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ATHLETICS

Michael Pugh's memory may be starting to fade but his legs certainly aren't.

The Tauranga Ramblers masters runner took line honours at the Waikato Bay of Plenty Road Championships in Rotorua on Saturday, beating clubmate Iain MacDonald and local hope Steven O'Callaghan to the finish at Waipa.

"I'm bound to have [won one before] but my memory's deserting me now," 36-year-old Pugh joked after posting a 31.31minute time, heading off the young whippersnappers to the line.

"It's one of my better times. Ian and I just keyed off each other I think. Steven likes to employ the spurts through the race but with the two of us there, we could keep it steady and slowly reel him in again. It worked quite well."

With Pugh taking the masters honours, the senior men's open title went to 26-year-old MacDonald for the second time in three years.

"I'm pretty stoked," said 25-year-old MacDonald, who won the Kawerau Marathon in record time earlier this year and has started ramping up his training during the past five weeks.

He hopes to run the Auckland Marathon in October and will be part of the Ramblers' assault on Rotorua's annual Red Stag Forest Relay and the following National Road Relay Championships in Christchurch, both in October.

Going in to Saturday's race O'Callaghan had a chance of becoming the first athlete from the Lake City Athletic Club to hold three Waikato Bay of Plenty titles since the legendary Jack Foster completed the rare marathon, cross country and road racing treble back in 1973.

After a three-week spell, he showed some promising form a week earlier in Matamata where he ran a solid leg as Lake City won the men's relay title. However, things proved a little too difficult for him at the weekend.

He led Pugh and MacDonald in the early stages but the Tauranga pair worked well together to nullify the trademark bursts of the Rotorua runner - who fell metres from the finish-line to finish a heartwrenching second at this year's Rotorua Marathon.

"It's about where I thought I would be," O'Callaghan assessed his latest effort. It had been made more difficult with his two-week break from running extended to three after his wife fell sick and he had to care for their baby - but O'Callaghan was not making any excuses.

"[The break's] been good. I'm recouped and ready to go again after this. It's different [after a spell]. You're not as comfy and it definitely slows you up," said O'Callaghan.

He will now focus his training efforts on the New Zealand Marathon (Invercargill) and National Road Relay Championships (Akaroa, Canterbury).

Meanwhile, Saturday's women's race was won by Hamilton Hawks runner Helen Rowntree with ex-Rotorua, now Tauranga Ramblers representative Johanna Ottoson finishing second.

Rowntree led from the start, slowing drawing away from the chasing women on each lap with Ottoson also working her way clear.

Matamata College 17-year-old Kieran McPherson, representing Hamilton Hawks for just the second time, won the junior boys' title.

• The next major local event on the athletics calender is the annual Red Stag Forest Relay which will be held on September 12.