Marton to Wanganui 2007
A report by Dennis Hastie - (with some little additives!)
Friday night the task begins, all are on time and a good trip down, only one missed turn and because we are all real men, we didn’t have to ask for any directions.
There had been talk over the previous couple of weeks as to who the champion snorer was. Was it Dave or Alan? Funny but they were both put in a room together and the door quickly shut. Both Alan and Dave apparently had ear plugs, frightened of each other I guess? Saturday, AM, a good night’s sleep, no snoring was heard at all during the night. Everybody went thro’ their own little pre race routines and no one, not even Tony was late. Mind you little things helped like not having to spend time lifting the lid of the toilet seat – gosh we men are efficient!
A short warm up walk down to the start, a big thank you to Wayne & Arthur for sorting out the race packs and doing all the paper work.
7.04am and we are under way; Alan & me hot on the heels of Dave with Jeff making a break up the front. Alan said it would be just like our Saturday morning training walks, I think he forgot to tell Jeff, because he just disappeared off into the distance, he then usually doubles back to see how we are going, this didn’t happen. Alan says he gave Jeff instructions to loop round, but obviously at his age he forgot.
First leg done all going well seemed to be on target by the time table. Yes Alan and Dennis were on target to the minute, who knows about Jeff we never saw him again! We had been told there was a hill at the start of leg 2, but we never found other than a hillock! The downhill though! I’m sure there is a song somewhere, we’re going down, down, down, down, down – we never stopped. This is where my script got out of order; Tony went past me so fast that I must have been standing still. This was a wonderful peaceful country road. You could hear the birds, listen to the running water, it was great to be alive! Then things changed, there was different bird life – funky chickens, an exuberant Tanya, a gregarious Gaylene and an awesome Anne. We did appreciate the cheering of the Saturday morning travellers it was a great boost, and got us through to Leg 3 in style. I made it with Alan in hot pursuit.
Leg 3 start, everybody had made it on time. Let the noise begin. Cheering, horns, clackers, and a chicken. Go Arthur, not too fast Glen, wait for Natasha and our man Nick.
Leg 4 what a leg, metal road, a nasty hill in the middle & a monster of a hill to finish on or finish you. Our walkers took this in their stride; all did an incredible job, well done Denise, Valda, Mike & Wacky.
Four wheel drive was nearly required to negotiate the rocks on the metal road sections, a good job done here to avoid injury and not getting run over. The team positions were now moving about as each leg went by, every body putting in their best efforts for the cause.
Leg 5 Sandra was able to catch Ivor but he held the gap on Michelle & Marion finishing the leg looking good. Our teams really closed up on this leg and at one point it was so close we have a photo of Sandra, Marion and Michelle.
Legs 6 & 7 – this was the race a lot of people were looking forward to. Tanya, Anne, Gaylene and Katie didn’t know too much about the hill that was coming! They are fairly evenly matched and all very determined. The biggest talking point though was – would Tanya stop talking!
They were off – would Tanya & the chicken be caught by Gaylene, Anne & Katie? What a tussle we witnessed. Anne caught Gaylene after about 3K, but Gaylene dug it in and stuck with her. They chased Tanya and were making ground on her; Katie was closing on them all. They hit the famous hill. The chicken squawked at the shock, but all four ladies dug it in. At the top of the hill it was Tanya still holding the chicken, Gaylene had made a break on Anne, with Katie in hot pursuit. Did Tanya stop talking – of course not – she loved it.
Leg 8 Valda had to hold off Glenn, a big ask at the best of times, while Natasha made up heaps, catching & passing Brian. There always has to be one complaint on such a wonderful day. Alan apparently hadn’t got his estimate correct – instead of 37 minutes, he did 36’59’25. You can’t be expected to be right all the time!
Leg 9 A bit of a mystery this leg as we don’t get to follow the walkers, just a nice walk down a metal country street, sorry Marion, road. The rest of the team members had to go meet them 7K up the road. We all cheered as Lorraine came thro’ – no one has ever seen her so focused before – maybe Valda had replaced Vera Lynne’s “Blue birds over whatever” with “I want my Molenberg”! At the end of Leg 9, Lorraine who was first to start was still leading, followed by Mike, who had passed Marlene, with Nick close behind them.
Leg 10 onto the finish line. Nobody was going to catch Denise, except some other team we won’t talk about; good walks by Wayne and Sandra both back from sickness & injury, and if Wacky had had another 5km he would have caught you all, and my Demons would be have been 1st TRWC team home. I can but dream.
What a great event, I think I’m right to say we all enjoyed it greatly.
Nearly forgot, what great food, nobody should have gone hungry, well-done all.
Congratulations to
Alan’s Arsenal 3rd place
Mellow Mikes 4th
Jeff’s Lot 5th
Dennis’ Demons 6th
Great thanks to Alan for all the work you did putting this together, THANK YOU.
