Otago claimed a convincing victory in the annual interclub team trial clash with Southland in Outram on Saturday. But it wasn’t all plain sailing for Otago with strong performances from Southland to win the master’s women’s race along with the under-17 girl’s event, while the master’s men 2 came second in their category.

On Friday I was very fortunate to be invited to take part in an Observer Tour to take a behind-the-scenes look at an outstanding international event being staged in our own back yard, the 2011 Winter Games.

Saturdays race turned out to be an exciting handicap that saw the majority of the field come together with only 500m to the finish line, well done Waine (handicapper).