Sellars and co triumph in road relay masters

Graeme Sellars looked behind as he awaited the baton for the final leg of the New Zealand Road Relay and saw what he wanted to see – no one.

His Athletics Nelson teammates had long separated themselves from their rivals, and Sellars simply had to run his 10km leg to finish off a triumphant journey around Lake Rotorua for the over 60s team.

Athletics Nelson finished the race in 3hr 10min 4sec and finished more than 15 minutes ahead of runner-up Auckland University.

The damage was done early with Ian Carter giving the team the lead on the opening 8.3km and Barry Dewar extending it on his 8.2km leg.

Derek Shaw put it out of reach, running four minutes faster than his pursuer on his 4km downhill leg. Clive Holyoake and Murray Hart also ran the fastest legs in their division for the winning Nelson team.

Athletics Nelson’s juniors finished fourth, despite a spirited run from their athletes. They were fourth after Fletcher Pickworth’s opening leg. Jared Lautenslager ran the second fastest time of the race, faster than all the senior runners, with his 27min 5sec effort over the hilly 8.2km to drive his team into third. Angus Wemyss put the team in second with a strong 4km third leg and within striking distance of leader Papanui Toc H.

Athletics Nelson was third after Sam Mead’s and Max Meffan’s legs and a minute up on fourth place North Harbour Bays. But Dan Hoy, runner-up in the Youth Olympics triathlon, propelled his team to second on the final leg.