Page turns to a win

Field of 4714 a Tasmanian fun run record

DOMINATOR Grant Page was so nervous he hardly slept a wink before yesterday’s 41st City to Casino fun run and women’s winner Kate Pedley wasn’t going to enter at all.

Yet with brilliant runs in a record field of 4714 competitors – the biggest fun run in Tasmanian history – the pair took out the top prize in the men’s and women’s 11km runs respectively.

Page, 31, had to dig deep to hold off a challenge from Dijon Gebrselassie, while Pedley controlled her race by powering ahead on the inclines.

Page won the race for a record eighth time, clocking 33min22s, second only to his previous best of 33m09s

‘‘It was great to win because my pre-race nerves were shocking,’’ he said.

‘‘I barely slept last night. I felt like I was on death row and it was my final night.

‘‘But it turned out to be a really enjoyable run.’’

Page and Gebrselassie ran side-by-side for almost 3km until Page broke away through the middle of the course.

However, Gebrselassie kicked on Davey St and closed the gap to about 40m.

‘‘That really woke me up and I had to pop in a couple of three- minute kilometres, which was pretty hard,’’ he said. ‘‘It was great to get here first and to do it for the eighth time, I’m stoked.’’

Page’s nerves stemmed from pre-race expectations.

‘‘They say as you get older it gets easier, but it doesn’t,’’ he said.

‘‘You put more pressure on yourself, there’s more media talk-up, more expectations, more peer pressure.

‘‘I’m going to keep running, retirement is a fair way away and having gotten to eight I definitely want to aim for 10.’’

Page’s next goal is the Launceston 10 next month, where he hopes to run a sub-30 minute race.

Pedley’s next goal is also the Launceston 10.

Having run second in Hobart last year, she won her first City to Casino yesterday, clocking a course record 37m20s.

‘‘I’ve been doing a lot of hill work so I felt pretty strong on the hills,’’ she said.

Pedley, a 29-year-old personal trainer, only entered the race on Friday.

‘‘I wasn’t going to run today because I’ve had a few things on lately, but I’m glad I did it,’’ she said.

The calm at the finish line was broken when 12-year-old Torin Jones flashed across the line as the first home in the 2.7km run for primary school kids and accompanying parents, starting from Salamanca.

‘‘I won it last year too so this is pretty awesome,’’ said Jones, a grade six student at Hutchins.

Patrick Smith, 22, of Launceston, won the men’s 7km event from Cornelian Bay, clocking 20m58s for his first victory after overcoming a long-term injury.

‘‘I’m running the Launceston 10 in a few weeks, and this is a good way to prepare for that,’’ he said.

Hobart runner Tessa Johns, the Australian under-17 1500m champion, won the women’s 7km in 25m36s.