Athletics: Costley demolishes field in gruelling race

By MURRAY MCKINNON

Phil Costley chalked up his 11th New Zealand running title with an emphatic victory in the gruelling national mountain running championship on the Black Birch Range in Marlborough on Saturday.

Running 12km to a summit of 1700m, Costley blitzed the field after halfway to finish in the clouds in bitterly cold conditions.

He recorded 1h 6m 45s for the journey.

This compares well with Jonathan Wyatt's 1998 winning time of 1h 5m 36s on the same course. Wyatt went on to win the world title in the same year.

Costley, of Napier, but running for the first time for his new Papanui Toc H club, said his aim was to run with the others and then dig in over the final 4km.

"The zig zag on the course, the part they said would be the toughest, felt comfortable and wearing spikes was a big help and this is where I made my break," said Costley.

"The worst part was the cold conditions on the ridge leading to the summit."

Costley, aged 30, will continue his mileage buildup in a bid to make the Sydney Olympics in the marathon.

He will race in the Rotorua marathon in three weeks and the national half-marathon championship in Christchurch in early June before an all-out effort for the Games in the Gold Coast marathon in Queensland on June 25.

Kawerau's Aaron Strong, nursing a tender Achilles tendon, was outstanding over the final slog to the top, gaining five places to claim second in 1h 9m 2s - well over two minutes behind Costley.

Callum Harland of Taumarunui finished 11s later in third.

In the women's championships it was sweet success for Karen Murphy of Christchurch, after illness forced her out of last year's event at Mt Maunganui.

"It is the title I wanted," said a smiling Murphy at the end of the women's 7.5km event.

Murphy had a neck-and-neck race with 1996 champion Megan Edhouse, of Kawerau, in their climb of 1000m.

However, Murphy, who has won the New Zealand cross-country, 3000m and 2km steeplechase titles within the past eight months, proved the stronger over the closing stages.

Glenn Hughes of Tauranga, winner of the junior men's title, looks to have a great future in the event, Chris Tye of Thames qualified for selection to the world championships in Germany in September when she retained her junior women's title.