July 15th. Wellington X-C Champs – what a great turnout by our club, FANTASTIC KAPITI.   We really showed Wellington the strength of our club and to boot we had one gold medal, three silvers, four bronze and a couple of close fourth placings.  On top of that we had 1 Junior and 3 masters selected to run for Wellington in the National X-C Champs at Stratford

 But wait there’s more…  We also won three teams events and came second in two others.

 The course was challenging but could have done with a bit more mud perhaps.

Full Results are listed but runs of note were:

  In the Boys 9 event Sam Selby- Bennett won the silver medal while in the girls 9 event Melissa Robinson picked up a bronze.  Melissa was closely followed by Tabitha Raley who came in fourth.

 In the Boys 11 grade Ben James also won a silver medal while Kieran Bryant finished closely behind to win a bronze medal.

 In the Boys 13 Tim Stewart won the Bronze medal.

 In the Girls 13 Kate Forster got GOLD!!!!   Way to go Kate.  Katie James finished fourth by a nose and Erin McCauley sixth.

 In the Mens 19 grade Hamish Carson ran well for a bronze medal.

 And in the Masters Men Paul Forster picked up a silver.

 Those selected to represent Wellington are Paul Forster, Greg Fraine, Alan McCauley and Hamish Carson.

 Teams results were;

 First Girls 9:               Melissa Robinson, Tabitha Raley, Lucy White, Sarah Twyford

First Girls 11:               Alice Forster, Holly White, Monique Robinson, Alicia White

First Girls 13:              Kate Forster, Katie James, Erin McCauley, Kate Selby-Bennett

Second Boys 13:         Tim Stewart, Corey Kellogg, Keegan McCauley, Ruaan Van Den Berg

Second Master Men: Paul Forster, Greg Fraine, Alan McCauley, Maurice Piper      

 Many thanks also to all those who helped out during the day to make this event successful – without your help it would never have happened.  These included Peter Ellis, Tony Fraei, Brian Stewart, Murray Ashley, The McCauley Family, The James Family, The Hurlihy Family, Maurice Piper, Roger and Ann Bould, and Michelle Laurenson.  Cheers Guys – great work.

More News

Congratulations to Gary Donnison who escaped the Winter for a few weeks and completed the Gold Coast Half marathon in a time of 1 hr 31 mins.  Petra ran the 10km event in 56 minutes.

July 22nd What a great Saturday afternoon we had  - finally some warmer weather and sunshine, and to boot we had a great turnout for the beach relays at Waikanae Beach. Held this year on the beach itself I think everyone had fun in the sun which was the name of the game after having had some hard racing over the last few weeks. 

 July 23rd Wellington Masters Road Champs (held in Johnsonville) – congratulations to Maurice Piper who finished first in his age group and John Hammond who came in second in his age group.  Way to go Guys!!!!

July 23rd. Evelyn Williamson finished 1st in the ITU Jinzhou Asian Cup Triathlon in China.  This is part of the elite pro series in which Eve competes against the best in the world so this is a huge win.   Awesome performance Eve!!

July 28th. Ann Bould finished second in the World Duathlon Champs in Canada in her age grade.  Peter Ellis finished fifth in his race.  Another couple of awesome results!!!!    Also of interest - regular competitors in our Duathlon series, Gene McNaught and John Woods, both finished second in their races at the same event.

 July 28th. Alan McCauley was appointed to the Board of Directors of Athletics New Zealand.   With Peter Ellis’s reappointment to the Board of TRINZ and now Alan's appointment to the ANZ Board our club is now in a great position to directly influence the strategic direction of both the sports in which we participate  - Athletics and Multisports.  Not bad for a small club on the Kapiti Coast.

July 29th. Titahi Bay Round the Masts – we had a great turnout for all of the races.   Winner of the Kapiti Harriers' Onepoto Cup this year was Steve Brady who came across the line ahead of everyone (including the Scottish Runners) as did Melissa Robinson in the Juniors event.  Full results are listed.( Courtesy of Scottish Harriers)

 August 5th.The National Cross Country Champs were held at the Stratford race course.  The day was cold and overcast and the track heavy (and got even heavier as the day wore on) but it was relatively flat (although this was a disadvantage to our own club runners who like a bit of hill).  We had some impressive results on the day, with the standout run being Tim Stewart for Gold – he really looked strong and unbeatable on the day.  Results are:

Girls Under 12      Katie James picked up a bronze medal.
Boys Under 12     Ben James came fourth and Ben Stewart came in sixth.
Girls Under 14      Erin McCauley picked up a bronze.
Boys Under 14     Tim Stewart ran an awesome race for the GOLD Medal !!!!!.   Keegan McCauley came fifth.
Masters Men 40 – 44     Greg Fraine came in 10^th against some stiff opposition.
Masters Men 45 – 49     Alan McCauley came in 7^th, a couple of places behind Greg.
The club run at Bryn and Bronwyns also went off well with sweltering temperatures – Alan  was most envious when he heard that given the freezing temperatures in Taranaki.

 Well Done Kapiti.

 August 5th/6th. Hot off the press is a report from Ace reporter Roger Bould on the World Duathlon Champs held at Corner Brook in Newfoundland.

“Kapiti athletes Peter Ellis and Ann  Bould competed in the World Duathlon Championships at Corner Brook in Newfoundland and in appalling weather they ran 10 kilometres on a hilly, uneven course, cycled 40 kilometres on slippery tar-sealed roads dotted with ruts, potholes and steel manhole covers, then ran another 5 kilometres before running up-hill to the finish.

Despite the hills and the weather, both completed the course in very fast times. Peter finished fourth out of 13 in the very competitive 65 - 69 age group (won by another Kiwi, Wellingtonian John Wood, after the first person in was disqualified).

Ann finished second in the 60 - 64 age group, her silver medal going with the bronze she won in Australia last year.

A team of 28 New Zealanders competed in the age-group races on Saturday and in the Junior and elite races on Sunday, winning a total of 3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze medals.

The feature of the Sunday races was the gold medal effort of Rebecca Spence, who led the junior women for the entire race, winning by more than two minutes.”

Also on Sunday 6 August Paul Binkhorst ran a fantastic race in the Taupo half marathon. It was a lousy day weatherwise - rained the whole time and a moderate wind to contend with. Pretty cool too!! Paul ran a great race and finished 35th overall but came 1st in M45 - 49 in a time of 1Hour 26 minutes. Congratulations Paul, Great Race - wish I could run that time.

August 12th. Bays Relay - Island Bay

This weekend we had a team in the Bays relays for the first time in a few seasons. The team was managed by Brian Stewart and included a mix of young and old with Craig Edwards, Roger Childs, Mick Finn, Tim Stewart and Keegan McCauley. The guys ran really well on what was quite a blustery course. The support crew of Peter Ellis and Brian Stewart took every opportunity to park on the side of the road and offer some real Kapiti encouragement to the runners (not sure if they did a Mexican wave though).

Times and distances were:

Tim Stewart 4.8km 18.03 minutes
Roger Childs 4.6km 20.42 minutes
Craig Edwards 4.8km 19.58 minutes (Craig had to run up the infamous Pass of Branda)
Keegan McCauley 3.9km 17.34 minutes
Mick Finn 4.0km 16.01 minutes (Mick really burned up the last leg)

Well done quys!

August 19th. Wellington Road Championships - Heretaunga

Strong northerlies and scattered showers did not stop some  great performances from our club members. (Splendid run guys)

Boys 9 Sam Selby Bennet was 4th

Girls 9 Melissa Robinson was 3rd, Sarah Twyford 11th and Ella Roberts 13th.

Boys 11 Ben James was 3rd

Girls 11 Monique Robinson was 3rd, Alicia White 5th, Alice Forster 8th and Holly White 9th.

Boys 13 Tim Stewart took "!st". Corey Kellog was 10th. Ben Stewart 13th and Keegan McCauley 14th.

Girls 13 Kate Forster took "1st", Katie James "2nd" with Erin McCauley 7th.

Mens U19 Michael Fraser was 8th and Graig Edwards 12th.

Vet Women 35+ Jos McDonald was 7th.

Senior Men Darren Blackhurst was was 26th.

Vet Men Alan McCauley was 6th, Paul Binkhorst 12th, Peter Ellis 46th, Roger Childs 52nd and Tony Frei 61st.

Well Done Kapiti, you make us proud.

Full Results (Courtesy of Scottish Harriers)

Until next time "stay fast and fit" and remember "when the going gets tough, the tough get going"