Napier Harrier Steve Dent added to his rapidly expanding trophy collection on Saturday by taking out the clubs 'Laurence Cup' road race. The trophy will now sit proudly with the two medals Dent picked up at the National Road Racing Champs held in Napier two weeks ago. At that event Dent was part of the Bronze medal winning Napier Harrier Club M40 club team and the Silver medal winning Hawkes Bay/Gisborne M40 Provincial team.

Starting off a handicap of 12 minutes, Dent moved quickly through the field on the out and back course, taking the lead at 8km and then holding on for a comfortable victory and recording a personal best for the 10km distance. An in form Peter Gillies ran off a handicap of 16:15 to take second place, passing third placed Stephen Lindsay just meters from the finish line, the importance of which was to come out later when the final calculations for the 4 race Open Handicap series were completed. Gillies had done enough to take the series by 1 point from Alan Heywood, who finished fourth on the day - if Gillies had not passed Lindsay, Heywood and Gillies would have been tied in the series. Mark Speakman was third in the series a further 6 points behind.

Craig Mathers ran the fastest time of the day recording 34:31, his third PB (personal best) over the 10km distance in the last 6 weeks.

The Under 12's race over 2km's saw a fascinating battle take place between Abbey Green and Brendan Speakman, Speakman needing to beat Green to tie the series points. Green had a 1 minute start over Speakman but it proved too little as Speakman showed good strength, running strongly back into the wind to catch Green some 100 meters from the line and pull away for a 17 second win, also running a PB 7:47 for the distance.

The other grades all covered a 5km out and back course, with the strong winds around the base off Bluff Hill causing problems for some runners. Stefan Smith took good advantage of the conditions running right through the Boys Under 16 field from a 6:30 handicap to win in a very good 17:53. Second was Eric Speakman, 40 seconds in arrears with Andre Smith a further 19 seconds behind him. As with the Senior Men�s event these placing proved critical in deciding the out come of the Open Handicap Series with Andre Smith doing just enough to edge out Speakman by 1 point for the series win, with Smith's older brother Stefan 2 points further back.

Aleesha Heywood was the victor, both on the day and in the series for the Under 16 Girls. Starting from 'Go' she was never headed and finished a comfortable 34 seconds ahead of Laura Smidt who had started 9 minutes behind her. Shayna Heywood, running off a 6:20 handicap, was third just 2 seconds behind. Smidt and Shayna Heywood took second and third respectively in the Open Handicap series.

Bronwyn Farquharson added the Angus Cup to the Jubilee Cup she won earlier in the year when she took out the Senior/Veteran Women's race. Starting off a 40 second handicap she just held out Gina Finlayson by three seconds. Marion Sherburn was third across the line, a result which gave her second place in the Open Handicap series. Jo Cavanagh, who dropped just one point over the series, won, with Sonya Clark taking third.