It was third time lucky for Whanganui Masters speed skater Krystine Davies when she finally became the World Champion in the Masters Under 60's Marathon in Italy on Sunday.
After finishing a heart breaking close second to Italian Desiana Caniatti last year in China and also second in France in2015, this year Davies left nothing to chance in L'Aquilla and demolished the field in a time of 1hour 16 minutes and 9 seconds with defending champion Caniatti second in 1.19.35. Third was Italy's Myrna Mariassunta Casolaro. All three were significantly faster than the Under 50 Women.
Davies broke away from the pack at the half way point and Caniatti tried to go with her but dropped after a lap and Davies continued to increase the gap till the end of the race.
The New Zealand contingent's biggest opposition sometimes appeared to be the Italian officialdom with no lap counters or finish flags and officials relying on transponders for results. The biggest victim of this chaos was Dunedin's Brett McCormack who appeared to win the Under 60 Mens by 20 metres only to have the officials run an additional two laps and classify him as a non-finisher.
Davies helped avoid a similar fate with her coach Gary Clark cannily getting her to run an extra lap just in case.
Davies and McCormack spent the two weeks leading up to the championships in the Netherlands where they raced local events, both finishing on the podium.
