O’Sullivan has often been the bridesmaid in the race with silver and bronze individual medals to his credit over the past two decades, but yesterday was a breakthrough victory.
He had a battle on his hands for the most part with Dan Hayman (Leith) until cramps got the better of Hayman in the final 1500m, after which O’Sullivan’s kick to the finish went unchallenged.
He crossed to win the 10km event in 36min 44.8sec, Hayman holding on for second in 37min 36.7sec and Stephen Johnson (Leith) finishing third in 38min 30.9sec.
Realising he had a battle on his hands with Hayman, O’Sullivan said perseverance was key to his success.
"I thought I would just sit and see how I went.
‘‘Obviously, Dan was really strong the whole way. I just thought if I could keep myself in contention, something might happen.
"I’m pretty stoked. It’s my first Otago cross-country title and I’ve had 20 years of attempts at it. It’s really nice to finally get that title. It’s been a goal for a long time."
O’Sullivan, a world cross-country champion in the masters men’s 35-39 race at Bathhurst early last year, carried over his good form to go back to back in the New Zealand event in Taupo in July last year and is now eyeing up a three-peat in the masters 35-39 grade early next month.
Contesting her first Otago cross-country in four years, Rebekah Aitkenhead (Hill City-University) led from start to finish in the open women’s 10km race.
"The last time I did this, I remember it was the hardest course I had ever done", Aitkenhead said.
Aitkenhead went into yesterday’s race with those thoughts in the back of her mind and wanted to put a few course demons to rest. Once she settled into the race, things got easier.
She said the last time she ran the course it was another windy day and there was nowhere on it to recover. This time, although there was a strong wind, there was shelter from it on the downhill which enabled recovery.
"I just grinded through the uphill strong headwind bit and just used the downhill to recover and get ready for those hard bits again."
As for the national cross-country in three weeks, Aitkenhead is still undecided as she has a friend’s wedding in Bali to attend soon and will not decide until her return just a few days out from the event.
She is keen on returning to defend her half-marathon title in Queenstown in November.
The junior titles were keenly contested. George Hamilton (Hill City-University) made the most of his last year as a junior to win the 8km title in 29min 7sec, while Kimberley Iverson (Leith), a 17-year-old year 13 pupil from Invercargill’s James Hargest College, won the 6km junior women’s title at her first attempt.
