Hobbs runs away with title

Zoe Hobbs didn’t know what wild weather Wellington would throw at her this time when she arrived at Newtown Park for the New Zealand Track and Field Championships championship yesterday.

A year on from running the first sub-11 of her career, an insane 10.89, thanks to a massive tail wind on a blustery evening in Wellington, the stormy weather that was forecast last evening stayed away for the women’s 100m final.

Without any assistance from the weather gods, Hobbs was unable to threaten her lifetime best, but she still cruised to victory in a time of 11.13 seconds (0.08m/s) to claim her eighth consecutive national 100m title.

Fresh off a sensational fourth-place finish in the 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, Hobbs had limited 100m training in her legs.

But the competition was still no match in a straight final featuring just six starters. The 26-yearold, who has already met the standard to qualify for the Paris Olympics, led Brooke Summerfield (11.55) and Portia Bing (11.67) across the line.

“I thought it was going to be thunderstorms. I had packed three bags ready for the rain and cold,” Hobbs said.

“I run with the mantra now of control what you can control and it’s an outdoor sport where you can’t control the weather, especially in Wellington.’’

With bigger races to come later in the year, Hobbs wassatisfiedwithhertimebutruedthefactshe lifted her head too early as she stormed out of the blocks. “I hadn’t done a lot of 100s this season and off the back of a lot of travel this past month, I think what I ran today was pretty solid,” she added.