The Otago runner might have been a little cheeky egging his home crowd on, but they lapped it up and rose to the occasion, cheering him on as he was crowned national 5000m champion at the Caledonian yesterday.
It was a commanding race from start to finish for Chignell to set the tone for the opening day of the national athletics championships.
The 27-year-old tucked himself in comfortably at the front of the pack and progressively edged ahead.
He attacked the race from about the halfway mark, bursting away from the field, and there was no stopping him from there.
Chignell lapped several of the runners in the 16-man field and, as he came down the home stretch, he pointed to the crowd and made a golden "O" symbol — “Otago through and through" — to celebrate finishing in 13min 55.77sec.
Wellington’s Toby Gualter was runner-up in 14min 04.49sec and Canterbury runner William Little was third in 14min 09.98sec.
“I’m not going to lie. I might have got a wee bit carried away," Chignell said.
“Home crowd. You don’t really get to do it all that often, especially when there are this many people in the stands.
“I loved it — that’s one of the best home straights I’ve had probably."
Being able to compete at a home national championships was special — and the stunning weather really helped.
“I barely race here.
“Last nationals I had here was pretty shocking, so it’s nice to actually come away with a win and a convincing win at that.
“I think that really shows sort of the form that I’m in and what I’ve got to come.”
After a turbulent two years plagued by injuries and sickness, Chignell has finally found some form he is happy with.
He linked up with new coach, Adam Didyk, of South Australia, who runs an elite team called Tempo Run, home to several Australian Olympians, and finished third at the Australian 10km championships recently.
Chignell has had four races on the track in the past three months — “that’s probably more than I’ve had in the previous three years" — and felt he got better with each race.
He will be back at the Caledonian tomorrow for the 1500m and then heads to Melbourne in three weeks to hopefully lower his 5km personal best of 13min 27sec.
“I’d like to go under 13.20 — all signs are pointing towards that at the moment, which is fantastic to see."
He also has his eyes set on breaking the national 10km record this year. Chignell’s personal best is 27min 52sec and the national record is in his grasp at 27min 31sec.
Laura Nagel (North Harbour Bays) won the senior women’s 5000m, finishing in 16min 27.38sec.
