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It doesn't happen very often... not a single Half Marathon anywhere in the country - at least that's what the countries foremost Running Calendar (New Zealand Running Calendar) said.
What to do? Then the germ of an idea, maybe get 20 or so people who will run with me and we can have a half somewhere near Rotorua... how hard can it be?
So, onto Facebook, create an event and invite everyone on my friends list who I know has laced up a running shoe! Wow, 30 minutes later I had 23 yes's and lots of maybes!
How to look after my guests, a quick chat to Himanshu Parmar (Ash) who, together with his family, own several Super Liquor Outlets - including the one just down the road at Te Ngae! Ash was immediate in his reply... yes, they would provide the Beer, Cider and Soft Drinks for the finishers... great!
Next I put the word out to my BNI Network and got quite a few spot prizes, then Clive Start of CVS Computing came forward with a Laser Printer... that soon turned into a printer, 3 bottles of top wine and a usb port!
Susan from Inov-8 was next - as if they haven't done enough already - with a kind offer of 4 prizes! The generosity of both the runners and outside sponsors allowed me in the end to provide a spot prize for every runner - even if it was just a bar of chocolate!
Next job... a course, well for this that was pretty easy. I love the course that Ra of N-duro Events uses for the Tikitapu half at the end of the year - except that it is too short! So I reversed the direction and added in a wee loop fortuitously called 'Loop Rd' which took it to just over Half Marathon distance!
Next I got some requests for a shorter run, around 10km. I could have just sent them around
However that was going to be way too long, so they just climbed for 500m and veered into Buchanan Road.
The day dawned fine and frosty which usually means a stellar day. I was out early driving around the forest checking the arrows I had put out over the previous couple of days... a couple down long narrow overgrown roads I trusted would be ok as everything else was.
Then down to the Lake to set up the Gazebo and tables and barbeque. Put the entry sheets out and organize the basic timing system.
Relief when people started to turn up.. Lance Hunniford was the very first, on his bike (motor) and then the influx began. Entry was by donation - it just had to be a note.. and donate people did. Daughter Kate was in charge of Registration and did a great job.
Lainy was taking pictures and helping wherever she was needed and my good friend Andy Gilbert was there to help and finished up doing the timing! He was an absolute hero, as the wind got up and it was bitter, he was huddled up under the gazebo freezing his butt off and efficiently sorting out everyones time!
So anyway, I got everyone where they should be, delivered a pretty casual briefing as it was really just a 'Timed Training Run' and we started spot on time at 9:30am.
As I said, the run is a good one, head from the beach into the right hand entrance of the Blue Lake Trail, a few metres in take a right on the great trail though to Windy Road (which runs parallel to Tarawera Road). Down Windy Rd towards Rotorua, nice fast open Forestry Road to spread the field and suck you in that this might be easy!
It
was towards the end of this that Geoff Higgins raced past me and then
stopped, he had busted a gut to catch me to take a picture, Geoff gave
so much on the day and was a fabulous participant. 
About
a km past the Hill Road exit (at which everyone except Paul Charteris's
group followed the arrow and went right), you take a hard left and head
up a slightly overgrown Forestry Rd to the bottom of Sidewinder. This
was one of the few hiccups on the day... one of only 2 arrows I hadn't
checked that morning had been moved. Fortunately Tim Day was a local and
knew the way and marked it pretty clearly with branches.This marked the start of 4km of climbing, up Sidewinder, up the top part of Pipeline, onto and up Frontal Lobotomy and then a really nasty bit at the top of Tawa Rd to the entrance of Tuhoto Ariki.
Early on in Tuhoto Ariki I was joined by Allan Yeoman who cruised along with me to the next uphill and then left me behind. I love Tuhoto though and, as usual, this was the best part of the run. Towards the end I caught up with Tom Vanstone from Tauranga and we had a good chat as we worked out way around Loop Road through the overgrown bit and up Moerangi Road.
Somewhere along Bush Road at the top of the hill we were caught
Out of Buchanan's and the climb up Tikitapu Rd to the Blue Lake Trail started and they soon left me behind again. Round Blue Lake and through to the finish in just over 2:19 and happy with the run... especially with not even a twinge from the hammy in the last 19km!!!
Then a beer, some of Jenni Hoogeveen's fabulous Carrot Cake and a sausage from Jan and the Hospice team on the bbq! Then it was time to sit back and watch everyone else arrive, including
Tarawera Ultra Race Director Paul Charteris doing his Anton impression
and finally Ash, who struggled with an injury for most of the run but
never gave up! Everyone made it in, only a couple made wrong turns... so they got more run than they bargained on!
I
added up the money and we had 58 starters who delivered $1375, with a
further $300 being raised on the bbq. Not bad from an event just
designed to give me another run!A massive thanks to everyone, I have missed so many names that made this day special, so I thought I would list everyone... the beauty of blogs is that I can do that:
Helpers:
- Lorraine Thorne
- Kate Tennent
- Andy Gilbert
Sponsors:
- Ash and his Super Liquor Team
- Inov-8 one of my Principal Sponsors for this whole year.
- BNI
- Springfield Dairy
- Clive Start of CVS Computing Limited
- Justin Cheyne of Bespoke Solutions
- Nadege Crocker of Little Crafty Kiwi
- Terrain Industries in Taupo
- Kate Townsley or Kori Kita Sportswear
- Carla Moriarty
- Mamaku Blue
- Wright Bait & Tackle in Morrinsville
- Morrinsville Paper Plus
- Planet Bike at the Waipa Forest
- Wai Ora Group
- All-Sew Embroidery
- Gull
- Rotorua Wake and Ski Club for the venue!
| 21km Male | ||
| 1 | Tim Day | 1:59:07 |
| 2 | Phil Bonney | 1:59:33 |
| 3 | Steve Neary | 1:59:59 |
| 4 | Oscar Emery | 2:08:52 |
| 5 | Allan Yeoman | 2:10:03 |
| 6 | Jonathon Hagger | 2:15:39 |
| 7 | Mike Duckett | 2:18:41 |
| 8 | Mike Tennent | 2:19:46 |
| 9 | Geoff Higgins | 2:20:01 |
| 10 | Darren Crocker | 2:20:47 |
| 11 | Tom Vanstone | 2:21:18 |
| 12 | Damien Sellier | 2:25:00 |
| 13 | Marcus Daws | 2:27:49 |
| 14 | Mgcini Masuku | 2:28:25 |
| 15 | Mark Campbell | 2:29:10 |
| 16 | Lance Hunniford | 2:32:33 |
| 17 | Peter Anthony | 2:32:34 |
| 18 | David Free | 2:34:48 |
| 19 | Rob Langley | 2:35:15 |
| 20 | Clive Start | 2:37:25 |
| 21 | Matt Rayment | 2:48:50 |
| 22 | Tago Mharapara | 2:48:50 |
| 23 | Mark Guy | 2:56:06 |
| 24 | Paul Charteris | 3:00:48 |
| 25 | Damien Anselmi | 3:43:00 |
| 26 | Himanshu Parmar | 3:51:38 |
| 12km Male | ||
| 1 | Adam Good | 1:05:09 |
| 2 | Rog Morris | 1:14:17 |
| 3 | Darryl Conn | 1:15:04 |
| 4 | Brian Prescott | 1:38:09 |
| 12 km Walk Female | ||||||||
| 1 | Bronwyn Kamphorst | 2:11:33 | ||||||
| 2 | Michelle Cobb | 2:11:33 | ||||||
| 21.1km Female | ||||||||
| 1 | Sarah Biss | 1:57:38 | ||||||
| 2 | Dianne Bulled | 2:08:52 | ||||||
| 3 | Jenni Hoogeveen | 2:12:00 | ||||||
| 4 | Lorna Mills | 2:19:03 | ||||||
| 5 | Jane Clark | 2:20:40 | ||||||
| 6 | Raewynne Adrian Blommerde | 2:32:33 | ||||||
| 7 | Carla Moriarty | 2:34:00 | ||||||
| 8 | Susan Prater | 2:42:17 | ||||||
| 9 | Sandy Herewini | 2:45:59 | ||||||
| 10 | Rebecca Short | 2:46:49 | ||||||
| 11 | Emma Dryland | 2:53:42 | ||||||
| 12 | Gabriella Guy | 2:56:06 | ||||||
| 13 | Hayley Cobb | 2:59:21 | ||||||
| 14 | Amy Yeoman | 3:09:15 | ||||||
| 15 | Rebecca Edgecombe | 3:28:00 (Sweeper) | ||||||
| 16 | Lyndsey Anselmi | 3:33:28 | ||||||
| 17 | Wendy Goes | No time | ||||||
| 12km Female | ||||||||
| 1 | Caris Teo | 1:12:21 | ||||||
| 2 | Philippa Hyde | 1:17:06 | ||||||
| 3 | Constance Crook | 1:19:05 | ||||||
| 4 | Amanda Heapy | 1:25:42 | ||||||
| 5 | Nadege Crocker | 1:29:58 | ||||||
| 6 | Anna Prescott | 1:38:09 | ||||||
| 7 | Anna Gould | 1:53:00 | ||||||
| 8 | Kayla May Peace Radcliffe | 1:54:53 | ||||||
| 9 | Lesley Wilson | 2:30:33 (Sweeper) |
And of course Supporter extraordinaire Keith Crook with his bung foot!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one of you for a great day!
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