Runners really go the extra mile

Winners of Athletic Whangarei's Annual Lovelock men's and women's miles led from start to finish, outclassing their competitors.
Senior and junior competitors ran together in both the men's and women's miles, held at the Kensington Park track on Tuesday evening.
In the men's mile (1609m) 53-year-old Ian Calder went out fast opening up a winning gap in the first 300m and increasing his lead with every stride.
In the third lap, under the watchful eye of his coach Ian Babe, Calder lifted his tempo and continued with a strong final lap, finishing well clear in 4m 51.99s.
"It was just part of my training for the Australian Masters' Championships in Brisbane at Easter. I pushed the third lap, which is what I'll do in Brisbane, Calder said.
"There might be another runner who's quicker over 200 or 300m than I am and by pushing the third lap, I'd hope to take the sting out of their finish," he explained.
Behind Calder, drama lay in a battle between Sam Moscrip and Shintaro Fushida-Harding for second place.
Moscrip attempted to trail Calder at the start.
"I followed Ian Calder for a bit, but that didn't last long," he said.
Moscrip strode on, determinedly holding onto second.
"I thought I had him (Fushida-Harding), but then he passed me in the last 350m - I nearly gave up - but then I just out sprinted him in the last 50 metres and just got him," a delighted Moscrip said.
Fushida-Harding launched his challenge with 350m to go because he could not sprint fast enough, he said. But he was shut out by half a stride, with five metres to go.
Afterwards he reflected on his tactical error.
"I think I passed him too early," Fushida-Harding said.
Fred Needham, 62, knew he had no chance of making a podium finish, but still pushed himself to achieve his personal goal of breaking six minutes.
"Last year I did 5m 50s and I thought this year would be my last ever sub-six minute mile, if I could do it - and I did," he said.
In contrast to the men's race, the women's mile was a triumph for one of the younger runners - 13-year-old Imogen Hull.
Like Calder, she powered away from the gun, increasing her lead with every stride and winning by a huge margin in 5m 32.22s, a personal best by 4.4s.
Although no match for Hull, the even younger Amanda Still, 12, ran impressively, taking second place in 5m 52.77s.
Still's performance came on top of an excellent 200m in the club events preceding the mile, when she ran a new PB of 28.93s.