Bay of Plenty's Aaron Pulford (left) and Michael Voss went head-to-head in the New Zealand 10km Road Race Championship. Photo / Michael Dawson
Bay of Plenty's Aaron Pulford (left) and Michael Voss went head-to-head in the New Zealand 10km Road Race Championship. Photo / Michael Dawson
A pair of Bay of Plenty speedsters left the competition in their dust at the New Zealand 10km Road Championship.
Tauranga's Aaron Pulford won the race, held in Auckland at the weekend, in a blistering 30m 15s. Rotorua's Michael Voss was right on his tail, finishing second in 30m 34s.Canterbury's Daniel Balchin was third in 31m 2s.
"I was really happy with [the result]. I've always come second or third in the last few years so it was good to get the win this time.
"My training leading in was really consistent, I've had a really good block of training for the last probably seven months now and it's starting to show. Last year, I had a lot of stuff going on and I was missing training blocks, missing days here and there and it all adds up.
"It does [feel good to win], it shows all the hard work I've put in and that it's paying off."
Bay of Plenty's Aaron Pulford (left) and Michael Voss went head-to-head in the New Zealand 10km Road Race Championship. Photo / Michael Dawson
The race got off to a fast start with Voss and a couple of other runners attempting to create a gap at the front but Pulford said he was confident he could rein them in.
"I always back my track speed and I knew the first kilometre they went was pretty quick - my goal was to maintain the pace. They slowed and once I caught up to them I put the hammer down even more because I could sense they were tiring.
"I was in control the whole time. It was good starting the race fast, I wanted it to go fast and it sort of played into my hands."
He said mental strength played a key role in doing well at running events.
"You have to keep quite composed. You have to fully believe in yourself and back yourself when a gap like that opens at the start. You have to be mentally strong, when it starts to hurt you have to push through that."
Tauranga's Aaron Pulford claims the win in the New Zealand 10km Road Race Championship. Photo / Michael Dawson
Voss said he was happy with second place - he did not feel he could've run any faster.
"I'm pretty happy with it, Aaron is a really good runner so finishing second to him doesn't feel that bad, I'm pretty stoked with it.
"I didn't want it to be a slow race because I don't rely on my finishing kick much so I went out hard to stretch it out from the start. That spread the field out straight away but then Aaron took the lead about halfway through.
"I just tried to hold on to him until the last three or four kilometre then he started to push a bit, he sped up. I think if I ran it any differently the result would've been the same, if not worse, so I'm happy with how it went."
I'm pretty happy with it, Aaron is a really good runner so finishing second to him doesn't feel that bad, I'm pretty stoked with it.
Voss will now turn his attention to New Zealand Road Relay Championships on October 5 where he will be part of the Lake City Athletic senior men's team. Following that he will tackle the full Auckland Marathon - he finished second in the half there a year ago.
Pulford is also targeting Auckland - the half marathon - unless he opts to travel to Australia for the Melbourne Half Marathon.
New Zealand 10km Road Race Championship Results
Senior Men: 1st Aaron Pulford (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 30m 15s, 2nd Michael Voss (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 30m 34s, 3rd Daniel Balchin (Canterbury) 31m 02s, 4th Christopher Dryden (Canterbury) 31m 17s, 5th Jacob Priddey (Otago) 31m 23s.
Other Waikato Bay of Plenty results: 1st Masters Men 10km run: Jonny Mckee (Waikato Bay of Plenty), 33m, 05s. 1st Masters Women - 5km run: Sally Gibbs (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 17m, 56s. 2nd U14 Boys - 3km race walk: Kadin Nogaj (Tauranga) 21m, 13s.
