Middle-distance runners Angie Petty and Alex Rowe lived up to their billing in Hastings today.
Rio Olympian Petty (nee Smit) clocked 2m 03.67s after good friend and arch-rival Katherine Marshall (nee Camp) strayed from her race plan to show the winner a clean pair of heels during the 19th edition of the annual Allan and Sylvia Potts Memorial Classic.
However, the 25-year-old from Christchurch seemed just as comfortable sitting behind until she shifted gears at the 200m mark from the finish line to overtake a straining Marshall who clocked 2:05.56.
The Hamiltonian, who turns 25 early next month, would have felt another rival, Katrina Anderson, of Auckland, breathing down her neck as the latter clocked 2:05.91 for third place on the podium.
It was a gob-smacking eighth Sylvia Potts Classic crown for Petty, who runs under the banner of University Canterbury Athletics Club, although her time was marginally slower today compared with last year's one of 2:03.43.