Stunning views, friendly rivalry and warm sunny weather made for a most enjoyable relay for Nelson and Marlborough runners and walkers on Saturday, September 8.
The 26km social relay run over the Great Taste Trail between Motueka and Mapua attracted 18 teams of between 1 and 4 runners. The winning team was ‘MHC Speedsters’, in a superb time of 1hr 53 mins. In second place was ‘Team Jono’, a one-person team of Jono Leach, also from Marlborough, who ran the whole distance in 1hr 55 mins. Less than a minute behind him and in third place overall, was another individual runner, Nelson’s Claartjia Van Schle, in an equally impressive time of 1hr 56 mins.
In 4th and 5th place respectively, were solo runner Stu Cottam and a four-person team, ‘Shades of Awesome’, from Nelson. The Waimea Whippets proved too strong for their opposition and were the first of the walking teams home in 3hrs 18mins, 9 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals. For most of the athletes this relay provided a very good practice run for the more competitive Queen Charlotte Relay on Saturday, September 15. The relay season concludes with the National Road Relay to be held in Christchurch on Saturday, October 6 and in which Tasman will be well-represented.