Coming round the mountain
Demonstrating what healthy diabetes looked like for young people set the tone for one of Taranaki’s Around the Mountain relay teams.
Married at First Sight couple Brett and Angel Renall were part of the Diabetes Youth Taranaki team to show kids with Type 1 Diabetes that they can do anything, and admitted they were a bit nervous running the final leg of the 150km relay from Omata to the Pukekura Raceway. They were among almost 1500 people who took part in the annual race, walk and relay around Mt Taranaki, braving the fog and rain.
‘‘We want to do the team right and not let anyone down,’’ Brett, who has had Type 1 since the age of seven, said as they waited their turn in the drizzle in Omata.
‘‘I just think the more we can help out kids – it’s a tough time to have Type 1 Diabetes.’’
Angel said being part of the team had helped them realise they were not alone in facing the disease.
‘‘There’s a whole community; you’re not the only ones,’’ she said. ‘‘I used to live in Okato; we went out there and saw all the runners.’’
Team organiser Niahm O’Sullivan said it was a great way to show kids what ‘‘healthy diabetes’’ looked like.
They had kids who walked a relay leg last year and wanted to run it this year, and the event was giving them a lot of confidence. ‘‘Yes, it’s an illness but you can have a life outside of that,’’ she said.
Race organiser Selwyn Brown said everyone appeared to have had a wonderful time.
‘‘I think it’s gone amazingly well, under very trying conditions,’’ he said.
In the Solo100 race, Richard Pinkney came in first in 19 hours, 45 minutes and 57 seconds, while in the running relay, Body Logic nicked the win from the Ravensdown Ha¯ wera Hounds, whom they had been battling ‘‘all night and all day’’, by about 30 seconds. In the Solo50 female category, Tracy Benjamin from Auckland won in her first long-distance race back after knee surgery, in a time of 09:13:45, and Wellington’s Joe Ready won the men’s category in a time of 10:05:46.
The only walkers, the Hospice Hares, finished in a time of 23:03:54.
The business categories were won by Hot Toddies#1 (running) and Gallagher G Force (composite), while Auckland’s Supersonics took out the school challenge ahead of Waitara High School Runners.
Nexans Power won the composite (walk and run) category.