National road relay medals are few and far between for teams from Otago but, on a day when no club was able to dominate at any stage, a commanding run from Ariki team captain Nathan Baxter held out Australian team Glenhuntly, of Melbourne, to win the B grade title, and start the run of medals heading south.
After Dave Catherwood, Allan Staite and Anthony Trainor kept the team in touch with the front group over the first three legs. Richard Hendry began the team's charge for B grade glory with a strong run over the fourth leg to open up a handy 35sec lead, that Zac Butler, Tim Dobier and Chris Tipper built on for Baxter to enjoy the comfort of a 1min 45sec lead at the final change.
But any thought of comfort on the run to the finish for Baxter was quickly wiped from his race plan as he quickly became aware of the dangers posed by the eighth and final runner for Glenhuntly, who was quickly eating into the lead established by Baxter's team-mates.
With nowhere to hide on wild, wet and windy day on a 72km course full of hills and gravel, Baxter increased his tempo, setting up a thrilling battle between him and his transtasman rival.
He eventually broke the tape to clinch the national B grade title in 4hr 20min 54sec, 18sec clear of the Glenhuntly runner.
Olympic Wellington was third in 4hr 26min 54sec.
"Guns [Baxter] ran his guts out," Hendry said of his team-mate's fourth-leg run.
"He had a real battle with that Aussie guy. It was a real captain's knock."
Baxter was full of praise for his team, saying the result reflected on the whole team as they all ran above themselves and competed really well.
The battles through the grades continued to go well for Dunedin teams. Leith won the C grade in 4hr 52min 59sec, Ariki was second in 4hr 57min 58sec and Canterbury University third in 5hr 10min 23sec.
In other grades, Leith was fourth in the masters men's grade in 4hr 35 and Ariki was 10th in the composite with Leith 24th.
In the A grade competition, four recent Otago representatives shone for their new northern-based clubs.
Callan Moody, now competing for Christchurch-based New Brighton, took the baton for the final leg holding a 30sec lead, only to be run down over the closing stages of the 11.6km leg by Wellington Scottish runner and New Zealand road champion Tim Hodge, who broke the tape in 3hr 53min 13sec, to hand Wellington Scottish its first national road relay title in eight years.
Moody's New Brighton Club was second in 3hr 53min 40sec and South Auckland club Wesley, a team containing three recent Otago representatives in James List, Sam Kidd and Tony Payne, was third in 4hr 39sec.
In the open women's competition, Hamilton City Hawks won the title for the first time in the club's 36-year history, holding out strong challenges from pre-race favourites North Harbour Bays, second in 4hr 41min 59sec, and Wellington Scottish, third in 4hr 44min 42sec.
