Rotorua Marathon beats Ozy

Ozy finishing the London Marathon

Beating is not quite the world that should be used here in the title. Rather the Rotorua Marathon ate Ozy, chewed him around a bit and then unceremoniously  spat him out the backdoor as he recorded a very disappointing 3:45min marathon.

Expectation had been high leading into the event especially after Ozy’s recent run in the London Marathon. His training, in the balmy BOP had given him a sexy all over tan which helped him into an exceptional time. Ozy had been hoping to replicate this fine form but was hit hard by a calf muscle injury in his preparation to the Rotorua event and this had forced him to spend more time on the physio table then running and ultimately it was this injury which the brutal Rotorua Marathon found, and then exposed around the 32km mark.

The race had began well for Ozy who found the cooler conditions to his liking and his first three 10k splits were 47min 46 min and 49min which included a leisurely pit stop along the banks of the lake. At that point the first 30km had been covered in 2:23 and the leaders were worried as an advancing Ozy looked like stealing line honours. But then then a mixture of dodgy calf, lack of long training runs conspired to make the final 12km brutal. Old men, overweight women and even a guy dressed as Barney the Dinosaur passed Ozy with ease as the final 12km, which  took a staggering 1 hr and 22 min.

Ozy Mandias' km splits from the Rotorua Marathon. Like an All Black semi final everything was fine at the halfway point and the disaster.

While the final stretch was hard on Ozy the vocal Rotorua crowd didn’t help much in bringing our friend home. Some of the best jeering was directed straight at a struggling Ozy who took it all on his his stride moon shuffle. Some of the more memorable quotes were recorded and listed below.

“Buddy are you supposed to be going backwards.”

“Look that guys doing the moon walk, his legs are moving but he’s going nowhere.”

“Mum look at the funny man, is there something wrong with him.”

Needless to say at this stage Ozy can’t be bothered running ever again. But we should wait and see.

Glasshouse on Queen's Wharf instead of tent.

A temporary facility will be built on Auckland’s Queens wharf to host ‘party central’ for the Rugby World Cup, Murray McCully confirmed today.

The Rugby World Cup Minister announced the plans at a media conference in downtown Auckland this morning. Mr McCully said the structure was “most assuredly not a tent” . Instead it will be a glass house, made from steel and glass. The Government would pay $9 million for the “cost-effective, eco friendly building” and Auckland regional ratepayers would pay $10 million for the upgrade of the wharf, Mr McCully said.

The $19million dollar glasshouse will be the largest in the world, according to Yates Gardens, and will be a real benefit to New Zealand. Once the Rugby World Cup is over it is expected the glasshouse will be put on Trade Me with early suggestions the Coromandel District Council and the Manukau District Council both want the item to help with their local cannabis crops.

Gardener McCully said the Queens Wharf development would feature a fanzone with an international media lounge providing backdrops of the harbour and downtown Auckland. The structure would take up between 5.5 and 6 acres on the site – about 20 per cent of the wharf. “The Queens Wharf will become the people’s glasshouse,” Mr McCully said.

WEEKLY SPORTS REVIEW – Mickelson wins Masters

RUGBY – Another shocking week for the New Zealand teams. The only bright spots were the Crusaders beating the top of the table Waratahs and the Hurricanes not losing, as they had the bye. The next couple of weeks are big for the Hurricanes, Chiefs and Blues who all need wins asap, although many of them are playing teams above them. Aussie teams beginning to dominate with the Waratahs firmly in the top four and the Brimbies and Reds playing impressively at the moment.

WEEK 9 Results

Team	Score	vs	Team	Score	Date	Report
Chiefs	19	v	Bulls	33	09/04/10	Match Report
Highlanders	27	v	W Force	41	10/04/10	Match Report
Blues	21	v	Stormers	33	10/04/10	Match Report
Crusaders	20	v	Waratahs	13	10/04/10	Match Report
Brumbies	61	v	Cheetahs	15	10/04/10	Match Report
Lions	26	v	Reds	41	10/04/10	Match Report
Bye	Hurricanes				Sharks

 Current Table

Team	Nation	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	PD	Bp	Ttl
1.	Bulls	()	8	7	1	0	296	223	73	5	33
2.	Crusaders	()	8	6	1	1	238	161	77	3	29
3.	Waratahs	()	9	6	3	0	278	215	63	5	29
4.	Stormers	()	8	6	2	0	209	96	113	4	28
5.	Reds	()	8	5	3	0	260	171	89	6	26
6.	Brumbies	()	8	6	2	0	248	194	54	2	26
7.	Chiefs	()	8	4	4	0	234	235	-1	5	21
8.	Blues	()	8	4	4	0	210	223	-13	4	20
9.	Hurricanes	()	8	3	4	1	209	199	10	4	18
10.	Sharks	()	8	3	5	0	176	198	-22	4	16
11.	Highlanders	()	9	2	7	0	201	285	-84	3	11
12.	W.Force	()	8	2	6	0	148	242	-94	2	10
13.	Cheetahs	()	8	2	6	0	161	267	-106	1	9
14.	Lions	()	8	0	8	0	195	354	-159	4	4

LEAGUE – Warriors on fire again to win a thriller against the Bulldaogs away from home. The men in black looked dead in the water with 15 to play but a last gasp kick through and re gather, off a Bulldog’s error, saw them snatch victory in the last minute. Fantatsic game. Big Mnau played although looks like he will be out for the next three weeks. In other games Saint George killed Brisbane, the Titans upset Melbourne, Sother beat Newcastle, Tigers beat Nth Queensland, AMnly spanked the Sharks, Penrith beat the Roosters and the Eels play the Raiders tonight.

NRL WEBSITE.

FOOTBALL – Who would be a Spurs fan? They went down to Lowly Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi who will now play Chelsea at Wembly in a few months time. In the Premiership, Blackburn made it a balck week for Man U with a 0-0. This reult firmly puts Chelsea in the driving seat and with Man City winning again they hold onto 4th with Liverpool unable to find a win at Fulham.

1	Chelsea	33	14	1	1	52	14	9	4	4	32	16	54	74
2	Man Utd	34	14	1	2	45	11	9	3	5	32	16	50	73
3	Arsenal	33	14	1	2	44	15	8	4	4	31	19	41	71
4	Man City	33	11	4	1	38	17	6	7	4	31	24	28	62
5	Tottenham	32	11	2	3	35	10	6	5	5	23	22	26	58
6	Liverpool	34	12	3	2	40	13	4	5	8	14	20	21	56
7	Aston Villa	32	7	7	2	26	13	7	5	4	18	19	12	54
8	Everton	33	9	6	2	32	20	4	5	7	20	24	8	50
9	Birmingham	34	7	8	2	17	12	5	2	10	18	31	-8	46
10	Stoke	33	7	5	5	23	19	3	8	5	9	16	-3	43
11	Blackburn	34	9	6	2	24	14	2	4	11	11	36	-15	43
12	Fulham	33	10	2	4	24	12	1	7	9	11	25	-2	42
13	Sunderland	34	8	7	2	30	17	1	4	12	14	35	-8	38
14	Wolverhampton	34	4	5	8	10	20	4	4	9	18	31	-23	33
15	Bolton	33	5	5	7	22	28	3	3	10	14	33	-25	32
16	West Ham	34	6	4	7	26	26	1	6	10	15	31	-16	31
17	Wigan	33	5	5	6	14	20	3	2	12	16	44	-34	31
18	Burnley	34	6	5	6	21	24	1	1	15	15	48	-36	27
19	Hull	33	6	5	5	22	26	0	4	13	10	44	-38	27
20	Portsmouth	33	4	3	10	20	29	2	2	12	8	31	-32	14

PREMIER LEAGUE WEBSITE

CRICKET – The IPL continues. Watched a few games over the weekend. Looks to me like a Aussie / Indian charity style match.

	11	8	3	0	16	+1.040
	11	6	5	0	12	+0.453
	11	6	5	0	12	+0.206
	12	6	6	0	12	-0.288
	11	5	6	0	10	+0.107
	11	5	6	0	10	-0.426
	11	5	6	0	10	-0.539
	12	4	8	0	8	-0.484

T20 WEBSITE

OTHER SPORTS EVENTS

 HORSE RACING – The famous horse race was held in England over the weekend with Mccoy finally winning the event that has elluded him.

GOLF – Mickelson wins the Masters with a solid final round. Tigers back but looking a little rusty.

TRIATHLON – Bevan Docherty wins the first ITU tri of the season in Aussie. After a poor season last year could the man himself starting to find form as he looks towards 2012.

CYCLING – New Zealand cyclist Hayden Roulston performed strongly to finish 10th in the Paris-Roubaix road race in France today.

CLASSIC YOU TUBE VIDEO

Nothing is quite like the Grand National. While some people dont agree with jumps and the danger to the horses it is spectacular to watch and the fact 20million people bet on this year’s race prove it is rather popular. Enjoy the 2005 race.

http://www.youtube.com/v/V2gv_f9_vvg

Phil Mickelson winning at the Masters was a great victory. Here he is having a little fun.

http://www.youtube.com/v/dUYFbD1rNv0

What sport is not really a sport?

Welcome back to another Con Vie installment. For those unfamiliar with my posts each week I leave a question as a starter for conversation between readers. This weeks question;

 What ‘sport’ is not really a sport?

Come on you All Whites

I may have only been 4 years old when the All Whites last made it to the World Cup, (Spain 1982) but I am still excited by the massive football game on this Saturday. New Zealand will take on Bahrain in a ‘winner takes all’ game for a spot in the World Cup. As far as sporting events in this country it is up there with an All Black test in my opinion. After a great result in Bahrain, the All Whites just need a victory in front of 30,000 screaming football fans and the game is ours. However, could the lack of an away goal come back and haunt us – perhaps. Qualification for the World Cup would be massive on many front, least of which I would be forced into getting Sky TV reinstalled for the World Cup.  Personally I think the boys will do it with a 2-0 victory in the driving rain of Wellington.

Like all great sporting occassions the need for a song is paramount. In 1982 New Zealand came up with this classic ‘Heading for the Top’.

This year we have a new song to get us all excited and pumped for the game. In 2009 they have named the tune ‘One shot for Glory’. I kinda like the new tune, especially the little comments put in overtop.

 

Captain Mannering to the Rescue

So Simon Mannering has been announced as the new Warriors Captain. I have mixed thoughts on this development. The only other Captain Mannering (the spelling is different) I have heard of is that forgetful, arrogant, imbecile on the classic British Sitcom Dad’s Army.

Upon reflection this is perhaps an inspired selection by coach Ivan Cleary. The Warriors in 2009 were about as effective as ‘Dad’s Army’ and I see no reason for an improvement in 2010. With Captain Mannering at the helm this does provide a number of different options for the 2010 ‘team photograph’. I would suggest something like the following. I resisted changing all of the heads as these guys seem to fit the current Warriors achievement level.

New Zealand Cricket removes large mole

New Zealand Cricket has reported that their trademark Mole has been removed in an operation earlier this week.  The team will therefore fly to Dubai later this week to play a One Day tournament with Pakistan without their famous Mole.

Sources say that New Zealand Cricket removed the skin growth, located on the nose, themselves and tried to keep the operation quiet. They had been concerned about the upcoming summer and the risk of the Mole mutating under the hot sun was a real possibility. The cancerous mole was reported found by a player we can only identify as BMAC, after the recent tournament in South Africa. It is understood the BMAC had extra time on his hands after a string of low scores and used that time to complete a yearly mole exam as encouraged by the Cancer foundation.

Dr Waddle, an expert on New Zealand cricket spoke to Ozy Mandias earlier today and had this to say

“Sadly, it seems that New Zealand cricket decided to remove the mole, located on the nose, by themselves with no professional guidance. Therefore, they run the risk of cutting off their nose despite their face.”

The slight blemish had been apparent on New Zealand Cricket’s face since John Bracewell retired as coach just over a year ago. Since then the Mole has come under attack from critics.

New Zealand Herald  writer Richard (I was once a pie chucker)  Boock said in his review of the recent New Zealand Cricket’s recent photo

“That Mole just gets bigger with every close-up, and in the full-length test match version of the game it’s so distracting you can’t concentrate on anything else. It’s not a beauty mark.”

New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin (I have a test average of 4.76) Vaughan was believed to be in favour of the Mole as a way of making the game of cricket more sexy within New Zealand. Viewer numbers on Sky TV and attendance figures over the last five years had all been dropping steadily and a beauty spot, or Mole, was considered a sure way of attracting younger men to the grounds.

Former cricketer Martin (I have a full set of hair) Crowe also believed the idea was right when interviewed late last year.

“The mole was actually something I wanted to bring into Max cricket in the mid 90’s, when I felt cricket was on the decline. At the time Madonna and Cindy Crawford were the rage with teenage boys and both these stars had moles. I believed the mole was the perfect way to bring those people back to cricket. I actually had one surgically applied but with mu balding scalp apparently the mole had the reverse effect and actually turned people away.

Unfortunately, the removal of the Mole has left a large hole on the face of New Zealand cricket. At this stage critics are divided as to the next move. Many former players believe a permanent solution should be found to avoid any complications in the future. CEO Justin Vaughan was against this idea and has instead raided the first aid kit at New Zealand cricket and applied a light dressing of Vettori cream and a sticking plaster. He like the rest of New Zealand is hoping this makeshift solution will last the distance.