19th January 2003: Cooks Gardens Classic Grand Prix - Mile - Cooks Gardens, Wanganui
1st Nick Hudson 4:04.52 AUS
2nd Rees Buck 4:07.44 Scottish
3rd Max Smith 4:08.50 Ariki
4th Garit Read 4:12.91 Hamilton
5th Carl Jackson 4:13.06 Valleys
6th Matthew Holder 4:14.98 Hastings
7th Robbie Parsons 4:15.49 TCAC
8th Michael Stringer 4:19.19 Bays
9th Alistair Snowden 4:20.30 Hawera
10th Simon Panckhurst 4:26.00 Scottish
11th Jason Cressingham 4:32.51 TCAC
DNF Neil Sampson Pacemaker
I warmed up for the Mile in Wanganui with a lot of confidence for a fast time. Despite being very windy during the day and evening things calmed down significantly just prior to the start, with only a small head wind up the home straight during the race. I felt great at the start, although in hindsight, maybe a little to great. Following Neil Sampson who was set to take the pace through 800m, we clocked the first lap in 56 seconds, well under our goal of 59 seconds. I was still feeling good at this point and thought that I may be able to keep it going. 800m came up in 1:58, exactly the split I wanted, but coming off of a 62 second 2nd lap picking the speed back up was going to be a problem. I tired significantly in the third lap running a 64 second lap with a split of 3:02 through 1200m. I had been clear of the field throughout the whole race and in the final lap the Australian 800m champion, Nick Hudson, passed me easily down the back straight to come home for the win in a time of 4:04. Nick ran a conservative race which paid off for a good debut at the distance for him. I finished in 4:07, just managing to hold off the fast finishing juniors, Max Smith and Garit Read.
