The hills surrounding Upper Moutere were paved with gold last weekend. John Kennedy and Ian Thomas secured gold medals in the National Road Relay Championships representing Athletics Nelson in Masters Men 40+
Their team which included multi-national champion Phil Costley covered the 8-leg 71.7km course in a time of 4 hours 17min and 3sec. just three seconds clear on runners-up Scottish. Papanui finished third a further three minutes back.
The Marlborough 60s Composite team comprising of Rab Rodger, Robbie Barnes, David Bendell, Allister Christie and Ray Waters finished a creditable 19th out of 26 teams. Their combined time was 3 hours 15min and 12sec. for the 5-leg 39.49km course.
The stand-out performer for the team was Robbie who clocked the 11th fastest overall time of 35min 55sec. for the 9.29km second lap. A total of 51 teams took part in the 5-leg course of which other grades included Masters 60+ Men, Junior Men and Junior Women.