Rayner wins Noosa Bolt, misses race record
Murray Wenzel |
Jack Rayner has put a gap on the Noosa 5km Bolt field to win his fourth-straight race but fell 12 seconds short of breaking the 23-year-old event record.
In Tasmania last week the Australian took 11 seconds off the national 10km road record.
And he was well in front and on track to add another milestone on Saturday before a keen start came back to bite him in the afternoon Queensland heat.
A time of 13 minutes, 53 seconds exhilarated the huge Noosa crowd but was 12 seconds short of Kenyan Joseph Waweru’s 1999 mark.
Jack Bruce (14:23) finished runner-up for the second straight year, and Callum Davies (14:24) was third.
An Olympic marathon runner, Rayner is now among the country’s pack of middle-distance performers and was eighth in the 5000m at this year’s Commonwealth Games.
He said his injury-interrupted season had a silver lining.
“It’s nice to string some wins together, that’s four in a row now,” Rayner, who finished first in this year’s Melbourne half-marathon, told AAP.
“Injury forced a break and it did me wonders, I’m finding my stride.
“I had no idea what the record was. I thought it might have been in the low 13:50s.
“Then I heard it was 13.41; a bit quicker than I thought it was.
“Going out a bit hard, I paid the price a bit later on but I’m still pretty happy with that.
“It’s one of my favourite places to run in Australia. It gets a bit louder each lap and they dragged me home.
“Maybe next year (I can get the record) if I do the start a little bit smarter.”
Racing for the first time in five years, long-distance legend Steve Moneghetti (16:34) finished 32nd, just six seconds behind the over-60s world record for a 5km road race.
Lauren Perry defended her Australian Open Criterium title, while Craig Wiggins pipped 2019 champion and WorldTour stage winner Kaden Groves in a brilliant photo finish.
“That was a tough one,” Wiggins said.
“The crowd, the atmosphere – that was an awesome race.
“At the top of the bridge I saw Kaden kick early and thought, ‘This is good’.
“I thought, ‘Just be patient, trust the kick and you only have to win by an inch’.”
On Sunday, Ashleigh Gentle will chase a record-extending ninth Noosa Triathlon crown, while two-time champion Jake Birtwhistle will look to pinch the title back off 2021 winner Luke Willian.
AAP
