When we left New Plymouth it was a glorious sunny morning with the hint of spring. Because we were going to Stratford and I was judging I took wet weather gear, warm clothing and an umbrella! The good news is it didn’t rain, but real glad I took my winter woollies because the conditions were overcast and cold. For the walkers the conditions weren’t too bad, wind fairly gusty but mainly a cross wind.
What a fantastic turnout by the Walkers. 18 A grade walkers and 16 B grade walkers. 19 walkers representing TRWC and 2 associate members. Take a bow everybody that shows commitment.
The course itself was not conducive to fast times, with 1K downhill followed by 1K back uphill. For the 5K walkers they got 3K of uphill and 2 of down. Never mind, it was the same for everybody.
Once the gun went, Eric raced off in front but was closely followed by Harry, Rachel and then back to Vanessa and Wacky. Eric wasn’t playing with anyone and just gradually opened the gap and in fact was over 4 minutes quicker than the rest of the field by the end. Rachel only took a couple of K to show Harry some girl power and went on to be first woman home and second overall. This course did not suit Rachel at all and on a flatter course she would have been 2 minutes quicker. Vanessa toiled hard for nearly 7K before she started to get rid of the lack of racing cobwebs and finally passed Harry. Meanwhile Wacky did his usual surge from about 5K and eventually overtook both of them. Once Vanessa had passed Harry, there was a fight to the finish with Harry gaining on the uphill and Vanessa getting the better of the downhill. In the end Wacky was second man home followed by Vanessa (2nd woman) only 17 seconds back and then a further 10 seconds to Harry, 3rd man home. Congratulations Harry – a PB and no red cards.
There were several other battles going on during the race. One of these was between Mike, Denise and Tony. Mike battled, grunted and groaned his way through a tough 10K for him. You could see he was struggling but he’s too determined to be beaten easily. Denise was never far away from him and Tony after a bit of a slow start gradually closed on both of them. In fact where Mike was struggling Tony in contrast started flowing very well – the most upright I have seen him in a judged event for sometime – well done Tony. Denise faded in the latter stages and Tony went past her. Mike grunted towards the finish with Tony closing the gap. In the end Mike managed to hold him off but only by 8 seconds. Mike was first B grade walker home. Denise was 3rd female walker.
Congratulations to Des Hussey, who after leaving Des Phillips behind started to walk powerfully and wasn’t very far behind Denise at the end. This was the first judged walk by Des, a big PB of 65m29s and no red cards – if we had such an award Des would be Player of the day.
Another close battle was the one between Anne, Helen and Lorraine. Anne never looked like being caught, but she couldn’t shake Lorraine and Helen either. There was a bit of elastic between them which never broke. Lorraine battled hard and Helen pursued her the whole way. With 400 metres to go, Helen made a final burst and managed to beat Lorraine by 7 seconds at the end. Well done Helen and Anne who both got through the Judges. Lorraine did her best 10K time of the year and was second woman home in the B grade (winner being Jean Taylor of Stratford).
Some good times by Arthur and Ivor who had 3K of uphill and 2k of downhill. Also really good to see Jim Reed out walking again.
One last note – the sun was still shining when we got back to New Plymouth!
Results:
