Otago 10,000 Metre Championships, 28th February 2004
Caledonian Ground, Logan Park Drive, Dunedin
The weather wasn’t flash but the Leith athletes were as Leith dominated this race by filling the first three places. Steve O’Callaghan signalled his intentions from the outset by taking the lead from David Rush who tried to stay within striking distance but eventually had to watch Steve gradually increase the gap between them.
Neale McLannachan was in third position and looked to be gaining on David and despite a strong finish had to be content to finish in that position with a PB of 33:22.32. David finished second in 33:11.44 while Steve won comfortably by breaking his previous best by 58 seconds with an excellent time of 31:40.67 despite having to run wide on occasions due to excessive pools of water on the inside track.
Richard Hendry won the master’s men grade to finish 6th overall with a time of 35:37.36. Alison Bradshaw signalling that she will be a force to be reckoned with on the track came second in the W20-34 grade in 39:54.29. Steven Skilling on the come back trail was the fifth senior man to finish while Robin Stephen on a weekend visit to Dunedin finished in a creditable time of 44:01.06 in the master’s men grade
Otago Championships Weekend, 21/22 February 2004
Caledonian Ground, Logan Park Drive, Dunedin
Sandra Dingwall got Leith underway by finishing fourth in the master’s women 100m sprint in 17:15. Kirsty Morris (4th) attained a PB in the W17-19 800m race of 2:33.39 while Julia Scoones showed she has pace aplenty by finishing second in a fast time of 2:24.15 in the W20-34 grade. Jan Brosnahan who was coming off an injury managed to finish in 4th position in the MW 800m.
Emily Scoones was third in the W15-16 1500m in 5:29.68 with Laura Scoones (4th) and Rachel Sloan (5th).
Kirsty Morris won the W17-19 1500 m race in a PB of 5:07.78. The W20-34 1500m was an all Leith affair with Julia Scoones winning in 4:46.63 from Alison Bradshaw (2nd), Emily Solsberg (3rd) and Meredith Molloy (4th). Jan Brosnahan finished fourth in the MW 1500m in 5:37.37.
Sandra Dingwall jumped 3.09m to come second in the W35+ long jump and third in the W35+ triple jump with 6.68m. Elyse Fraser’s best performance in the discus was in the W17-19 grade with a winning throw of 29.96m. Elyse was also second in both the W15-16 and W17-19 Hammer throw with throws of 30.23m and 29.19m.
Steve O’Callaghan (5th) came agonisingly close to breaking the 2-minute mark in the M20-34 800m with a PB time of 2:00.73. Neale McLannachan (7th) ran a PB of 2:04.69 while Wayne Smith (8th) ran 2:05.85. Marc Boulle (3rd) ran a season best of 2:12.71 in the M35+ 800m with the perennial Bill Kenny (6th) finishing in 2:51.95.
Angus Taylor won the MU-15 1500m in a PB time of 4:19.48. Steve O’Callaghan finished in 4th place in the M20-34 1500m with a 4:06.97 while Neale McLannachan (8th) ran a PB in 4:10.59. Alan Carman (10th), David Rush (11th) and Wayne Smith (12th) were not far behind while John Bayne (15th) in his first track season ran an excellent 4:34.49
Otago 5000 Metre Championships, 24th January 2004
Caledonian Ground, Logan Park Drive, Dunedin
Alan Carman showed a wonderful return to form to win the Senior Men’s event in a fast time of 15:10.34 to hold out a fast finishing Steve O’Callaghan who finished less than 2 seconds adrift in 15:11.58. Neale McLannachan finished in fourth place with a PB of 15:48.05.
Angus Taylor cruised around to win the B15 grade with a time of 18:09. Steven Skilling was second master’s men runner home in 18:47.67 while Marc Boulle was third in the MM grade
3000 Metre Champs, 20th December 2003
Caledonian Ground, Logan Park Drive, Dunedin
Steve O’Callaghan came second in the senior men’s’ grade after a close tussle with Kees Keiser (4th). Both achieved personal bests of 8:40.15 and 8:42.81 respectively. Alan Carman (5th) in 8:53.01 and Neale McLannachan (6th) in a PB of 8:57.16 completed a strong Leith presence in under the magical 9-minute mark.
Jan Craig running into top form before the Masters Games won the MW grade in a time of 11:12.11.
Angus Taylor came within a fraction of a second of breaking the Otago record in finishing in first position in the M15 grade. His time was an excellent 9:29.79. Brian Pascoe came second in the master’s men grade with 9:52.45. Julia Scoones showed excellent mid season form by winning the W20 grade in 10:24.69. Alison Bradshaw was the fourth senior women home in 11:10.15. Meredith Molloy (6th) finished strongly in 12:05.92. Emily Scoones won the G17 grade in a time of 12:09.62
