RowangLive1: 2017 Scottish Night of Miles Basin Reserve Sat 16 Dec

Results

Race 1 – Walkers Mile, 4.00pm

1 Daniel Du Toit (M) WHAC 8:02

2 Sean Lake (M) Scottish 8:07

3 Clive McGovern (M) Trentham 8:59

4 Christina Gardner (F) Scottish 9:31

5 Jacqueline Wilson (F) Trentham 9:48

6 Ian Morton (M) Scottish 9:54

7 Joe Antcliff (M) Trentham 9:59

8 Bob Gardner (M) Scottish 10:00

9 Warren Jowett (M) 10:08

10 Terri Grimmett Scottish (F) 10:14

11 John Leonard Scottish (M) 10:21

12 Philip Grimmett (M) Scottish 10:22

13 David Cooke Scottish (M) 10:59

14 Daphne Jones Scottish (F) 11:12

15 Arlene Wong-Tung (F) 11:12

16 Geoff Iremonger (M) Masters 11:28

17 Aoife Lake (F) 12:08

Race 2 – Masters Men 40 Mile, 4.20pm

1 Andrew Wharton Scottish 4:37

2 Stephen Day Scottish 4:38

3 Michael Wray Scottish 4:53

4 Paul Barwick Scottish 4:59

5 Trent Corbett Olympic 5:01

6 Darren Gordon Lower Hutt 5:14

7 Todd Krieble WHAC 5:19

8 Terry Fraser WHAC 5:23

9 Phil Sadgrove Scottish 5:26

10 Chandima Kulathilake Scottish 5:30

11 Andrew Wheatley WHAC 5:30

12 Marshall Clark Scottish 5:41

13 Bruce Atmore 5:52

14 Paul Rogers Trentham 6:23

15 John Skinnon Scottish 6:47

Race 3 – Men’s B Mile, 4.30pm

1 Rowan Hooper Scottish 4:33

2 Ben Twyman Scottish 4:34

3 Bert Prendergast Scottish 4:35

4 Kristian Day Scottish 4:35

5 Mark Moore Scottish 4:36

6 Will Critchlow 4:38

7 Ben Winder Scottish 4:38

8 Dan Hunt Vic Uni 4:44

9 Reuben Goldingham-Newsom WHAC 4:56

Race 4 – Men’s C Mile, 4.40pm

1 Andy Ford Scottish 4:48

2 Alasdair Saunders Scottish 4:49

3 Geoff Ferry Scottish 4:51

4 Liam Wall PNHAC 5:00

5 Ben Isaacs Scottish 5:13

6 Dion Gamperle Scottish 5:21

7 Matt Nolan Vic Uni 5:25

8 Karl Jackson Scottish 5:28

Race 5 – Women’s Mile, 5.10pm

1 Ruby Muir Scottish 5:02

2 Tamara Winkler WHAC 5:10

3 Melissa Black WHAC 5:26

4 Esther George Olympic 5:30

5 Letha Whitham WHAC 5:35

6 Sarah Riceman Olympic 5:42

7 Nat Hardaker WHAC 5:45

8 Lindsay Barwick Scottish 5:50

9 Sophie Lee WHAC 5:51

10 Mel MacPhee Scottish 5:58

11 Dorata Starzata Scottish 6:02

12 Danielle Trewoon Scottish 6:08

13 Kate Slater Scottish 6:25

Race 6 – Men’s A Mile, 5.20pm

1 Nathan Tse WHAC 4:23

2 Benjamin Wall PNHAC 4:24

3 Callum Stewart WHAC 4:25

4 Chris McIlroy Scottish 4:25

5 Joel Carmen Wainouiomata 4:27

6 Niam McDonald-Joslin Scottish 4:29

7 Jack Hammond Lower Hutt 4:30

8 Harry Burnard Scottish 4:36

9 Michael Du-Toit Trentham 4:40

10 Cameron Forrest Olympic 4:41

11 Toby Gaulter Olympic 4:55

The Basin Reserve has a lot of history.

Best known as a cricket venue and the home of Wellington cricket it has also hosted a range of other kinds of sports and events including athletics.

There are a lot of information displays around the oval which describe some of these events.

We learn that the Basin was used as an athletics venue up until the 1960’s and that Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and Murray Halberg have all raced there.

And now history will show that in 2017 the Scottish Night of Miles also graced the venue.

But unless you were a kid or Santa you would not be running on the grass.

All of the events on the programme were run over a mile. The races were on the sealed path around the oval which was measured as roughly 480 metres per lap. This means that the races were 3 and a bit laps.

The start was at the southern end (Newtown end) of the grounds and the finish on the eastern side (the tunnel end). The width of the path varied but I reckon the narrowest sections were no more than two-lanes wide.

I should also mention that it was hot late afternoon– around 25c and many people opted for the shady side of the basin from which to jeer and cheer.

The first race was the Open Walker’s Mile and young Daniel Du Toit racing in WHC colours showed a clean pair or heels heading off well performed Sean Lake who finished 5 seconds back.

The 2^nd race which was the Masters 40+ Mile essentially was expected to be won by Stephen Day who has performed so remarkably well this year, and is the current National Marathon Champion.

The field seemed to get strung out reasonably early but in the end it was Andrew Wharton who tracked Stephen through most of the race to pull off a swift overtake and win with about 100m to go. The gap at the end was 1 second but it goes to show that anything can happen in a race.

Next up was the B Mile Race for the elite men. Rowan Hooper was probably the favourite but on lap 1 was sitting in about 5^th place with Kristian Day leading.

Rowan took the lead on lap 2 with Kristian and a perky Bert Prendergast just behind. But it was Ben Twyman who posed the biggest threat taking over the lead with the finish line in sight only to be thwarted with a desperate sprint finish from Rowan. Exciting stuff.

In the Men's C Race Ben Isaacs took an early lead but lost this on lap 2 to young Palmerston North runner Liam Wall. By the last lap Andy Ford had taken control and cruised to the win followed by the steady and reliable Alasdair Saunders.

The pre-event publicity promoted the Women’s Elite Mile to be a clash between strength runner Ruby Muir and experienced track runner Tamara Winkler.

Those two broke away from the field early with Ruby making the pace and Tamara sitting on her shoulder. It could have gone either way but on the last lap Ruby put her foot on the gas and stormed home to an easy win. To me this indicates that when it comes to finishing speed Ruby is not to be underestimated.

On the grass it was the turn of the kids to show their form over 60m, with a chocolate fish as the reward. Mayor Justin Lester was on hand to hand out prizes but it was Santa who stole the show with the lolly scramble.

In the Men’s Elite A Race this is what Stephen Day had to say leading up to the event:

“In the men's race, the favourite is Nathan Tse from Wellington Harriers. Fastest times: 3:57 for 1500m and 4:19 for a mile. Nathan has not raced so far this summer so his form is unknown. His challengers are likely to be:

· Joel Carman, Lower Hutt, (fastest times: 4:03 for 1500m and 4:30 for a mile) 18 years old.

· Chris McIlroy, Wellington Scottish (fastest times: 4:07 for 1500m and 4:31 for a mile) who is in good form having run personal bests over 3000m, 5000m, and 10,000m in the last two months.

· Harry Burnard, Scottish, (fastest times: 4:10 for 1500m and 4:30 for a mile). Harry made a brave bid to win last year’s Night of Miles, opening up a big lead on the field before being run down by the three eventual medalists and finishing in 4th. He went on to win silver medals in the NZ steeplechase and NZ 10,000 championships. His most notable recent achievements, however, have been completing the Auckland Marathon barefoot and winning the pie-eating, beer-drinking P-Team race up the steep Wellington Tip-Track.

· Benjamin Wall, Palmerston North, (fastest time 4.05 for 1500) Only 16 years old.”

So with the above in mind it was no surprise to see Nathan Tse leading the bunch from go which stuck together until the bell on the last lap. Nathan then took off like a scalded cat building a sizeable gap between himself and the chasing pair of Callum Stewart and Chris McIlroy. But it was Ben Wall from Palmerston North who stole the show by picking up both Stewart and McIlroy to grab 2^nd place. Clearly Wall is a star in the making.

The last race was the All-Comers mile and because the path around the oval is not super wide the race was broken up into heats.
This is a fun event so there are no results that I know of.

Santa was in full flight and up to his usual mischief with some very odd behaviour. But even though the person wearing the white beard appeared to rotate, just like Phantom the legend lives on no matter who is inside the red suit.

Mayor Justin also did his civic duty with a run and he actually looked like he was enjoying himself.

And yes Neil Sampson, I did see you.

The meeting manager for the event was Andy Ford, the excellent race commentary/MC role provide by Rees Buck. All proceeds from the gate/entry (donations) went to the Mary Potter Hospice.

Open Walkers Mile