Hot run for annual Peak Trailblazer
Hot, dry and near-windless conditions tested all 740 competitors at the annual Peak Trail Blazer.
The King and Queen of the Peak titles headed off to Wellington and Australia, one new runner was inducted into sub 50-minute club The Scorchers, and 16 into the Hall of Flames sub 60-minute club.
In a time of 48:46, the title of Te Awanga Estate King of the Peak went to Niam Macdonald from running club Wellington Scottish, as he returned to Hawke’s Bay to have another go at the challenging 12.8km Te Mata Peak course.
“I took part a couple of years ago and didn’t do so well,” said Niam, “So I needed to come back, give it another go and do a better job of it. It’s such a good event and I really hope I’ll be back at some stage.”
Niam was also the only entry this year in The Scorchers sub 50-minute club, where Lucas Duross and Eric Speakman are the only others with two entries a piece.
An already accomplished runner at 22, Niamwon the Wellington Half Marathon in July this year. He won a total of $600 in prize money, not only $500 for the Te Awanga Estate King of the Peak title, but a further $50 for the quickest uphill leg and another $50 for the quickest down-hill leg in the Specsavers Lucky Legs.
Coming second and earning $150 was Jonas Kvottrup Nielsen from Napier Harriers and hot on his heels was last year’s winner Lucas Duross who took $50 home to Wellington.
Newly crowned Hawke’s Bay Orthodontics Queen of the Peak, Julia Anderson, was a first-time entrant at this year’s event who won $500 to take back to Australia. Julia also ran into the Hall of Flames sub-60 club, the only female to do so at this year’s event.
Karen Toulmin from Hastings and Kate O’Malley from Napier Harriers rounded out the top three.
A further 16 were also inducted into The Hall of Flames sub-60-minute club, which now has 170 entries, each earning a bottle of Giant Brewing Co beer and a place on the highly soughtafter leaderboards which hang at Hawthorne Coffee in Havelock North. Race Director Jo Throp says they were blown away by both the sheer effort and the number of entrants, with support coming from all around Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand, as well as a smattering from Australia, UK and USA.
“Conditions were really tough. Given the weather forecast, we were expecting to dodge a few rain drops, which never happened. And when that sun came out, boy it got hot, and for the most part there wasn’t a breath of wind. We’re really proud of everyone’s efforts. Nine years and nearly 5500 participants later, we couldn’t be happier with how it all went.”
Winning $150 from Go
Healthy in the Up & Coming category, Ronan Lee from Lindisfarne College re-gained the title he won last year and nabbed $150 from Go Healthy. He was followed by Hamish Ross and Will Tidswell from Havelock North High School.
Thirteen-year-old Zoe Elliott from Havelock North Intermediate also won $150 from Go Healthy in the girls Up & Coming, the youngest person in the category’s history. Sofia Lumbreras, also from Havelock North Intermediate came second with Poppy Kelly from Havelock North High third.
Walking on the Te Mata Peak trail, Derren Hutchinson returned to take back the title he’d won a couple of years ago, while first-time participant Mel Lewis won the female walk.
On the 3.5km Tainui Trail, Havelock North Intermediate’s Sian Llewellyn successfully defended her title to take the Princess of Tainui and Angus Lovatt from Te Mata Primary won the Prince of Tainui. Both received $150 each from Kiwigarden.
The brainchild of three Havelock North Primary mums, the event aimed to raise funds for the school, raise the school’s profile in the wider community, promote health and wellbeing, and use the natural resources of the Tainui Reserve and Te Mata Peak.
As well as raising funds for a Havelock North Primary school hall extension, the event has donated more than $40,000 to the community to date (not including 2018), with more than $140,000 raised over the eight years. This year 20 per cent of the funds raised will be donated to Nourished for Nil and a further 20 per cent to Eye Care for Africa.
■ Full results are at www.racetecresults.com/ Results.aspx?CId=16529&RId=116 or www.peaktrailblazer.co.nz