Davidson eyes up 10k road champs

Andrew Davidson will be seeking to join an elite list of runners who have won the New Zealand cross country and road crowns in the same season.

The Canterbury runner, who convincingly won the cross country title in Christchurch last month, will line up with 34 others for the 10km senior men's road championship, to be held in Dunedin on Saturday.

Five athletes have won the double in the same year, Kevin Ryan in 1974, Rex Wilson in 1984, Ken Moloney in 1986, Peter Renner in 1987 and Phil Costley twice in 2002 and 2004.
Davidson did not compete in the Canterbury championships, Sam Wreford winning the title in 30m 45s from Brett Tingay 31m 5s. Wreford will be all out to go one better than his second place last year to Dale Warrander, who is not defending his title.

Others who have a stake of claiming the title are Kim Hogarth of Nelson, the New Zealand half marathon champion and third in the cross country, Matt Ingram and Rowan Hooper of Canterbury, Matt Lambert and Tony Payne of Otago and Tingay.
Fiona Crombie of Canterbury should add the road title to the senior women's cross country title won last month. Shireen Crumpton is the defending champion and also in with a chance are Rachel Kingsford and Kellie Palmer of Otago.

Eric Speakman of Hawkes Bay Gisborne will be defending his men 19 title, with challenges likely to come from Harry Dixon of Tasman and Jono Jackson of Auckland.
Danielle Travis of Auckland is favourite in the women's 19, while Mohamed Ali of Waikato Bay of Plenty and Anna-Lisa Uttley of Otago will be all out to repeat their wins in the cross country in the 16 division.

Canterbury runners should dominate the masters, Richard Bennett in the men and Tracy Crossley in the women. The championships will be conducted at Logan Park and the course will take in the roads surrounding Logan and The Caledonian Parks. The walks are the first event underway at 9.30am with the senior men and women 10km at 2.30pm.