Alan’s Comments
I shall start with a quote from a person who shall remain nameless. ‘You had better believe it, even Superman is afraid of her’. A walker from the Trentham club, who has only been walking a few months, but has a background in running Marathons and ultras, had just completed Leg 4 (a very tough 7K leg, with a monster hill near the end). He tried to stay with Vanessa and in fact walked very well to only be about 90 seconds behind her. His remark at the end was “Wow – she is one tough lady!” That little exchange, only one of many, sums up what this relay is about – a great social event, fantastic camaraderie, a huge laugh but also some extremely competitive walking.
It looked like it might be a very wet relay this year as it had rained most of the night in Marton and was still raining at 6:00am, but had cleared for the start at 7:00. There was a bit of rain about during the day, but never enough to spoil the fun, and by the time we reached Wanganui it was a nice day.
A year ago Ivor had taught the teams how a change over should be carried out and this year most of our walkers managed to master the technique. Some I think had practiced the handover during the last year, this was very evident when some walkers were seen in a crouch start position awaiting the “hand over”. Some of us I am sure would like more training in order to master this for next year. I can just picture the next training session at the Track!
We had two teams this year, Naki Thunder and Naki Lightning; once again I tried to make them evenly split. The team I was in, Naki Lightning, walked to schedule but unfortunately the other team walked exceptionally well and finished 9 minutes ahead. Dave Barrett walked very well on Leg 1 (2 minutes up) and Ivor was 3 minutes ahead of schedule, at that point it was all over as a contest between the 2 teams, but it didn’t matter. Naki Thunder had a great tussle with Trentham and in fact Vanessa on the last leg pulled in a 6 minute gap and took 3rd place with just 50 metres to go! Naki Lightning had a good battle with Manawatu striders; Rachel again had a big deficit to bridge on the last lap which she did and finished in 5th place.
This year there seemed to be more competitive teams than previously, which made for an even better day. Most of us had walkers from other teams that we could chase or try to hang onto which made us go that little bit harder. I know myself, taking over from Arthur (traditional relay handover was used, I might add) it was much easier to chase down the teams in front than just drift along if no one else is around. Nick was the unfortunate one who had no close walkers in his 11K. It is hard work to keep concentration on long flat straights with no other walkers in sight, add to that the rain and 2.5K grind up hill and you must start to wonder! We do like you Nick, not sure why you drew the Long straw, but you handled it well and finished pretty well on schedule – well done. Wayne on the other hand seemed to float through the same legs, but had someone to chase and was obviously looking forward to the handover at the end – you only had Mike to take over so I am glad you remembered the traditional relay touching of hands.
Thank you to everybody for a very enjoyable day, I am aching today, but I think most of that is from the laughter. We all need days out like this event, it takes us away from our problems and day to day mundane stuff. It seems to give everybody a new lease of life. What is so pleasing is the friendship between all members of our teams (as well as the friends we have made over the years from other teams). It’s incredible really that even though the ages are 34 to 84 and everything in between that we get on so easily, what a great bunch of people you are, thank you.
You all seemed to go overboard with the food. There is a great advantage of getting your walking out of the way early; you get to sample all the different offerings. I wouldn’t dare pick any favourites but by crikey some of you know how to make moist cakes!
Thank you to Vanessa for handling much of the logistics this year and thank you to Wayne and Mike for keeping things running smoothly on the day.
I will never forget the one liners flying back and forwards between Mike and Rachel in particular, most of which cannot be repeated, but thanks for such an entertaining day. I think one of the funniest moments, which we didn’t catch on camera, was when Mike was walking hard out, he glanced towards his car as it passed to see Nana driving – priceless!
Tanya’s Comments
Another fantastic year. Yeap have to get up at 5:00 am on a Saturday, but the company that we share certainly makes up for that small little blip. Once again trying to sight the infamous tattoo lead to some distractions!! And how could we ever go overboard with food - great food and great company to share it with. I am already looking forward to next year, as this is certainly a must do on my calendar. Thanks to everyone for having fun and enjoying yourselves - life is too short not to be able to have a laugh and smile.
Mike’s Comments
Nothing too much I can add to these comments – this is a fantastic event that adds so much to our Club. The team spirit and camaraderie that is added by trying to have even teams can’t be matched by most other clubs. I would strongly recommend this event to all members. My personal memories will be of friendly banter in the car trip down and back (some great quotes from Valda – but what goes on tour….), competitive walking, the very friendly hills in leg 4 and most of all the laughter – I’ll be back next year!!!
