Running toward healthy living
Rough weather conditions did nothing to deter runners and walkers from the 2016 Waitakere Half Marathon and Fun Runs community event.
More than 400 runners, 100 up on last year, participated in the race, now in its 18th year of operation.
The annual event started and finished from Sport Waitakere’s new event base at the Waitemata Rugby Club grounds, Massey.
In the day’s major race, the half marathon, Harry Gage narrowly claimed the win with a blazing time of just over 73 minutes.
Gage, also the winner of the North Shore Half, just edged out Rick Tombling for the first place medal and was quick to attribute the win to his fellow frontrunner.
‘‘He (Tombling) is a demon, he really pushed me the whole way,’’ Gage says. He finished the race with his signature handstand at the finish line.
However, it was the race’s youngest competitor that stole the show.
Gilly Campbell completed the 11km walking event with her 15-week-old son in a front pack. Campbell completed the race in just over two hours with her baby sleeping the entire way, technically crossing the line ahead of his mother.
The event was aimed at creating connections by bringing together members of the community and providing an opportunity for people to get active.
‘‘One of the best outcomes from the event has been the number of different community groups that have been involved and helped out,’’ says Sport Waitakere event manager Narissa Fale.
‘‘We had a number of clubs involved as participants this year, Waitakere [Triathlon] helping with marketing, race packs and registrations and then more groups involved in marshalling the course.
They helped immensely with the overall running of the event.’’
Keen runners will now eye the next event on the Sport Waitakere calendar, the Tough It Out mud run, based at Motu Moana in Green Bay.
The event is made up of one or two laps of a 3km course which weaves through, over and around mud and obstacles. People can enter either on their own or as part of a team.
The community race day will take place on October 30 and the schools’ day the following afternoon.