Opotiki Half Marathon

So 2 weeks after 3D I was in the car early and off for the drive from Rotorua to Opotiki for the first ever Opotiki Half Marathon and 10km Dunes Dash!

Another fantastic day, crisp around the edges, but beautiful running weather.

The Race started from Memorial Park in Opotiki and after a lap of the park we headed over the fantastic new Pakowhai ki Otutaopuku Bridge.... and what a fantastic new creation it is.

Then it's on to the Motu Trail for just over 9km of winding and undulating running to the turnaround... and then back again.


I have to say, with all honesty, that this race was very disappointing. Not my performance, but the run itself. I guess I have been spoiled with amazing trail runs all over the upper North Island and when I read Trail Half Marathon I have expectations.


Unfortunately, while the Opotiki Half was very well organized and well supported by the locals... the Motu Trail section that we used is truly a cycleway rather than a trail. Solidly constructed trails that are more like footpaths than single trail. Moderately hard of the body, but boring as heck on the mind.

One small bit of respite came about 6km in where we dodged off trail, down to the beach for about 500m, a tractor ride over the stream and then up the soft sand and back to the trail. This was repeated on the way back... except the tractor was busy, so I got wet feet.


At the turnaround for the 10km I was already wishing I had entered that instead. But, not being able to think of a good excuse, I carried on.

I had a great tussle with one of the leading lady runners over the last 9km. She passed me and started to pull away. However at about 6km out she had a nature stop allowing the old buggar past. 5km is my normal kick point... so when she caught me up at about 5.5km to go I figured that she had probably used a bit of extra energy catching up... so I quietly put the foot down.


In the end I beat her by about 40 sec and this extra push allowed me to record my best 'trail only' half marathon time of 1:47:31... so even in a less than perfect race there was something to celebrate.


The other slightly disappointing thing at the end was coming over the bridge on the way back in, it would have been nice to come off the bridge and down the ramp to the finish. However after crossing the bridge we were required to run the large lap around the perimeter of memorial Park before crossing the line.

Another interesting point was, that this was the first ever race I have had where my Garmin read the exact distance as I crossed the line... as there was never any tree coverage, the GPS had perfect line of sight and came in right on 21.1km!


I did however become "World Famous in Opotki", making the front page of the paper! 


I guess you can't love every race and any days running is a good one... but this is one for the filing cabinet!