Chris Donaldson may be the old man of Otago sprinting but he can still keep the youngsters struggling behind him.
Donaldson (34) demonstrated his prowess at the midweek interclub meeting at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin last night when he convincingly won the 100m.
Donaldson was timed at 10.98sec and won by 10m from 17-year-olds Todd Johnston (Ariki) 11.46sec and Toby Flett (Hill City) 10.50sec.
Donaldson has raced sparingly this season but still intends to contest the 100m at the national championships in Christchurch at the end of the month.
"I'm enjoying my training and want to compete," Donaldson told the Otago Daily Times.
He still has some technical problems to work on with his coach, Brent Ward, over the next few weeks to be competitive in Christchurch.
His start is a bit rusty and his upright running is not perfect.
"These are things that can come right quickly," Donaldson said.
"I felt powerful running into the headwind tonight."
Ward, who has been coaching Donaldson for the past 17 years, said reaching top form over the next few weeks was a realistic goal for Donaldson.
Lauren Wilson (Hill City) held out a strong challenge from Larissa Dyke (Taieri) to win the women's 100m in 12.71sec.
Dyke was timed at 12.80sec.
Wilson also won the 200m in 25.10sec.
Ricky White (Sara Cohen) won the junior men's 100m in a personal-best time of 13.23sec.
He won the long jump with a distance of 5.42m.
Talented North Otago sprinter Megan McPhail (15) won the junior women's 100m in 13.31sec from the Ariki pair of Devon Helm (17) in 13.44sec and Ella Johnston (16) in 13.49sec.
McPhail also won the 200m in 26.15sec.
Daniel Lord (South Canterbury) won the men's 3000m walk in 13min 31.32sec.
Roseanne Robinson (Hill City) was heading for an Otago junior women's record in the same event when she pulled out with hamstring problems two laps from the finish.
Georgie Allison (North Canterbury) won the women's aged 17 to 19 400m hurdles in a personal-best 62.43sec.
Daniel O'Shea (Hill City) won the senior men's event in 53.51sec.
Glen Ballam (Southland) blitzed the field to win the men's 400m in 51.26sec.
Barbara Roy (University) led from the start to win the women's 1500m in 4min 33.90sec, while Daniel Balchin (Caversham) ran the last lap in 58 seconds to win the men's event in 4min 01.85sec.
Jerram Huston (Taieri) won the men's shot put with 14.40m.
