joking either.
Looking forward to the next club run, I think we certainly have a winner with the morning club run addition (Merrilee Williams).
Track group:
The track group had a steady warm up, with a couple laps around Logan Park. Oli Chignel and Simon Cromarty cruised some laps of the Caledonian and supported the runners in the track session.
Leia Silby, Georgy Pakeho, Aly Craigie, Phil Morris, Elliot O’Sullivan, Ollie O’Sullivan completed the session of 1200m at 5km pace, 600m at 3km pace, 400m at 1500m pace, and 300m at 800m pace. Was a really fun group session and certainly opened everyone’s lungs up.
This was the first track session for some, and the first in a long time for others. Really nice to complete a different sort of group session (Ollie O’Sullivan).
Time trial group:
Jared Monk led the time trial group with Josh Hou and Finn Molloy. They clipped out a really quick 5km at roughly 3:20km pace. They traveled over the start of the soon to be announced Otago 10km course.
On Sunday Hill City-University athletes competed at the Otago Cross Country Champs, at the Chisolm Park Golf Course. Conditions under foot were perfect. The course was exceptional and was run on an undulating, challenging, and fast course. The biggest challenge of the day was contesting the southerly wind, followed by the undulations making it difficult to find a rhythm at times. ODT article can be found below:
This year the Otago Champs was incorporated with the Secondary Schools Otago Champs. It made for a great event. Numbers were the strongest we have seen for years, and it was amazing to see so many spectators enjoying the event. Something we would love to see continue.
Running the Otago Champs on this course has provided the perfect trial before the National Cross Country Champs to be held in 3 weeks on the same course. Let’s hope the weather will be as nice as yesterday.
Hill City-University athletes had a very successful day, congratulations to all Hill City-University runners, and the place getters, of which we had a large number.
Please see the Hill City-University results below. A full set of results can be found at:
The HCU scenic pack run 1 August 2020 traversed some small hills in North Dunedin for about an hour before returning to the club rooms. All runners enjoyed a relaxed pace including Murtle, Merrilee Barbara (and dog), David and Tom.
Walking Pack
The walking pack had a flat walk from the clubrooms along ANZAC Ave to the railway station, along the deserted platform and over the footbridge and along to the harbour basin where we looked at the new albatross sculpture and the Neptune Memorial. We then walked round the basin and along Fryatt St then through the walkway to the Boat Harbour and viewed another sculpture, Kuri/Dog, before returning to the clubrooms via Butts Rd. Some members of the group expressed concern that we were 5 minutes late for afternoon tea but they need not have worried, there was plenty left for us.
First home was Phil Morris in a time of 29:34. Phil dedicated his win to his nephew that recently passed away (Flynn Morris-Clarke). Flynn was a very successful athlete during his time competing for Hill City-University and is one of the most talented distance athletes to come through the club. It was great to see Phil draw inspiration from Flynn, with a great performance in taking the title. Third home with a strong run was Simon Rhodes. Fastest time went to Logan Slee in 17:20, and Second fastest time went to Russell Green in 17:40.
Open Women (3.75km):
Zara Geddes was first home in 21.41 and recorded fastest time. This is a seriously impressive performance and backs up a great run at the South Island Cross Country (Kennet Cup) champs, where she took the under 16 women’s south island cross country title.
Men under 18 (2.5km):
Jake Owen ran second fastest time in 9.01
Women under 18 (2.5km):
Anya Rhodes ran second fastest time in 11:08.
Boys under 14:
Third place home was Alex Walker in 5:38. Fastest time went to Lachlan Crumpton in 5:24, Archie Rhodes recorded the second fastest time in 5:32.
It was great to be back at the Tomohawk Domain Hall on Saturday for the Annual TK cowan Race. This is such a challenging and fun race, and we were really lucky with the weather again. This course has it all. Steep hills, Gravel, grass, sand, and road. The perfect setting to run your legs off.
We had 28 people compete across the races, and it was really nice to see other clubs (Leith and Ariki) athletes join in on the event. Listening to Bruce Cowan (the son of TK Cowan) talking about the history of the event was particularly interesting. The event was initially created to be as difficult as possible by the Prespeterian Harrier Club, and they invited Dunlaider and the Mornington Harrier clubs to join in on the event. Eventually the 3 Clubs all merged to become Hill City. The Next club merger was with the University club, and now this forms the amalgamation of the 4 clubs. This is how we became Hill City-University. It’s really nice to see that the events culture is still strong in bringing people together from different Dunedin clubs. This year a closed car park allowed us to make the course even more challenging, which was great for the people who like the punishment.
Rumor has it that Sarah Warner bribed her handicap (not really-just a good run) to allow her to run away to a 3 minute victory. However, since she is not Hill City-University affiliated it was Merrilee Cowan who claimed line honours and took home the trophy for this year. Such an awesome achievement for Merrilee, and I am sure it was made even more special since the race is named after her Grandfather, and her father (Bruce) was presenting her the winning trophy. Second women home was Barbara Patrick, who had a strong run. Third home was Anya Rhodes in her first time competing in the 8km, seriously impressive stuff. First Man home was the experienced TK Cowan performer Phil Morris, followed by Dwayne Sheddan with a good run, 3rd man went to Elliot O’Sullivan. Men’s fastest times went to Josh Hou, Elliot O’Sullivan, and Dwayne Sheddan. Women’s fastest times went to Shireen Crumpton, Sarah Rhodes, and Georgie Pakeho. Lachlan Crumpton takes home the colts trophy in the 5km event. A full set of results can be found at https://hillcity.org.nz/2020/07/18/tk-cowan-provisional-results/, well done to everyone that competed.
Thanks very much to all the volunteers that help with everything that goes into these events. There are always a large number of people that help, and I know that we are thankful to all the individuals who support the club through volunteering.
Merrilee and Bruce Cowan Celebrating the winStart Line as athletes perpare and warm upAfternoon tea and prize giving
Thanks to everyone for the awesome Saturday of competitive racing. The Facebook posted photos give a great impression of how spoilt we were with the weather. Big thanks to our Sponsors Shoe Clinic, Otago Dental Service, Archie the coffee caravan, and all the various officials that helped make the event another successful year. Can any members still to pay the $10 entry fee contact oliver.osullivan@gmail.com or bring the $10 to the TK Cowan race this weekend.
This Saturday, 18 July we have our annual TK Cowan race – from the Tomohawk Hall, 307 Tomohawk road: This is a great event, an 8km Handicap race over road, beach, and golf course. There are kids races of 3km and 5km also available. There is no requirement to be registered, so come along and we will make sure a handicap is allocated. Please arrive by 1:30pm and racing will start at 2pm, All clubs and runners are welcome. Please bring a plate for afternoon tea. We will fire up the oven and have savouries to warm us up after the event. We will also require 8 marshals’ to monitor road crossings. Please contact oliver.osullivan@gmail.com if you are available to assist or have any questions.
View Looking down Tomohawk Beach. Its a tough climb out of the Sand dunes and tests even the toughest runners.
Hill City–University 