A slip on loose gravel and a headbutt with a few branches was not enough to stop Calan McDermott from winning the annual Barnes Cross-country at Kettle Park yesterday.
Happy with his 5km cross-country time on Bayfield Park two weeks ago, the 19-year-old second-year physics and computer science student at the University of Otago competed off a handicap of 6min and began to feature early.
He worked his way into fifth after the first of four 1.25km laps and, a lap later, was within striking distance of leader Lynne Kerr (Caversham), trailing her by 1min 10sec.
Over the third lap, he was joined at the front of the field by Melanie Button (Ariki).
The two went stride for stride but, coming up the rise on to the bottom field for the final time, McDermott began to feel the pressure. He started to dig deep to find a second wind to see off the threat to line honours posed by Button and a fast approaching bunch close behind.
"It wasn't so much a second wind I was looking for", he said.
"It was a fourth and fifth. I was starting to run on empty."
However, once on the descent around the southern end of Kettle Park, McDermott found the gear he was looking for to prove too strong for the challenges coming from a converging field behind him.
Button also found another gear to hold on for second ahead of Esther Fogarty (third). Button competed from a handicap of 8min and Fogarty from 8min 30sec.
Until recently, McDermott was more into squash and used running only to supplement his fitness. He was encouraged to become more serious towards his running through Tuesday night training with the Leith Club and regular runs with his mother, Jade Lee.
"I used to run around the inlet, but it was quite inconsistent and I found the Tuesday training has helped."
The fastest time for men was recorded by Janus Staufenberg (Leith) with 16min 37sec, while Mica Goldsmith-Lonie (Leith) stopped the clock at 19min 21sec to record the fastest women’s time.
In future champions races, Zac Broom (Hill City-University) won the 1.25km open under-12 race from Walter Howard-Smith (Caversham) in second and Genevieve Hodgson (Hill City-University) third.
Robbie Wilson, 5, showed a clean pair of heels to lead all the way in the 800m open race for under 8s. Marco Gordon, 4, was second and George Dobson, 5, third.
The under-16 races over 2.5km proved a highly competitive affair, Calum Starty (Caversham winning the boys’ title and Kotomiyo Cowell (Ariki) the girls’.
