Athletics: Warrander seeks another 10km win

Dale Warrander will be seeking his fourth straight victory in the annual 10km road running race in Auckland from Musick Point to Pakuranga on Sunday.

Warrander will be up against a strong field that includes Ben Ruthe, Mark Bowyer, Matt Ingram, Scott Winton and Russell Dessaix-Chin from Australia.

Last year, Warrander improved his own race record to 29 minutes 32 seconds.

Ruthe was second in 30min 56sec with Mark Bailey of Christchurch, who is entered again, in third.

Warrander who has beaten Dessaix-Chin in both last season's New Zealand and Australian 10,000m track championships said that he would be aiming for a solid blow out before the New Zealand marathon championship at the end of the month.

"It will be a stepping stone before the Auckland marathon. I will be going out with my aggressive nature and it will be full on from the start," said Warrander.

Also entered are Mark McKeown, Jason Cameron and Olympic Games triathlon gold medallist Hamish Carter.

Ingram, Ruthe, Warrander, Bowyer and Cameron all ran fastest laps in last weekend's New Zealand road relay championship in Feilding.

Winton is the New Zealand road champion.

Last year's junior winner Ryan Sissons will have a formidable trio of Dino Bozzone, Lewis Jenkin and Jake Robertson to contend with this time.

Jess Ruthe is expected to improve on her fourth placing last year in the women's section and lead in the field.

Ruthe's form indicates that Kate McIlroy's race record of 33min 2sec could be threatened.

Nyla Carroll, Tracey Clissold, Rebecca Forlong, Sally Ward and Melanie Burke have also entered the women's race.

- NZPA