Sweeney Shield Relay – Napier Harriers
The historic Sweeney Shield Relay, which was first competed for in 1934, was held on Saturday around the Puketapu circuit.
Eight teams of 5 faced the starter and after a strong run Lucas Duross put his team in the lead in 16m22s after the first lap of 5k followed by Bradley Christison’s team 50sec later.
Christison’s team went to the lead on the 2nd leg to Puketapu with Guy Harrison handing over in first place after running 11m48s for the 2.7k lap followed by Sophia Moore who brought her team up from 3rd place to 2nd after a great run from this 13 year old. Fastest lap time went to Braeden Kommeren in 10m03s.
Robert Strong ran “strongly” to bring his team up from 7th to 1st on lap 3 and also gained fastest time for that lap in 11m08s for the 3.1k lap. Strong gained the lead near the end of the lap as handed his team a slim 3sec lead on Puketitiri Road.
This team remained in the lead with Max Taylor running 19m29s for 5.3k to gain fastest lap time and Steve Franklin brought the team home in 18m24s over the last 4.5k lap, which finished at the clubrooms, for an overall team time of 1hr20m17s. Fastest last lap was Adam Barron who ran 16m43s to also collect young runner of the day award.
The 2nd team was Christison’s team in 1hr20m50s followed by Duross’s team in 1hr22m30s.
Written by Wayne Smith
