23rd August 2003: Wellington Road Championships - 10,000m - Wellington, New Zealand
1st Rees Buck 31:37 Scottish
2nd Mike Wakelin 31:39 Olympic
3rd Grant McLean 32:04 Scottish
4th Nick Buck 32:11 Scottish
5th Jason Cressingham 32:13 WHAC
6th Todd Stevens 32:24 Scottish
7th Stu Barr 32:34 Scottish
8th Paul Mason 32:36 Scottish
9th Simon Panckhurst 32:39 Scottish
9th Daniel Clendon 33:58 WHAC
Leading up to this race I knew that I was still in relatively good shape following my European racing, but I had some doubts about my fitness after having the previous three weeks off with an injury. I also knew that my presence would be required for the teams race which Wellington Scottish were defending champions so the decision was made to run. Early on I had decided to run at a comfortable pace and move through the field throughout the race. As expected group of 6-8 runners made an early break on the field, but I chose to hang back for the first 2kms. I then made a move to join the front pack which was getting smaller every minute. By the 5km mark there was only myself and three other athletes at the front with Mike Wakelin doing the majority of the work into the wind. Grant McLean, also Scottish, and I were trying to stay out of the very strong wind as much as possible although we both had turns in the lead for short periods. With about 2kms to go Mike and I pulled away from Grant and Mike started to push hard to make a break on me. I managed to stay with him into the wind and tried to pull away about 600m from the finish. Despite doing a lot of the leading earlier in the race Mike managed to stay close to me and made me fight for the win all of the way to the line. A good performance in the conditions, for both myself and Mike, and a comfortable win for the Scottish mens team.
