New Zealand wrapped up their quest at the 2023 World
Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Austria with
Toby Batchelor and Maia Flint finishing the top Kiwis in the
classic mountain races just three days after achieving the
same feat in the vertical mountain race.
On a day of
high-class mountain running competition at the stunning
Innsbruck-Stubai location, Batchelor (Pakuranga) produced a
strong, evenly-paced run in the 15km test to finish 53rd in
1:04:46 – one place higher than he achieved in the
vertical race – in the 143-man field.
Niam Macdonald
of Wellington Scottish was the second Kiwi across the line
in 73rd (1:07:34) – producing another solid outing after
his 70th position in the uphill only
event.
Unfortunately, men’s team skipper and New
Zealand Mountain Running champion Andy Good took ill before
the competition and spent the past two days in bed.
Understandably this impacted the performance of the
University of Canterbury athlete, and he came home 81st
(1:08:28).
Michael Sutton (Athletics Tauranga) was
disappointed with his 87th place finish in the vertical race
and opted to withdraw from the Classic Mountain
race.
Leonard Chemutai, winner of the U20 classic race
at the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
in Thailand in November, led home a Ugandan one-two to
strike gold in 56:14. Kenya took gold in the team
competition with New Zealand placing 21st
(207pts).
Teenager Maia Flint impressed to finish lead
Kiwi in 68th in the vertical race on the opening day of the
championships and the VUW Athletics athlete again gave a
demonstration of her rich potential to come home in 65th
(1:21:06) in her international debut competition. Andrea
Peat (Wellington Harriers) covered the distance in 1:24:49
to place 75th and finish one spot in front of team-mate
Sabrina Edwards (Lake City) in 1:25:22.
Women’s team
captain Sarah Douglas, who was making her fifth World
Mountain Running appearance, was the lead Kiwi around much
of the first of two laps but was forced to withdraw because
of a calf injury.
At the head of the race Grayson
Murphy of the USA regained the title she last won in 2019 to
take gold in 1:04:29 – just three days after snagging
bronze in the uphill-only race. In the team competition New
Zealand placed 18th (216pts) as Kenya took gold.
In
the 7.5km men’s U20 race Kiwi Ben Rickerby placed 59th in
34:43. The Auckland City athlete had finished 31st in the
2022 edition of these championships, however, given the
larger spread of nations and competitors here in Austria
compared to Chiang Mai last November, the teenager’s
performance was comparable. James Kirwa led home a Ugandan
1-2 – striking gold in a time of 27:37.
Flint, who
celebrates her 20th birthday next month, said of her
performance: “It was very tough out there. It was a fast
start, which was to be expected, and I tried to run within
myself that first lap but no matter how slow you go up that
big hill it is still very tough. The second lap was about
holding on for dear live and fighting, fighting. I’m proud
of myself for getting across the line and I think our team
produced a solid performance.”
New Zealand achieved
three top 50 individual finishes across the four-day
championship. The highlight was a 12th place finish by
Caitlin Fielder (Athletics Nelson) in the women’s short
trail race.
***For live results go here
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