Matt Baker only moved to Orange in February but he's already making his presence felt, particularly in last weekend's 10-kilometre event at Bathurst, which ran alongside the half marathon and doubled as the second leg of this year's NSW Regional Distance Running Championships.
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Baker held off Nathan Sutherland in an all-Orange duel for the 10k crown on Sunday morning, giving the spectators a show to behold as they went toe-to-toe for supremacy.
No one else was remotely close to the leading duo during the final five kilometres, they'd run virtually side-by-side for the whole race before Baker pulled away in the dying stages, eventually winning by just seven seconds from Sutherland.
Baker clocked 34 minutes and 34 seconds to claim the win in an event he was using as final preparation before heading to the US and Denmark.
"I was using this as a tune up for two races," Baker explained, before lauding Sutherland's effort as well.
"I'm off to Michigan on Wednesday to race in Powerman Michigan and then I'm over to Denmark the week after that to race in the Middle Distance Triathlon European Championships.
"It was good to have someone to run with. It keeps you honest. We were pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder the whole race, which is the way you like to run because it brings out the best in both of you."
Canberra's Samuel Torley (36.56) finished a distant third while his younger sister Stephanie (37.41) was fourth overall and the first female across the line, naturally she also won her under-15 category.
Orange's Iain McLean ran fifth overall, clocking 37.50.
"I had some people in front of me which kept me honest. I was trying to catch up to them and stay with them most of the way," Steph Torley, still just 13, said.
"I ended up doing alright in the end and got a good time. After about three kilometres I said to myself 'right. It's time to try and catch up'. I wanted to see how close I could get with each kilometre.
"There's Mudgee coming up soon and Dubbo as well. I'll be looking to do as many of the runs in [the NSW Regional Distance Running Championships] that I can."
Torley wasn't challenged in the women's event as her nearest competitor was almost seven minutes behind her.
It was another member of the Torley family in Josh who reigned supreme in the Half Marathon.
The indomitable Torley has made the central west his own since the championships' first edition in 2017 and he continued that dominance, winning on Sunday in a time of one hour, 12 minutes and eight seconds to finished more than five minutes in front of his nearest competitors.
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