Tony Payne epitomised the team effort that helped Otago win the senior men's cross-country title for the first time in 53 years.
Otago won the six-man teams title at the New Zealand championships in Christchurch on Saturday with 88 points from Auckland (89) and Wellington (90).
Payne, the sixth counting runner, finished in 23rd place and his tenacity enabled Otago to win the event narrowly.
He was under pressure when his hamstring tightened on the third of the six laps.
"I knew I was running for the team and was only passed by one runner after that," Payne said.
Otago did not have the stars and did not finish any runner in the top six. But it had greater depth as a team.
"I knew we had good depth and could win the gold medal if we ran as a team and helped each other," team leader Dougal Thorburn said.
Thorburn, a public health registrar at Wakari Hospital, finished third last year but could only manage 11th on Saturday.
But he put his own disappointment to one side and gave encouragement to Callan Moody and Bevan Stevens, who were running alongside him.
A 12km cross-country race becomes hard over the last 4km and it is easy for runners to drop off the pace.
It is much easier when a team-mate is running alongside and giving encouragement.
This also worked for Daniel Balchin and Peter Meffan who finished 18th and 19th.
"I knew we had the depth to win the gold medal if we ran as a team and encouraged each other," Thorburn said.
It was an important win for the Otago long distance runners who are now training together when time permits.
Thorburn is a busy doctor and has to fit his training around his work commitments.
He runs the gruelling Waitati circuit in all weather on Sunday mornings and is out on the road at 6am each day to fit in his long run before work.
Moody is now reaping the benefits of the of long mileage he has done under the direction of his coach Richard Barker.
It was fitting that the gold medals were presented to the Otago team by Ron Cain and Allan Potts, who were both members of the winning Otago team in 1958.
Cain, a natural leader, represented Otago between 1950 and 1964 and was in five winning senior teams at the New Zealand cross-country championships.
He was the winning team captain for three years from 1954 to 1956 and a member of the winning senior team in 1951 and 1958.
"We trained harder," he said.
"We ran on the roads, over cross-country paddocks and up and down hills. We learnt to jump over fences and become more flexible." The other members of the winning team in 1958 were Cliff Donaldson, Tom Marshall, Ian Martin, Graham Smith and Alistair Murray.
Otago was the dominant province in Cain's time and an article in the New Zealand Sportsman magazine at that time stated that the secret of Otago's success were the Dunedin hills that the runners trained on.
Fact file
Winning Otago teams
2011: Callan Moody (8th), Bevan Stevens (9th), Dougal Thorburn (11th), Daniel Balchin (18th), Peter Meffan (19th), Anthony Payne (23rd).
1958: Allan Potts, Ron Cain, Cliff Donaldson, Tom Marshall, Ian Martin, Graham Smith and Alistair Murray.
