Lead from start to win priceless strategy

A new training regime paid huge dividends for Masterton athlete Tony Price at the national road race championships in Dunedin over the weekend.
Price, 53, had all of 47secs to spare from his nearest rival, Greg Banks, of Auckland, in winning the Masters men's 50-54yrs 10km event in 35mins 32.50secs and was quick to pay tribute to the assistance given him by Masterton-based coach Mark Harris over the past year or so
"He's given me different guidelines to follow and they make training more interesting," he said. "A lot of it is goal setting and time trialing, that sort of thing."
Price's race plan in Dunedin was simple, go out fast and look to establish an early lead with the idea of having a "cushion" if any challenges came late in the piece
"You can never be sure of the calibre of the opposition at meets like this, somebody could come out the woodwork and surprise everyone," he said. "So it's all about running your own race and trusting that's good enough to get you through."
While delighted with this latest victory Price admits he will be even more pleased if he can grab the major honours in his age group at the national marathon championships to be held in Invercargill in November.
Marathon running has long held pride of place in the Price heart and not surprisingly either considering he has won the Wairarapa country marathon on no fewer than 10 occasions.
"A national marathon title would be the icing on the cake, this could be as good a chance of any of getting it," he said.