THE battle for first Bathurst runner home in Sunday's Edgell Jog was one of the best battles in recent years, as a huge pack of contenders all finished within sight of each other.
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At the end of the 7.5 kilometre test it was Raglan's Jack Reen who got the better of his more experienced rivals.
Reen's tactic of early conservation over the opening half of the race paid off as he finished the course in a time of 27 minutes and 26 seconds.
He came home fifth overall and also took home the prize for first under 18s runner.
Dean Windsor (seventh, 27:46), Wes Gibson (eighth, 28:01), Nick Zawadski (10th, 28:14) and Paul Moran (11th, 28:17) were all less than a minute away in an intense battle for the first Bathurst runner home honour.
Reen managed to stick to his race plan perfectly, gaining the ascendancy over his local challengers on the climb up Rocket Street.
"Luke told me to go out conservatively so I was happy to watch them at the start because I knew Esrom Street was going to be hard," he said.
"The plan was to go hard after Esrom Street so going up there they were maybe 20 metres in front of me but as we got towards Bathurst Public I got past them."
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A Bathurst-heavy pack which included Zawadski, Gibson, Nick North and Windsor all made their way down Lambert Street together as Reen began playing catch up.
By the time the group made it to Centennial Park Reen was starting to put some distance on the Bathurst collective.
Over the final kilometre Reen was engaged in a close battle for fifth with Mackenzie.
Reen snared the top five result thanks to a strong surge home.
"I didn't know I was the first Bathurst runner home. I was just worried about a guy in front of me who kicked a bit when I caught up.
"I wasn't making any inroads but with 500 metres to go I thought 'You know it's got to hurt' so I kicked a little and got past him."
Bathurst juniors Aaron Houston (15th, 30:09) and Miller Rivett (16th, 30:20) were winners of the boys 15-16 years and 13-14 years respectively.