ATHLETICS: Rew flies flag at Hobart

16th February 2010

 Hawke's Bay's Quentin Rew was the best of the Kiwis at an international race walking challenge in Hobart at the weekend.

Hastings' Rew finished 12th in his 20km race with a time of 1hr 35m 16s. Australian Jared Tallent won the race in 1hr 19m 15s.

Hawke's Bay athletes were among the major placegetters at the Porritt Classic meet in Hamilton on Saturday night. The United States-bound Laura Nagel ran her first 1500m of the season and finished .2sec behind national 3km champion Fiona Crombie in 4m 25.16s.

Nagel (pictured) took more than four seconds off her personal best and, in doing so, ran a B standard qualifying time for the July world junior championships in Canada. To gain selection, she needs to repeat a B qualifying time once more or achieve an A standard time of 4m 23.5s.

The Mick Cull-coached Nagel has an opportunity to qualify for the 3km event in Canada when she competes as an invited runner in a test match between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland this weekend.

Neville Smith was second in the men's 3km with a time of 8m 51.42s. Eric Speakman was fourth in the men's 1500 with a personal best time of 3m 51.42s and his younger brother, Brendan, was 17th in the secondary school boys 1500m in 4m 28.03s.