Red Stag Relay winner 'running scared' | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

Sometimes there is nothing wrong with running scared - just ask Rotorua runner Jason Steyn-Ross.

The 25-year-old ran the anchor leg of the open men's heat for his club Lake City Athletic Club in this year's Timberlands and CNI Iwi Holdings Red Stag Relay at the Redwoods at the weekend.

His team broke a 12-year drought for the club, winning the open men's division. The club first won it in the event's inaugural year and in 1999.

Lake City open men's team won their division 28 seconds ahead of Hamilton Hawks followed 13 seconds later by Auckland Grammar.

Steyn-Ross was "stoked" with the team's performance and especially his own race.

"I wasn't feeling the best coming into the run. I'd been battling the flu. I was pretty worried I'd get caught on my run. I was running scared the whole way. But he never caught me."

Steyn-Ross had been given a lead of just under a minute thanks to some strong running from teammates Steven O'Callaghan, Nick Pannett, Ben McHale and Sjors Corporaal.

The club captain went up against Hamilton Hawks runner Cory Whiting, who was known to be a faster runner than Steyn-Ross.

Said Whiting, "I had to chase down [Steyn-Ross]. I think he had 40-odd-seconds on me but I didn't get him in the end.

"I didn't have the greatest run. I had a bit of work on at Wintec and it's holiday time. I've been having a bit of fun. So it wasn't the best build-up."

About 106 teams took part in the event, which has been running for 33 years.

The event caters for running and walking teams, and takes in the roads and tracks of the Scion Archives Nursery area between the Long Mile and Te Ngae Rd. On leaving the nursery area and on crossing the Long Mile Rd, athletes move into the Redwood Grove to run and walk among the towering redwoods, and the undulating top track of the grove, to come out at the base of Nursery Rd, finishing with a flat sprint back to the finish/start line by the Visitors Centre.

The five teammates took turns running the 5km course with Corporaal running a great fourth leg to take the lead from Hawks runner 21-year-old Michael Whitehead.

"I thought I'd just try and keep him in my sights. I actually ran against him last year and it was a similar outcome.

"I was catching him slowly and eventuallypassed him and just kept going at that pace and he couldn't hold on in the end."

Although Corporaal has been running for the club for about three years he told The Daily Post he hadn't run the course since last year's event.

But he said the conditions had suited him.

"I'm probably a bit better on hills. [Whitehead] is a better track runner so I sort of had the advantage once we hit the bush."

Corporaal said there was a great rivalry between the Hawks and Lake City.

"It's awesome to have that rivalry. It makes you run harder. You always look forward to it. We've probably got one of the strongest teams for a few years."

The 34-year-old said he put his team's win down to the consistency of the runners in the team.

Meanwhile, in the other divisions, Lake City masters men's were second to Hamilton Hawks in their division, while the Lake City women were third in the open women's grade, as were the Clubs masters women.

However, the upset and surprise of the day came in the master's women's division when the team from Feilding Moa ended the 15-year winning streak of Hamilton Hawks, winning by almost 2 minutes from the Hawks team.

The composite division was won in a decisive manner by the Bay Cougars Club (Auckland) with their fifth team member Hayden McLaren returning the fastest lap of the day with a smart 14.56 for the 5km lap.

McLaren's teammate Danielle Trevis recorded the fastest female lap of 17.28 for the distance.

The youth section division was a clean sweep for runners from Taranaki with the team from New Plymouth Girls' High winning their grade setting a new team record for the 4 x 3200 and eclipsing the old record by 1 minute 40 seconds.

With all four athletes running their laps between 12 minutes 30 seconds and 12 minutes 52 seconds, this consistency broke the team record set in 2006 by Tauranga Girls College. They recorded 50.43 against the old mark of 52.23.