Bays Relay
Island Bay to Evans Bay

16 August 2003

Willis sets record on flying visit

Nick Willis showed his class in his only competitive outing of the domestic harrier season, running a race record during the Bays Relay on Saturday.

Nick ran the second lap as Valleys finished second to Scottish in the opening road relay event of the year, held in fine conditions with a steady northerly wind around Wellington's south coast and eastern bays.

Taking over from Jeremy Boyd at Lyall Bay, Nick had a 50-second deficit to Scottish's Stu Barr but reduced the deficit to just six seconds by the time he handed over to Andrew Young. In the process he ran 14min 35sec to carve 7sec off the lap record previously held by Scottish's Todd Stevens.

Young outpaced Stevens on the third lap and put Valleys into a narrow lead at the fourth change, however the last two Scottish runners were too strong and the final margin was 1min 50sec to Scottish, the national road champions.

Aside from Willis' record the day's highlight for Valleys was the Masters A team winning their grade in convincing fashion. Murray Dougherty, Dave Ellis, Vaughan New, John Houghton and Tony Madsen clocked 1hr 15min 49sec to beat second-placed Wellington by over a minute and a half.

The lead changed three times and solid legs from Dougherty and Ellis set the launch pad for New, who ran a fast 16:09 third lap to put Valleys into the lead for the first, and last, time. Houghton and Madsen were able to successfully defend, and extend, the lead over the final two legs.

Elsewhere, the senior women's A team finished second while the junior women's A team were third in their grade.

Full results here
Valleys results below