Author: Wouna le Roux

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Opiki School Country Half Marathon – 17 April 2011

Gerry, approximately 5km from the finish with some threatening clouds on the way.
Is that a nervous smile? Almost the whole field of participants are standing around waiting to get going.
Bede Gilmore, the school principal, explaining the course before setting us off.
A short patch of dirt road.
And then mud …
… and more mud. Planning the best path through.
Gerry getting water at about 5km into the race.
Route marker on a typical kiwi farmer temporary fence pole.
The finish “banner” aka the school entrance gate :).

After a week of wonderful, wind-free evenings and perfect weather, it started to rain the day before this event, coupled with some wind. As we got up on the Sunday morning, it was pouring, with a nasty wind, and it took all the motivation I had left in me to get up, get dressed and drive to Opiki, all along thinking that I will just check out the scene and bail before we even start.

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Manawatu Gorge Track & Tunnel Walk (10 April 2011)

Ju-huu-st the two of us…
Gerry, with Ballance bridge in the back.
Monkey business on the train track.
Scary stuff crossing the bridges.
Gerry concentrating hard on another train bridge without railings.
The Manawatu River quite far down.
Tunnel coming up! Torches out.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Abseilers as seen from the train track side.
The last stretch which flattens out towards Ashhurst.
Walkers on the train bridge, as see from the road.
A nice touch – little certificate to show that you’ve completed the walk.

Once a year the Woodville Lions Club organise an approximately 8km walk on the train track through the Manawatu gorge, starting at the Ballance Bridge end (Woodville side) in the east and walking back to the Ashhurst Domain on the west side of the gorge.

I’ve often wondered what the gorge would look like from the other side. If you are on the one side of a river, you always long to see the other side, and vice versa. That’s life, I guess … :). We’ve driven though the gorge on several occasions by road, which is on the one side of the river, while I always look across to the train track, also carved into the cliffs of the gorge, and wonder how the graffiti got onto the concrete slabs underneath the track. With the river way below and near vertical cliffs to get to the track, the willpower of graffiti artists always amazes me. Continue reading →

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DUAL – Motutapu-Rangitoto Traverse (42.2km) – 26 March 2011

At the start, me sporting full wet weather gear ;-).
Gerry at registration.
Nervous smiles on the ferry heading to Motutapu.
No turning back now!
The organisers must have had a snigger when they planned this start! Up, up, up.
Willie and me negotiating mud puddles early on.
Gerry and Willie with the start way below, right behind Gerry.
Fly, fly away.
MTBs and runners sharing a short section of the road.
Gerry and I on Rangitoto’s scoria.
Most of the surface of Rangitoto consists of volcanic rock and scoria.
Rocks under foot.
Gerry – full speed.
Taking a walk break up a small hill.
Before.
After. They smelled much worse than they looked!
Happy with our complimentary Speight’s Traverse beers at the finish.
What a awesome moment! The last finisher getting a hero’s welcome.

Wow! wow! wow! Phew … wow … I don’t have the words to describe the experience that is the DUAL. It is 2011. For me the year that will always mark our first running of the DUAL, a character-building experience that will probably be engraved in my mind for a long time. The weather god, Huey, played an evil trick on us to help make sure we will never ever forget this event.

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Rainy day runs

pic2Have you ever sat in your car very early on a cold morning, looking at the start banner of some or other race, steaming up the windows while the rain is pouring outside, thinking to yourself, “you have to be crazy to be here right now…” In fact, probably all non-runners, including your family, will consider you stark raving mad. Continue reading →

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Kapiti Classic Beach Races (21.1km) – 13 March 2011

The participants at the start of the 21.1km beach run.
Gerry looking all ready to go.
Heading in a northern direction for the first 2.5km.
The first turnaround point at 2.5km.
The start of the kiddies 1km dash.
River-crossings added a bit of excitement to the race. Kapiti island is on the left.
Just enough to get your feet soaked.
Gerry, attempting to leap over the streams.
The finish line with a few supporters cheering participants on.
Very please to have won one of the two main spot prizes. You go Gerry!
My feet – clearly not used to running wet!

For lack of another word, I can only say that this race is awesome! What a gem. NZ is full of these very nice off-the-beaten-track small town races and the Kapiti Classic, a newby on the calendar, is no exception. Another inaugural for us.

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