Wednesday 22nd June
Long time between updates sorry. Another major earthquake hit Christchurch on February 22nd resulted in widespread damage and loss of life. The tracks at QEII were also severely damaged which curtailed much of the track season and saw the International Track Meet due to be held on 26th February cancelled. Alex F still went to Nationals in late March and won two bronze medals in the 5000m (PB 15m11s) and 3000m steeplechase.
Wednesday 29th December
Results up on NZRun. Hurring over Smith in the Mens 5000m 14.04 to 14.08. Balchin over Moody in Mile - 4.13.85 to 4.14.01.
Women's Mile cancelled unfortunately! Matt Smith added to Men's 5000m!
Having a few problems with the page so most updates for NBx-mas Cracker will be on that page only (or Facebook)until fixed. Prize money for the Mile race and A 5000m confirmed as $50 for 1st, $30 for 2nd and $20 for 3rd. For the B 5000m - $50 for 1st woman, $30 for 1st across the line and $20 for 2nd woman. Fields updated again - a few changes as more runners added and some withdraw. McLaren now racing the full 5000m so the pace will be hot at the front...
Monday 13th December
Fields updated for NBx-mas Classic and an Invitation 400m added to the programme featuring Niall Tuohy from Ireland. Start times almost confirmed also.
Thursday 9th December
On the 27th November Dave had an easy 800m win in 2m08s followed by a 24.83s 200m. Alex ran another 3000m PB of 9m08.88s.
On the 4th December Dave ran a 4m22s 1500m followed by a 24.92s 200m.
Fields for NBx-mas Classic have also been updated - only 20 days to go!
Monday 22nd November
Dave opened his season with a 55.20s 400m in Christchurch. Down in Dunedin Guns ran a huge PB of 8m40.24s for 3000m.
Tuesday 16th November
Alex began his track season with a PB 9m15s 3000m on Saturday.
Tuesday 9th November
The 10th (11th?) edition of Camp Motley at Hanmer Springs has been completed with a great weekend enjoyed by all. Despite the inclement weather on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was Hanmer at its best. those in attendance were Coach Craig, Ning, Dave C, Luke Hurring, Kellie Palmer, Simon Gannaway, Manuel Beeler (Sweden), Hayden McLaren, Gus Taylor, Rowan Hooper and Jason Lawrence. Hayden's weekend report can be found a couple of pages over.
I have also updated the NBx-mas Cracker fields with entries slowly coming in over the last week or so. Shaping up for some good racing.
Thursday 4th November
NBx-mas Cracker Fields updated...
Monday 1st November
Latest update. On Sunday 17th October Alex finished 3rd in the M19 10km NZ Road championships - a great result. The rest of the Crew are well into their summer buildup.
This weekend (5-7th November) will be our usual summer Camp Motley at Hanmer Springs with about 10 attendees. More later.
Entries for the NBx-mas Cracker are also being updated every couple of days - check the page for details
Monday 11th October
The UC Men's and Women's teams both retained their National Road Relay titles in Inglewood, the women dominating from the start to win by nearly 10 minutes. The men's team featuring Ning had more of a battle on their hands coming back from a 72s deficit at the end of lap 3 to eventually run out winners by 4 minutes. A great days racing on a tough 8 lap course. The M19 team finished a close 5th with Alex taking 3rd fastest time on the longest lap.
This Sunday Alex runs the revised NZ road champs in Auckland. The rest of the crew are starting their summer build-up.
Friday 17th September
Another relatively long interval between posts but a good reason this time! On Saturday September 4th at 4.35am a huge EARTHQUAKE measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale hit Christchurch severely disrupting everyone in the city. Thankfully no one was killed and most services have been restored in the following 10 days.
As a consequence the NZ road champs which were due to happen later that day and the historic Takahe-Akaroa relay which was due to be tomrrow were both cancelled. Disappointing for those athletes that have trained for these events but absolutely understandable.
So... the next major event is the National Road Relays in Inglewood, Taranaki on the 2nd of October where the UC Mens and Womens A team will be looking to retain the titles they won last year with the Men hoping to make it 4 titles in a row.
After an eventful trip Guns returned from the US two weeks ago with his Ariki team having placed 3rd in the Oregon Relay.
Friday 27th August
Again my apologies for an extended time between updates.
NBx-mas Classic confirmed for Wednesday evening 29th December. Usual array of 5000m and Mile races.
Last weekend Guns ran a PB 31m05s for 10km in the Clyde to Alexandra road race. He is now off to the USA with his Ariki club to compete in a 10 person 300km+ relay in Oregon.
Earlier in the winter season Ning ran a 15m45s 5km in the Riverside Relay as he gradually comes back from injury/illness but he was unable to race and defend his National XC title from 2009.
New Crew member Alex Fowler has won both the Canterbury M19 XC and Road titles and next week will contend the National M19 8km road race title. Alex finished 16th at the NZXC M19 champs after becoming ill the day before the race.
Friday 28th May
My apologies - a very long time between updates. See below for a chronological update
At the Canterbury Champs over the weekend 5-7th March Guns finished 8th in the 800m in 1m59.43s and Dave C 10th in 2m03.20s. Guns also ran 4m04s for the 1500m.
At the International Track Meeting (ITM) on Thursday 18th March Ning ran a PB 5000m time of 14m10.66s while finishing 7th. Three days later he flew to Poland for the IAAF World Cross-country Championships (WXC).
At the WXC Ning finished in 92nd place of 135 starters in 36m19s just outside the target of top 2/3rds. The experience was invaluable and already plans have been made for Spain in 2011.
Two weeks later Ning finished 18th at the World University XC Championships and then a few days ran a 14m24s 5000m at the noted Mt SAC Relays meeting in California before returning to NZ.
During this time Coach Craig was also named as the Event Co-ordinator 'Endurance' for Athletics New Zealands Rio2016 project and assistant for Middle Distance.
An olympic-distance triathlete that Craig has been working with for his running - Hong Kong's Ivan Lo, also won the Asian U23 triathlon championships in early May. In doing so he qualified for the Hong Kong team for September's World Champs.
Since the end of the summer season the Crew have all had a few days off and now started to build again toward the winter season. Camp Motley (winter) was held at Hanmer Springs the weekend of 14-16th May with about 10 athletes attending - glorious Saturday weather but heavy rain on Sunday put a damper on things.
Next events coming up include various distances at the SBS Marathon 1/2 marathon and 10k race in two weeks and then the XC season proper starts. Watch this space for fortnightly updates.
Tuesday 3rd March
On Friday night Ning finished 2nd in the Canterbury 3000m champs in 8m21.63s, Dave C ran a 400m in 53.32s. In Dunedin on Saturday Guns debuted for the season with a 2m00.36s 800m.
This coming weekend is the Canterbury T&F Champs and several Motley Crew athletes will be competing over various distances.
Thursday 25th February
Matt comfortably won the Buller 1/2 marathon by two minutes in a time of 1h12m. Shocking weather conditions produced slower than expected times for all competitors.
Coach Craig was appointed by Athletics New Zealand as the Event Manager for Endurance (5000m, 10000m, Marathon and Walks) leading to Rio 2016 and also the assistant National Event Coach for Middle Distance (800m and 1500m and including Steeplechase). Should be some interesting times ahead!
Tomorrow night Ning will race 3000m in the Canterbury championships while Guns will make his season debut over 800m in Dunedin over the weekend.
Friday 12th February
As the summer season starts to ramp up there are more Motley Crew athletes racing over the next few weeks. Tomorrow Matt runs the Buller 1/2 marathon where he will be looking for the win and a fast time. Matt finished 2nd overall in the Hagley 5k series on Tuesday.
Also tomorrow Dave C runs an 800m at QEII where he will be aiming to advance his season best.
Planning for the International Track Meet is well advanced and it looks as though it will be much bigger than last year with several NZ and International stars lining up to race. Check the website for details.
Thursday 4th February
Ning to represent NZ at World Cross-Country! After finishing 4th in the World XC trial last weekend Ning has earned his first NZ representation at the 'big dance' to be held in Poland on the last weekend in March. Congratulations!
In other racing Dave C has run a couple of 800m and 1500m races including a photo finish 1m58s win at QEII 2 weeks ago. Matt I has continued to improve each week in the local 5km series running 15m20s, 15m06s, 14m53s and 14m48s in consecutive weeks. Dave K debuted in the series with a 16m35s on Tuesday while coach Craig struggled to break 20 minutes!
Friday 8th January 2010
Happy New year all! Over the Christmas/New year break Dave C ran an interclub 1500m in 4m08s on 30th December for 2nd place.
Unfortunately Ning had to withdraw from the National 10000m with an injury niggle so as to focus on the main goal of confirming his selection for World Cross-country at the NZ trial at the end of January.
Thursday 24th December
Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the festive season but keep training!
Next update will be mid January. In the interim Ning will be running in the NZ 10000m championships in Tauranga on the 5th January.
Sunday 20th December
Ning finished 2nd in the 5000m behind Kim Hogarth in 14m30s with Richy finishing 7th in 14m49s. Dave C was 3rd in the Mile.
Results up on NBx-mas Classic page. A good night of racing. Conditions were very warm with a moderate breeze which slowed times a little. Great depth in the A 5000m with 13 runners under 15 minutes.
Friday 18th December
Fields updated. A couple of withdrawals from B 5000m with illness including Fiona Crombie. Weather forecast looks like it could be a bit wet but hopefully wind will stay away.
Wednesday 16th December
Fields updated (again at 8.15pm) and confirmed - may be a couple of extra stragglers added over the next couple of days. A couple of extras added in the B 5000m. Osborne out of the A 5000m and Moody confirmed in 'A' 5000m.
Prizes confirmed for races as $50 - 1st, $30 - 2nd, $20 - 3rd, for the Miles and 'B' 5000m and $100, $60, $40 for the 'A' 5000m.
Also New Balance product for first 3 places in all races and for fastest 3 females in 'B' 5000m. There will also be a random draw from all competitors for a pair of New Balance shoes.
A huge thanks to New Balance and Athletics Canterbury for their assistance in putting on the event.
Monday 14th December
Programme times confirmed. Some slight updates to fields.
Thursday 10th December
Fields updated. 25 in the A 5000m now. Will accept a further entry or two if runner is of sufficient quality. B 5000m also increasing in depth with another couple of possibilities to be added post NZSS.
Wednesday 9th December
Fields updated...
Tuesday 8th December
Fields updated. A couple have dropped out of A race which should make the numbers slightly more manageable. Men's Mile field needs more - contact me if you are keen and in sub 4m15s 1500m shape...
A great weekend had up in Hanmer. Richy, Dave C, Dave K and Gus all staying up there for 3 weeks training along with Mikael from Sweden and with various others visiting for a few days or a weekend. Great tempo done by all on Saturday morning in the forest in brilliant, warm conditions - shirts off at the start - fantastic training venue. Photos and report from the 'training camp' in due course.
Friday 4th December
Race lists updated again...
Please Note - the 'A' 5000m field field is now full. Further entries will only be taken in the event of someone withdrawing or being transferred to the B race. 28 athletes will race in a waterfall start plus two pacemakers (aiming at 67's and 70's for the two pace groups). Looking like the fastest, deepest 5000m in New Zealand for many, many years.
Wednesday 2nd December
Dave C made his track debut for the season with a 9m04s PB 3000m which augurs well for the rest of the season and comes after several weeks of solid mileage.
Race lists updated...
Wednesday 25th November
Last Sunday was the Southland Marathon in Invercargill which also doubled as the National Marathon Championships. Dave K made his debut over the distance running a very good 2h38m for 6th place overall and 4th place in the NZ championships. Coach Craig managed a nearly 11 minute improvement on his first marathon earlier in the year recording 3h19m.
Friday 20th November
Draft timed programme up, lists updated.
Monday 16th November
Race lists updated...
Friday 6th November
The NBx-mas Cracker meeting is shaping up nicely with plenty of interest especially in the "A" 5000m where there could be over 20 runners under 15 minutes (and hopefully a few under 14...). Check out the page and get in touch quick if you are wanting to race...
Tuesday 20th October
Three-peat!
The UC A team repeated for the third time victory in the National Road relay Chanpionship winning the iconic Takahe-Akaroa relay by nearly 10 minutes in the 10th fastest time for the distance of 4h5m37s. Richy had a fantastic run on lap 6 finishing only 30s outside the long standing lap record. He handed over to Gus who was 3rd fastest down the hill before Ning anchored the team home in the fastest time of the day by over a minute on lap 8. Dave K ran the long lap for the UC B team who finished 10th overall and 3rd in the B grade. Guns was 5th fastest on lap 8 as Ariki finished 5th in the A grade.
The athletes now go into base phase to build for the upcoming track season although Ning will be focusing on confirming his place in the World Cross-Country team at the final trial at the end of January.
Wednesday 23rd September
Another long gap between updates sorry. Early September saw the NZ Road champs in Dunedin. Ning finished in a (for him) below par 6th with Gus finishing 10th in a PB time and Matt 14th.
Last weekend the UC club sent 3 teams down to the Timaru Round the Gorges relay. Gus and Richy were matched up against each other on the last 9.3km lap. Richy started 1m16s behind Gus and although he took time out of him Gus held on by 28s. The results cemented both of their places in the UC A team for October 10th's National Road Relay (NRR) along with team captain Ning. Matt is unfortunately unavailable for the team as he heads away to malaysia with the NZ Bowls team for work.
The UC A team will be seeking a 3rd sucessive victory in the NRR. This year the race is being held on the famous Takahe-Akaroa course here in Christchurch - the most prestigious of all of NZ's Road Relays and UC will be favoured to retain their title. Guns will be appearing for his Ariki club who will be looking to improve on their 4th place from last year.
Tuesday 4th August
Victory!
Ning won his first National title after several silvers and it was the big one - the NZ Cross-Country Senior Men's championship. Just pipped in the final 100m by an Australian visitor Ning won the NZ title by 12s. Matt finished 14th (13th NZr) with Guns 24th (23rd NZr) and Dave K 28th (27th NZr). Ning and Matt were part of the Gold medal winning Canterbury team while Nathan's Otago team took Bronze.
A great result for Ning and the first (of many...) individual national titles for the Motley Crew.
Wednesday 29th July
Three days to go until the NZ XC Championships here in Christchurch. Ning goes into the race in good form winning the Canterbury XC Champs by 43s from last years NZ silver medallist and is one of the race favourites for Nationals. Matt finished 4th in the same Canterbury XC race and will be looking for a top 6 finish at Nationals. Dave K was 9th. All 3 made the Canterbury team for the National Championships. Guns will be racing for Otago so the Motley Crew could end up with three athletes in the top 10!
In Europe Richy raced 1500m in HZ running 3m49s which was below expectations but still a good start. he followed this with a 1m52.9s 800m in Gent after a day at the dentist (Ouch) and then last Sunday ran a 1500m in Brasschaat in 3m46s and is looking forward to another fast time in his last Eorupean race on Wednesday night.
Monday 13th July
There have a been a few races since the last update. Richy ran a 2000m race in Belgium on the 20th June winning easily in 5m30s after starting in the B race when he should have been in the A (won in 5m17s).
At the South Island XC on the 4th July Matt finished 3rd with an extremely strong 2nd 1/2 which brought him up very close to the leaders. Dave K and Dave C finished 9th and 10th respectively with just 5s between them.
Up north, Ning raced in the North Island XC champs at Spa Park, Taupo looking for an improvement on his race there last year. That he did with a runaway victory over a minute faster than the year before.
Last weekend Guns entered the Otago XC championships and came away with an outstanding win and his first senior provincial title.
That same evening in Kortrijk, Belgium, Richy placed 7th in an 800m race in 1m51.92s - a very pleasing 800m debut and his fastest for 2 seasons. this augurs well for upcoming races.
This coming weekend sees the running of the Canterbury XC Champs over 12km for Senior men. With the NZ champs being held on the same course 2 weeks later the race should be a very good pointer to current form leading into the National Champs. Ning, Matt, Dave and Dave will all be racing. Richy races a 1500m at the famed Heusden-Zolder meet the same night where he will be looking for a new personal best.
Tuesday 16th June
The SBS Marathon, 1/2 marathon and 10km events were held on the 31st May in Christchurch. Conditions were cold with a biting Southerly and occasional rain, hail and sleet. Dave C and Dave K finished 6th and 7th in the 10km in 33m51s and 34m08s respectively. Matt I finished the 1/2 marathon in 75m07s after suffering from stitch and coach Craig finished his first marathon in just under 3h30m.
On the 6th June Guns finished a very close 2nd in the Edmond Cup race in Wingatui, Dunedin in very cold conditions.
Richy has left for Europe to run a European track season - his first race is in Belgium this Saturday 20th June.
Tuesday 26th May
Another long time between updates. My apologies to regular readers.
Post the track season most enjoyed a small break. UC managed to defend the Hagley relay title with Ning and Matt featuring in the A team.
The pre-winter Camp Motley was held in Hanmer Springs from May 8-10th with 6 attending. Watch this space for a report being written by Richy. Last weekend Matt won the New Brighton 5k in wet and cold conditions in 15m01s.
Previous years comments are now stored on the ARCHIVE page.