Withers conquered again
Megan Graham captured her tenth title on the Wither Hills course today. Photos Peter Jones
Runners with widely contrasting experience of the demanding King and Queen of the Withers course were crowned Marlborough running royalty on Saturday morning.
Christchurch visitor Dayle McLauchlan, in his first outing on the southern hills, posted the fastest time over the 10km journey to be crowned King of the Withers. Meanwhile, local athlete and event veteran Megan Graham picked up her 10th Queen of the Withers title with a particularly gutsy effort following serious surgery last year.
Both winners were pushed hard throughout.
Dayle finished in the smart time of 42 minutes nine seconds, beating home his running coach, Christchurch-based Vajin Armstrong, by just over a minute.
Megan came home in 10th place overall, registering a time of 49.23, with second-placed youngster Brooke Bowen, from Nelson, a mere nine seconds adrift. Brooke set a new junior women’s record, beating Megan’s 50.12 time set in 2010.
The Hybrid event was won by Janna Wilkinson, in 1.02.43, with Lindsay Muir nine seconds behind as they raced to the finish line at the Rifle Range Car Park. Don Bate led the walkers home.
While she has enjoyed a plenty of success in this event over the years, including holding the fastest women’s time, today’s effort was special for Megan who is recovering from an achilles tendon rupture suffered in April, 2022.
“I was actually just happy to make it round today,” she said. “I haven’t been training, just doing heaps of rehab since my injury and have had a couple of walks on the course.”
Following doctor’s advice, it was Megan’s first major outing since her injury and the former national squash champion is looking forward to getting back on court, probably next week.
“It is a year’s recovery as there is a high risk of re-rupturing it as it came straight off the bottom of my foot … luckily I have had a good surgeon, I have to thank Prieur du Plessis for getting me back out there today.
“The young girl from Nelson [Brooke] really pushed me today … she was right on my heels. When she did her first walk up the hills I thought, ‘I have just got to keep running now, I can’t let her see me walking’. She certainly kept me on my toes.
“I originally wasn’t too concerned about winning this year but when you get someone like that on your tail you get all hungry again.”
Dayle, while never having run the course before, had cycled over it, as part of a mountain bike race many years ago.
“It think it was the Wither Hills inaugural mountain bike race, about 15 or 16 years ago,” said the 42-year-old.
“I did it on my single speed mountain bike, and won. So, it is nice to come back and have a go at something different this time.”
Relatively new to running, Dayle is predominantly an ultra-marathon runner and when his coach suggested they do the race as a hit-out for forthcoming events, he jumped at the chance.
“I was running away from [Vajin] the whole time … he is a phenomenal trail and ultra-marathon runner so I was petrified the whole way he was going to run me down and them tell me everything I was doing wrong.
“It was a really nice event to be a part of.
“The course was a really good showcase of the Wither Hills Farm Park. The views from the top were pretty phenomenal. It was a lovely course to run with lots of friendly people out there.”
Leading results from 2023:
Junior men (record George Varney 2020 41.37): Adam Coleman 46.34
Junior women (record Megan Craig 2010 50.21): Brooke Bowen 49.32 (new record)
Senior men (record Andy Good 2021 38.07) Jarod Thompsett 47.08
Senior women (record Megan Craig 2014 44.22) Megan Graham 49.23
Veteran men (record Phil Costley 2012 38.55) Dayle McLauchlan 42.09
Veteran women (record Susie Aviss 2006 47.41) Stacey Gable 52.02
Walker men (record Bary Neal 2010 1.01.36) Don Bate 1.09.08
Walker women (record Barbara Maguire 2006 1.14.10) Teresa Zandovliet 1.33.11.