Vineyard run ‘hard to beat’
Marlborough Harbourmaster Luke Grogan beat out a field of 700 runners to take the top spot on Saturday at the popular St Clair Vineyard Half-marathon, putting in a personal best time of 1hr 19min 50sec for the 21km.
“My goal was to go sub-1:20, and I made it by about 10 seconds,” Grogan said.
“It was a beautiful day out there – nice and hard underfoot, which made it pleasant running conditions and a lot of friendly banter among the runners, so just a perfect day out really. Hard to beat.”
Grogan was running to support his wife Brenna Sharpe, who was doing her first half-marathon, and had dedicated her race to her father, whom she lost last year to bowel cancer. Race owner Sheree Stevens was thrilled with the turn-out and smooth running of the event.
“With Covid-19 last year and the uncertainty around events, it’s fantastic to have this event back in Marlborough,” she said.
“It’s a great day for running – overcast and not too hot which is fantastic for the runners. I’m really happy.”
“It’s a team effort, although I’m the crazy person that buys an event during Covid time,” she said. “There are 150 volunteers out there that get paid back to their community groups, and there are people
here just to support me, but it takes a whole team to run an event like this.’’
The event attracted a total of about 2500 entrants, with some 900 participating in the new Appleby Vines Village 12km event. About 700 runners took part in the 21km half-marathon, with another 400 each in the hybrid and walking sections of the event.
St Andrews student Molly Spark, 17, from Christchurch, was the first woman over the finish line, participating in her first half-marathon. ‘‘I’m more of a trail runner,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ve never done a flat race before. It was amazing. The views were stunning,’’ Spark finished in a time of 1:31:03 and was 18th overall.
Marlborough Boys College student Ryan Marfell, 15, was fourth over the line. The Y11 student was also running his first official half-marathon.
Winner of the Hybrid event Genevieve Kent, from Christchurch, admitted she ‘‘ended up running the whole way . . . It was such a beautiful course running through the vines – it definitely helps take your mind off the running.’’
It was a special day for Greg Beale, participating in the Hybrid race on his 67th birthday. ‘‘He trained for it last year, and it was cancelled due to Covid, so on the day of the race he got up and he did 21km on his own in Hanmer,’’ proud daughter Katie said.