Milkshakes fuel recordtime northsouth run

WELLINGTON: Chocolate milkshakes have powered Napier man Perry Newburn to a new record in running the length of the country.

Yesterday afternoon he reached Bluff, breaking a national record for the 2100km journey.

Mr Newburn (64) left Cape Reinga November 3 and arrived in Bluff 18 days, eight hours and 42 minutes later.

He beat Siggy Bauer’s previous record, which had stood for 43 years, by 19 minutes.

‘‘[The body] actually held up pretty well,’’ Mr Newburn said.

‘‘One of the legs is pretty sore at the moment.

‘‘I had to ignore any pain this last morning of running. That’s part and parcel of it . . . if I didn’t have any pain I’d be a bit worried.’’

He ran through the night a couple of times to stay on schedule.

The weather was good at the start, but the past two days were rough. ‘‘Ferocious’’ winds almost blew him over on the route between Clinton and Mataura, he said.

At the finish line, he was ‘‘almost a blubbering mess’’.

‘‘You hold everything together to do that, the whole time of the run, and at the end everything is just going to let loose a bit and you’ve just got to let it go.’’

Mr Newburn made his first attempt to break the record last year but was undone by the weather.

He also holds a world masters record for running across the United States in 51 days.

His satisfaction at breaking the New Zealand record included raising money for an autism support group, Running on the Spectrum.

‘‘It’s probably one of my last chances of being able to have a go at something like that — I’m not getting any younger.’’

Mr Newburn will take a few days to head home and when he gets to Napier, he intends to go for a run. — RNZ