On course for world record run
Menna Evans has resorted to running through riverbeds to bypass New Zealand’s unpedestrian-friendly bridges on her world record attempt.
The 40-year-old from the village of Llansadwrn, in south west Wales, passed through Timaru yesterday on the 29th day of an attempt to run the length of New Zealand with ‘‘no more than eight days left’’.
‘‘I’m hoping to beat the fastest woman record of 52 days 15 hours and I’m on target to finish inside 40 days,’’ she told Stuff.
She has been thankful for the dry spell across the region, revealing that on Tuesday she was forced to run through two dry riverbeds as the bridges were not pedestrian friendly, while getting across the Rakaia River bridge – NZ’s longest at 1.7 kilometres – involved a good deal of luck.
‘‘I was incredibly lucky as I wasn’t going to be allowed to cross it when an oversized vehicle turned up to go across.
‘‘They had to shut down the whole bridge for it and I was able to run behind the lorry.’’
Evans said she also had issues with the heat on her first day north of Auckland.
‘‘I learned my lesson from that by staying better hydrated.’’
She starts every day from the same spot she finished running the previous day and is averaging about 68 kilometres a day.
‘‘Being a Guinness World Record attempt, everything has to be documented and recorded. There are documents that witnesses have to sign each day at the start and finish and I have three separate electronic trackers on me.’’
She dreamed up the nearly 2000km challenge as she neared the end of running the length of Britain in 2018 which was inspired by the death of her father.
She is raising funds on a Givelittle page for Save The Brave that is helping the men and women of the NZ Defence Force and first responders with alternative support therapies.