'Not So' Hidden Trails Kawerau

I was feeling really on a roll and although disappointed with the course at Opotiki, I had been happy with the time.

I had been told that the 'Hidden Trails' Half Marathon in Kawerau was a mix of roads and trails and really, it was more of a mix of roads and parks. Still it was a lot better than the roller coaster footpath that was Opotiki.

As is my norm, I got to Kawerau nice and early and secured a nice park right next to the starting area... at my age it's not too good to leave a long trip to the car after the race.

After helping the St John's man set up his pergola, I registered and wandered around a bit before settling in the car to 'prep' myself. Shortly after I saw Ian Hansen, fresh from his run in Opotiki.

He was rather more surprised to see me as I had only entered a few days before and kept it quiet. After watching the walkers head off (right), I waited patiently for the usual and standard race briefing, before we were off.

It was a good sized field with some of the usual faces... I have noticed that the events such as these that are run by clubs get great support from the running clubs from other towns. Many of the top runners seem to steer clear of the 'commercial' events and just run a mix of club events. This probably saves them a fair bit of cash... but they miss some great races that the 'race-junkies' like me get to experience.

Anyway, back to the race, on the road for the first 750 metres up a steady incline, then off the road and on to some trail... "wow" I thought, this is going to be great... a nice piece of trail, climbing for nearly a kilometre to the top of a hill overlooking the start and much of Kawerau. Hidden Trails indeed, if this was what we were in for it was going to be a good run.... unfortunately this was the most fun part of the whole run for me... well almost!
 
Another 900 metres down the hill again brought us back to the road and a run along the street for just over a kilometre then on to a side trail off the road that lead to a trail more familiar. I ran the last 25km of the Tarawera Ultra in 2011 with my mate John Bell as his 'buddy runner' and we joined on to the river trail that in TUM leads to Firmin Park and the finish. 

We however cruised straight past the Park and followed the river trail for just over 3km until it hit Tamarangi Drive - the main road you use coming into Kawerau from either end. This 3km should have been fun and a lot of the road runners in the race said afterwards that they really enjoyed it... but compared to 'real trails', it was a tad boring... but my pace was ok, just on or under 5 minute km's, which for me is pretty good.

A kilometre along the road and into a nice, but very short bit of trail, then over the road and into the residential streets in a reverse of part of the old Kawerau Half Marathon course. That took us into the park used in the old Half as well and we then looped through, using park walkways for a couple of km's and into the second lap of the same course... only not quite... the best bit of the first lap... the hill, was mysteriously cut out of the second lap. While strictly speaking these were 'trails', it really did feel like park running (right), which is very different.

About 3km from the finish, Ian Hansen steamed up to me looking very fresh... confirming my thoughts that he could become a very quick half runner. This was only his second half and he was cruising. I let him speed up my pace for a while but in time he left me, eventually finishing a minute or so ahead.

I battled, as I have been recently, picking off a few runners over the last couple of km's and was both happy and surprised when crossing the line to look and see that I had beaten my half marathon PB by a minute and a half... I guess there is some advantage to running pretty flat Half's after all!




After the race, a bite to eat, free entry to the Hot Pools if you want to use them (I didn't this time) and then down to the Cossie Club for prizegiving and my mandatory no spot prize.




All in all a well run event, the club did a great job. Times were up quickly on the website and they had several of their own photographers on the course who did a much better job than many of the 'professional' companies at other events... to the point where for the first time in a long time I actually bought some prints.


If you want a fast time... enter this event, if you want a trail run... don't!