Marathon runners from start to finish
They were all in their first Kerikeri half marathon, but while it was the end of the road for one couple, it’s just the beginning for a local teenager.
The Kerikeri half marathon was Andre and Sonja Bezuidenhout’s last hurrah, after competing in so many half marathons they’ve lost count.
Andre guesses the number is around 50. That’s on top of 15 full marathons and seven ultra marathons - all in the last 24 years.
Their daughter, Azelia Parkinson is the events team leader at Sport Northland and organised the half marathon.
‘‘We’ve never done one of hers and we thought that would be a good one to finish our running career on,’’ Andre says.
The couple, who live just outside Ohakune, drove eight hours to take part.
Andre says they started running when he was 40 and Sonja 33. They owned a hotel and bottle store in Louis Trichardt in northern South Africa, and ‘‘weren’t leading the healthiest’’ of lives.
‘‘One day my wife said to me ‘we have to do something’.
‘‘The first day we ran 800m, 400m out and 400m back, and then I think we celebrated with a drink,’’ Andre laughs.
Andre says from there they trained for a 5km race in a nearby town. The rest as they say, is history.
Kerikeri was their last official race, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. ‘‘It was one of the nicest ones.’’
In contrast, Kerikeri High School student Alexander Hull has many more races to look for- ward too. The half marathon is something he has wanted to do for the past couple of years, but has been too young.
The 16-year-old finished fourth overall, in a time of one hour, 15 minutes and four seconds. He is also the two time reigning Northland secondary schools cross country champion.
Aucklanders Jonathan Jackson and Katherine Morgan won the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.
Whangarei’s Caris Teo in second and Katie McVerry in third were the first Northland women home. Kerikeri’s Corrine Smith and Whangarei’s Alan Connolly claimed the competitive walking titles.
Whangarei’s Cameron Leslie was the first Northlander home in the chairs division, finishing third.