Guest wins in Kerikeri

Matamata Harriers' Wayne Guest glanced over his shoulder as he powered round the last corner on to the finishing straight, leading 1554 runners in the 2010 Kerikeri half-marathon.
With nobody in sight, Guest knew he had the 21.1km race in the bag - despite a spirited challenge from North Harbour Bays' Kyle Barnes in the first half - and he finished fast in 1h 13m 23s, looking relaxed.
"He [Barnes] pushed me a bit in the first half, but I'm generally fairly strong on the hills and I don't think he was quite recovered from the Auckland half [marathon] three weeks ago - once I knew I had it in the bag I sort of put the cruise control on," Guest said.
Barnes who ran a personal best time of 1h 12m 44s in the Auckland half-marathon didn't have his usual strength on the hills.
"I went out with him [Guest] - we were running neck and neck until about 10km - I knew I was in trouble because I'm usually pretty strong on the hills, but today I just didn't have it in my legs and about 12 or 13km he just started to get a little bit of a gap and continued to get space on me," Barnes said.
Shane Hazelden, from Auckland, took third; Danny Carmine, from Christchurch, fourth; and LJ Hooker Athletic Whangarei's Tim Goodwin, finished an excellent fifth overall and first from Northland, in 1h 17m 37s.
Whangarei's Mike Gowing running in the M50-54 age-group recorded a fast 1h 23m 03s, taking second overall in his age group and first from Northland.
Other Northlanders who competed well in their age-groups included Michael Bird (no club), fourth M35-39; Greg Morris (Hatea), fourth M40-44; Richard Blogg (Whangarei), third M45-49; Fred Needham (Whangarei), first overall M60-64; Jim Kettlewell (Whangarei), third M65-69; John Malden (Kerikeri), third M70-74; and Whangarei's Colin Thorne (86), first M80+.
In the women's section, 19-year-old Tara la Grange (Bay Cougars), cut out the course for gold, unchallenged, in 1h 20m 45s - comfortably clear of Kerikeri's Maria Akesson, the 2006 winner.
While pleased to win, la Grange said she was disappointed with her time - which she mistakenly understood to be 1h 23m, slower than her PB of 1h 21m 44s in the 2010 Auckland half marathon. No doubt she was elated later, on discovering she had, in fact, run a PB.
Mikki Williden (Auckland), fourth woman in the 2010 Auckland marathon, scored bronze, followed by Amanda Parish (Auckland) fourth, Kate Wood (Whangarei), fifth and Northland's Amy Burke sixth.
Other stand out age-group performances by Northland's women included: Carolyn Younger (Dargaville), first overall F40-44, Leigh Ruddock (Athletics Whangarei) first overall F45-49, Annette Murray (Hatea) second overall F60-64 and Whangarei Athletics' Klasina van der Veek (79) first F75-79. Experienced walker Michael Stride from Auckland, took first just 18 seconds ahead of first-time competitor Northland's Kenny Whittaker, followed closely by Trevor McCoid; while Jill Stewart, fourth walker overall, took first amongst the women, ahead of Charmaine O'Shea and Pam Hardy. Lee Warn, from Auckland, - the only wheelchair participant - changed last year's gorilla suit for a Batman outfit, which he said was hot, but not as hot as the gorilla suit.
He praised the event and the organisation by Sport Northland.