Willis 92nd as NZ finish ninth at world short course event

Hutt Valley Harrier Nick Willis has finished 92nd overall in the short course event at the world cross country championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The first year senior was the non-scoring runner in New Zealand's five-strong contingent as they repeated their ninth-placing from the last world short course event in Oostend, Belgium in 2001.

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele - still yet to turn 21 -- led the field home in 11min 01sec, the first part of his short course-long course world championship double, the first time an athlete has successfully defended both titles in consecutive years. The next four placings went to Kenyan athletes to give that nation the teams title.

Canterbury's Phil Costley was the first New Zealander home in 30th position. In the early stages Mike Aish was also in the top 40 but was unable to hold his place and eventually finished 69th.

Adrian Blincoe and Rees Buck ran 42nd and 45th respectively.

Willis was the fifth man home but only 15 seconds adrift of Aish, indicating the closeness of the racing.

Significantly, New Zealand beat home nations of the calibre of USA, Canada. Italy and Portugal and were just 2 points behind the British team.

On the second day of the championships, Costley was again to the fore finishing 32nd to be the lead Kiwi in the long course 12km event.

Full results: http://www.iaaf.org/WXC03/news/Kind=2/newsId=20913.html