03/09/2011 - Otago claimed a convincing victory in the annual interclub team trial clash with Southland in Outram on Saturday.
Teams battled gale force headwinds on the outward leg of the course and in some cases were rewarded with a wind assisted homeward leg.
After last years defeat in Invercargill, Otago were hungry for victory. Otago had 14 teams entered against a disappointing 4 teams entered from Southland and never stood a chance of retaining the cup.
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.
The under-17 girl’s team of Laura Heywood, Brooke Brazier, Libby Bayne, Monique Ragget were impressive to a point where they smashed the Otago under-17 boy’s team by a 4min over the 25km course.
The final tally put Otago well ahead on 30 points, with Southland on 9 points.
During the prizing it was made very clear to the Southlanders in attendance that the Otago team were not impressed by the lack of commitment made by Team Southland to this event considering that Otago had sent down 20 teams the year before in Invercargill. It also didn’t help Southlands cause that the cup was made available to the winning team as it was still at headquarters in Invercargill.
Masters Men 40km Otago A 56min 42sec, Otago B 57min 29sec, Southland 58min 07sec
Masters Men 2 40km Otago A 54min 42sec, Southland 1 hour 03min 03sec, Otago B 1 hour 04min 40sec
Masters Women 25km Southland 41min 03sec, Otago 43min 41 sec
Under 17 Girls 25km Southland 46min 06sec